Thursday, June 18, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 67)

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION
500
Ks.
DAILY EDITION
WWW.MMTIMES.COM
ISSUE 67 | THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015
NEWS 5
New green cards meet

resistance in Rakhine
Temporary ID introduced to replace
white cards has not proved popular
in Rakhine State, with only 37 people
applying for the document which
is required in order to apply for
citizenship since June 5.
BUSINESS 9
Potential mining sites

locked up by lack of peace
Mining companies particularly
foreign firms are keen to see peace
reached, which will open mining sites
across the country. Other hurdles
still remain, however, including
amendments to the legal framework.
BUSINESS 10
Yangon more expensive

than Paris for expats
Myanmars largest city came 28th on
a list of 207 cities for cost of living for
expatriates. The list is increasingly
dominated by Asias growing cities.
BUSINESS 10
Futures trader accused of

US$1 million fraud
A company in Sakura Tower that
purports to be a money changer has
been accused by traders of being an
illegal online futures trading company.
Customers say they have been cheated
out of over $1 million.
PAGE
PHOTO: AUNG MYIN YE ZAW
Senior officials from the National League for Democracy listen to a discussion on
electoral rolls during a meeting with civil society groups in Yangon yesterday. Party
officials asked civil society to help them improve the voter lists, which have been
plagued by errors despite a nationwide overhaul program ahead of this years election.
Govt steps up on forex rate

The Presidents Office has assumed control of managing the response to the kyats depreciation, following concerns
that the Central Bank of Myanmar was diverging from the managed float system introduced in 2012. BUSINESS 8
2 News
THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015
DHAKA
Bangladesh
and Myanmar
border troops
exchange fire
Monks protest at the Bo Sein Hman Stadium in Bahan township, Yangon, on June 16. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw
Ma Ba Tha leads protest over

alleged rape in Thailand
AUNG
KYAW
MIN
aungkyawmin.mcm@gmail.com
ANGER is growing over the rape

of a Myanmar migrant worker, allegedly by Thai men, as monks and
other activists demand action on the
part of both the Thai and Myanmar
governments.
On June 16, the Myanmar Monks
Organisation and the Myanmar National Youth Network staged a protest at Bo Sein Hman Stadium in Bahan township, Yangon, demanding
action under the law.
The 19-year-old migrant worker,
from Bogale township, Ayeyarwady
Region, was attacked on her way
home from the night shift after leaving her factory, in Mahachai province,
Thailand, in the early hours of June 3.

It is alleged that six Thai men raped
her by the roadside. Two men have
now been arrested and the victim has
received hospital treatment.
Sayadaw U Wai Nika, the chair
of Tarmwe Ma Ba Tha, has already
raised this case while preaching
in Thailand. This is not the first
time that Myanmar migrant workers have been abused and suffered
violations of their human rights in
Thailand. We will write to the Thai
embassy demanding protection for
our migrant workers, said protest
leader Magwe Monastery sayadaw
U Parmaukkha.
Ma Ba Tha is the Myanmar-language acronym of the Committee
for the Protection of Nationality and
Religion, a conservative Buddhist nationalist group.
The Myanmar Monks Organisation is mostly made up of Ma Ba Tha
members.
Protesters bore placards accusing

the Thai government and people of
ignoring human rights abuses and
failing to uphold human dignity, and
shouted slogans condemning the
abuse of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. They demanded the
Thai government take action.
I call on the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to make representations to
This is not the first

time that Myanmar
migrant workers
have been abused ...
in Thailand.
U Parmaukkha
Protest leader
Thailand concerning the sufferings

of Myanmar migrant workers there,
said protester U Aung Myine, a religious affairs activist. The government has a responsibility to act. If
this happens again, we will take our
protest to the embassy.
At the Thai embassy in Yangon,
first secretary Pornpun Pupiangjai
met with the protesters and accepted
their letter, which warned that the
abuse of Myanmar women could
harm the friendship between the two
Buddhist countries. The letter stated
that such abuse had continued for
too long, and that it was the responsibility of the Thai government to
take action.
The protesters said their future
action would depend on the embassys response.
The Thai embassy in Yangon
could not be reached for comment
yesterday.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun
A BANGLADESHI border guard was

wounded and another is being held
by Myanmar after troops from the two
countries exchanged fire yesterday,
witnesses said.
The local director of operations
for Border Guard Bangladesh, Ekram
Khan, said the shoot-out was the outcome of a total misunderstanding
an assessment that chimed with witness reports.
Local fishermen said a Bangladeshi
patrol boat on the Naf River, which
divides the two countries, came under fire from Myanmar border guards,
who had apparently mistaken them
for smugglers.
The area where the shoot-out occurred is notorious for people smuggling between the two countries, which
have come under the spotlight over a
migrant crisis in recent weeks. But
clashes between border forces are rare.
One Bangladeshi soldier sustained
multiple bullet wounds during the
clash in Bangladeshs southeastern
district of Coxs Bazar. Our soldiers
started firing in retaliation and Private Biplob Kumar sustained injuries
to his head and right hand, said Abu
Russell Siddiki, a spokesperson for
the Bangladesh force.
Another Bangladeshi border guard,
Abdur Razzak, was taken by Myanmar
Border Guard Police to a border force
camp.
Mr Khan said the issue would be
resolved at a flag meeting with timing
yet to be confirmed.
People smuggling is rife in Coxs
Bazar and many former fishermen
have joined smuggling rings because
they are so lucrative.
The scale of the issue was thrown
into relief when thousands of migrants, most of them Muslims from
Rakhine State and economic migrants from Bangladesh, were stranded in Southeast Asian waters last
month. AFP
www.mmtimes.com
NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com
News 3
Constitution op-ed
delivery angers MPs
Hluttaw representatives staying at state guesthouse handed op-ed panning
contents of amendment bill, as information minister denies involvement
AUNG KYAW MIN
HTOO THANT
newsroom@mmtimes.com
National League for Democracy patron U Tin Oo speaks at a meeting with civil
society groups yesterday. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw
NLD seeks help

from civil society
on electoral rolls
LUN MIN MANG
lunmin.lm@gmail.com
THE National League for Democracy
has called for an urgent scale-up of
voter education programs to ensure
electoral rolls are accurate at this
years election.
During a meeting with civil society groups in Yangon yesterday, senior
party officials urged cooperation to
rectify errors on the rolls. It was the
first meeting on electoral cooperation
between the NLD and the groups, who
have been holding regular talks with
the Union Election Commission since
last year.
In late May, the party said its monitoring of electoral rolls on display in
14 Yangon townships indicated that in
some areas only 20 percent of voters
were correctly listed.
Central executive committee member U Tun Tun Hein, who led the team
that checked voter lists, said that the
results highlighted the important role
civil society would play in ensuring
rolls are accurate.
We now know clearly that we need
help from CSOs and we will discuss
how best to cooperate to ensure voters details are accurate, he said at the
gathering held at the Bayda Institute
office in Hledan.
U Tun Tun Hein said the NLD did
not have the resources to scrutinise
lists within the time allowed during
the monitoring of the 14 township
lists.
We only had about 14 days to correct the voters data. Thats very little.
Also, for the second and final phase
there are only seven days for correction of tens of thousands of voters details, he said.
More voter education programs
were needed, he said, noting the low
level of public interest.
When we went about urging the
public, we found out that the percentage of errors [in the electoral rolls]
was remarkably high. We couldnt
believe that the accuracy of data was
extremely low, said U Tun Tun Hein.
UEC officials have admitted that

the first phase in Yangon in displaying
electoral rolls had received little public
attention.
Party patron U Tin Oo said 2015
was seen as a year of progress for the
country. As we believe this year is a
move forward toward democracy, let
me request you all to try and cooperate to produce benefits from this
movement, he said, urging the CSOs
to help.
Representatives of civil society organisations yesterday raised their own
concerns over the accuracy of the lists
and discussed how to cooperate with
the NLD in educating voters and scrutinising lists.
We found out that

the percentage
of errors [in the
electoral rolls] was
remarkably high.
U Tun Tun Hein
National League for Democracy
Daw Hsu Mon Aung of Community

Response Group said groups had proposed that the NLD set up channels
for information sharing. But she said
civil society groups should cooperate
with the NLD on campaigning for voter participation but without promoting the partys interests.
Asked if she was worried about
the rule that observers should remain non-partisan according to their
code of conduct, she said cooperation
would be limited to voter education
and checking electoral rolls, and not
extend to helping the party campaign.
The NLD and CSOs agreed to hold
frequent follow-up meetings on cooperation and information sharing over
voter registration.
A ROW has erupted in parliament over the circulation among

some MPs of an opinion piece in
the state-owned media attacking
the bill to amend the constitution.
Minister for Information U Ye Htut
has strongly denied being responsible for the distribution, and called
on his accuser to back up his claim,
but Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann
has promised an investigation.
The argument began when U Ye
Tun, the MP for Hsipaw in Shan
State from the Shan Nationalities
Democratic Party, placed a post on
his Facebook page yesterday saying
that parliamentarians staying at
the Nay Pyi Taw City Development
Committee guesthouse had been
given an envelope the previous
night said to be from the Ministry
of Information.
The envelopes contained copies of an opinion piece that had
appeared in Kyemon on June 14
headlined, Want to receive a good
legacy, written by one Yan Kin.
The piece strongly objected to the
[constitution] amendment bill,
and added that the hluttaw was
holding back on enacting the law
on recalling MPs, while talking
about amending the constitution,
he wrote.
Submitted to the parliament
in 2012, the law on recalling MPs
would allow constituents to initiate a process that could potentially
remove their parliamentary representative. The bill has been stalled
in parliament for unclear reasons.
The letter refers to two constitutional amendment bills submitted
to parliament on June 10 by senior
Union Solidarity and Development
Party official U Thein Zaw.
Many of the changes would give
parliament greater powers at the
expense of the government, including requiring government officials
to be elected MPs.
Information minister U Ye Htut
immediately took to Facebook to
respond to the accusations, saying his officials had denied all
Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann talks to the media in Nay Pyi Taw on February 11.
Photo: AFP
involvement in the distribution.

Did U Ye Tun see who distributed the envelopes? What evidence
does he have that they are from the
Ministry of Information?
He said the allegation damaged
the dignity of his ministry, adding,
I hope we will get solid evidence
from U Ye Tun on this matter.
But other MPs yesterday backed
up U Ye Tuns account of events,
saying they were told by staff at
the guesthouse that the article
had been sent by the Ministry of
Information.
The row was raised in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw yesterday by
U Khine Maung Yi, an opposition representative for Ahlone in
Yangon.
This unofficial activity might
just be intended to annoy us or
there may be other intentions behind it, he said. But I am raising
this case because what has been
done is not right.
Another Pyithu Hluttaw representative, Daw Nan Sae Owa from
Hpa-an in Kayin State, recalled a
similar version of events.
While we were resting last
night, a staff member from the
guesthouse knocked on the door
and gave [the letter] to us. When
we asked him who it was from, he
replied that the Ministry of Information gave it to him, she said.
MPs are particularly unhappy

that the article was only distributed to those staying at the staterun guesthouse, who are mostly
opposition and ethnic minority
representatives.
Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, who
stay in party accommodation at another location in Nay Pyi Taw, were
not given the letter.
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker
Thura U Shwe Mann said he would
investigate the allegations.
This is an unusual case and Id
like to say to those MPs who have
complained about the matter that I
will resolve it. We must consider if
it is an attempt to sow dissension
among MPs, he said.
In his post, U Ye Tun mentioned speculation that Yan Kin,
the author of the comment piece,
was in fact a minister, suggesting
that the government opposed the
bill to amend the constitution. It
is expected that all military MPs,
who occupy one-quarter of all parliamentary seats, will oppose the
bill which, if passed, would loosen
their hold on parliament.
But U Ye Htut added that the
News and Periodicals Enterprise
of his ministry had invited articles
on amending the constitution, and
had published them in accordance
with its remit.
4 News
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PHOTO: AUNG HTAY HLAING
Monks attend a conference at Tipitaka Nikaya Monastery in Dagon township yesterday on

saving Shwedagon Pagoda from encroaching development. More than 200 people attended
the event, which was organised by the Save Shwedagon Committee. The committee is
lobbying against five major developments planned to the south of Shwedagon, including the
Dagon City 1 and 2 projects. Aung Kyaw Min
Constitutional power struggle

threatens judicial independence
EI EI TOE LWIN
THOMAS KEAN
AS attention focuses on the military

veto and Daw Aung San Suu Kyis eligibility for the presidency, observers
have warned that proposed constitutional changes tabled in parliament
could potentially weaken judicial
independence.
Senior Union Solidarity and Development Party member U Thein
Zaw tabled two amendment bills on
June 10 that would affect 33 sections
of the constitution, as well as several
schedules at the end of the charter
related to the powers of the regional
governments.
Lawyers and constitutional law
experts have expressed concern over
proposed changes in the bills that
would give parliament a greater say
over appointments to the Union Supreme Court and state and region high
courts, reduce the tenure of Supreme
Court and High Court appointees, and
weaken the authority of the Constitutional Tribunal.
Some see the judiciary as a victim
of a struggle between the government
and parliament, as the constitutional
amendment bill broadly strengthens
parliaments constitutional powers
and weakens those of the president.
U Kyee Myint, an advocate from
the Myanmar Lawyers Network, said
the constitutional amendment was a
step backward for efforts to improve
the judiciary.
All proposed changes seem like a
power struggle between the president
and parliament. There are no good
points in the bill to support the reform
of the judicial system, he said.
Under the constitution, parliament
is generally only called upon to confirm the presidents appointments for

key governance and judicial positions,
including the appointment of Union
ministers, the chief justice and judges
of the Union Supreme Court, the chair
of the Union Election Commission,
and the chair of the Constitutional
Tribunal. These nominees can only be
rejected by parliament on very narrow
grounds if it can clearly be proved
that they do not meet the criteria.
But under proposed changes to section 299, the president and Speakers
of the Pyithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw will propose three nominees for the chief justice slot. A parliamentary committee led by the deputy
Speakers of both house of parliament
will check whether the nominees meet
the criteria for chief justice. They will
then take a vote to choose the chief
justice, with the two other candidates
becoming deputy chief justices.
The chief justice and two deputy
chief justices will then nominate the
rest of the Supreme Court judges, who
will require parliamentary approval to
take up their posts.
The chief justice and Supreme
Court judges are guaranteed tenure
until 70, unless they voluntarily resign, die, are impeached, or are found
to be mentally or physically unfit for
service. However, the amendment bill
would instead bring in five-year terms,
with the possibility of reappointment.
Similar changes are planned for the
state and region high courts, where
judges who would normally serve until the age of 65 will instead be given
five-year terms.
It is unclear whether the provisions
apply to existing judges, or only new
appointees.
Where the president currently selects the chair of the Constitutional
Tribunal and submits the name to
parliament for approval, he or she
will now have to negotiate with the
Speakers of parliament to select the

tribunal chief.
The finality of Constitutional Tribunal rulings will also be removed in
most cases. Where section 324 currently states, The resolution of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union shall be
final and conclusive, the amendment
would have this apply only to cases
submitted by lower courts.
If the case was submitted by those
listed in section 325, who include the
president, Speakers of parliament and
Union Election Commission chair, the
tribunal could be asked to review its
decision.
Andrew McLeod, a research fellow
in law at Oxford University who pro-
There are no good

points in the bill to
support the reform
of the judicial
system.
U Kyee Myint
Myanmar Lawyers Network
vided support to the parliamentary

committees that developed the amendments, said some of the changes were
expected but others had come as a
surprise.
Parliamentarians have consistently demanded parity with the executive in choosing senior government
officials and have opposed the finality
of [the Constitutional] Tribunals constitutional jurisdiction. But there was
little if any warning that judicial tenure might be affected by the amendments, he said.
He said the proposed removal of
tenure for future judges was deeply

troubling because it would weaken
judges ability to act impartially.
Judicial independence requires
judges to be insulated from the influence of the parties who appear before
them and the prevailing political climate, he said. Implementing a prospective rule that judges serve for five
years with the option of renewal wont
address existing judicial independence issues and will weaken the protections for new judges.
However, others have expressed
less concern at the proposal. Lawyer
U Htay Oo, from the National League
for Democracys Legal Affairs Committee, told The Myanmar Times that the
changes did not go far enough, and
MPs should have complete control
over the selection of Supreme Court
judges.
He said he agreed with fixed terms
for senior judges. I think five years
is right because our country has just
started moving toward democracy
It is not the right time to appoint judges to long tenures, he added.
He also backed the weakening of
the Constitutional Tribunals powers but said he believed it should go
further, adding that internationally
constitutional matters are normally
referred to a supreme court.
The president or Speakers of parliament should have the right to appeal to the Union Supreme Court and
then must accept its decision after it
has heard the issue. The important issues for the state should be solved in
a court Myanmars system does not
make sense, to grant all power to the
Constitutional Tribunal.
The bills are being examined by
the Joint Bill Committee, after which
they will be debated by MPs. On June
16, the committee submitted its report
on section 436, giving MPs until yesterday afternoon to register to discuss
the proposed changes.
News 5
www.mmtimes.com
New green cards meet resistance

EI EI TOE
LWIN
eieitoelwin@gmail.com
A NEW government project to issue

green card identification papers in
Rakhine State, mostly to the Rohingya
minority, appears to be meeting resistance or lack of interest, with only 37
people so far requesting the new documents that allow holders to apply for
Myanmar citizenship.
The states Immigration and Population Department began issuing
green cards, formally called identity
card for national verification, in 14
townships on June 5. Department director U Khin Soe told The Myanmar
Times yesterday that only 37 cards had
been issued to date.
We are going around the state to
explain to residents about the process, he said.
Last February the government revoked all temporary identity cards
known as white cards held by
stateless Rohingya Muslims and other
ethnic groups. Acting on a ruling by
the Constitutional Tribunal, parliament also disenfranchised all whitecard holders, who had previously been
allowed to vote in 2010 and in the 2012
by-elections.
More than 300,000 Rohingya, who
are officially referred to as Bengalis,
were among some 390,000 people out
of an estimated 800,000 white card
holders across the country to surrender their documents by this years
April 1 deadline. In return they were

given receipts which they are now
supposed to exchange for green cards
valid for two years.
White cards first began to be issued in the early 1990s as a result of
the 1982 Citizenship Law introduced
by Ne Wins military regime. The law
established three categories of citizenship that excluded most Rohingya and
deprived them of national registration
cards.
U Thein Maung, a member of an
IDP management committee in Dar
Paing camp, said his family of 10 had
turned in their white cards but they
would not exchange their receipts for
the new green cards.
From past experience we know
this card cannot contribute to us getting citizenship status, he told The
Myanmar Times. We had been living
for many years with national registration cards, but the government took
them and then issued us white cards.
Now white cards are useless and they
The government
should let them go
outside Rakhine
State, and should
not lock them in the
state.
U Tun Aung Kyaw
Rakhine National Party
A Muslim IDP in a camp in Sittwe holds a receipt given to him by immigration

officials in exchange for a white card. Photo: Naing Wynn Htoon
create green cards. We dont believe in

any temporary cards. We want to be
recognised as citizens.
U Khin Soe said green-card holders need to apply for citizenship in accordance with the Citizenship Law. He
said the card also acted as proof that
holders could live in Rakhine State.
People should carry it at all times
and show it to local authorities when
asked, he said.
Myanmar has come under renewed
international pressure to resolve the
citizenship issue since the boat crisis
involving thousands of Bangladeshi
and Rohingya migrants erupted last

month. Rohingya in Rakhine State
suffer severely restricted freedom of
movement and limited access to education and health care. Some 130,000
have been confined to IDP camps
since inter-communal violence three
years ago that also displaced about
10,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
U Tun Aung Kyaw, a Pyithu Hluttaw representative for the Rakhine
National Party, which has strong support from the states Buddhist majority, said the party had no objections to
the issuing of green cards since they
were little different from the old white

cards and carried no voting rights.
This card proves they can live under a temporary status. They have to
apply for citizenship. Thats why we
dont argue over issuing these cards.
But we want those who got citizenship
to be able to move freely around the
country, he said. The government
should let them go outside Rakhine
state, and should not lock them in the
state. We object to granting citizenship to those not eligible to be citizens.
But we want those who get citizenship
to have full citizenship rights.
Deputy Minister of Immigration U
Win Myint told parliament on June 15
that the authorities were still restricting the movement of people recently
awarded citizenship in a pilot project in
Myebon township for their own safety.
Applicants for citizenship must renounce the term Rohingya, which the
government refuses to recognise. They
must also provide evidence of three
generations of residence in Myanmar.
This will not be easy for those who lost
everything when their homes were
torched in communal violence in 2012,
although government offices may have
birth records.
The 2014 nationwide census, which
mostly enumerated only Rakhine Buddhists in the state because of the danger of violence, found that 37.7 percent
of those surveyed had no form of ID.
U Khin Soe said the government
had received 892 applications for
citizenship since January. Of these,
state officials had so far processed
and forwarded 70 to a Union government central committee pending final
approval, he said.
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6 News
Green growth plan submitted

AYE SAPAY PHYU
ayephyu2006@gmail.com
AFTER a year of study and discussion,
an international environmental group
yesterday submitted to the government recommendations for green development. The plans are intended to
help the countrys economy grow without harming the environment.
The Myanmar Platform for Dialogue on Green Growth announced
the recommendations yesterday in
Yangon.
The dialogue was launched by the
British Embassy and the French NGO
Green Lotus last July. It was conducted in three committees that met
monthly to deal with such matters as
agriculture and forestry, renewable
energy and sustainable cities.
Jean-Marc Brule, chair of Green
Lotus, said 85 recommendations had
been discussed and debated by the 131

participants of the platform during
more than 18 meetings over the past
year.
The platform had identified
17 recommendations to promote
sustainable development, such as
organic farming supply chain reinforcement, substitutes for wood
fuel to prevent deforestation, promotion of green technologies to ensure
clean water, the establishment of a
climate change ministry, prioritising decentralised renewable energy
solutions, developing a green cities
master plan, and developing a model
of energy-saving buildings using
traditional knowledge and modern
technologies.
We will share those recommendations with the government, though the
specific timeframe for implementation
is not yet clear, he said.
Antony Preston, second secretary

of the British Embassy, said the recommendations would be put into practice by the government, working with
civil society throughout the country,
domestic and foreign businesses and
academics.
U Soe Win Hlaing, chair of the Myanmar Forest Association and one of
the participants in the platform, said
growing awareness among members
of parliament of sustainable development issues would help to speed up
the implementation of green growth
activities.
Greater awareness would enable
them to prioritise issues and support
them with a strong legal process, he
said.
Mr Brule said Green Lotus would
stand by to help implement the Myanmar National Development Platform
for Green Economy in coming years.
U Kyi Naing, LL.B., LL.M., (H.G.P.)

For Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH
Tilleke & Gibbins Myanmar Ltd.
No. 1608, 16th Floor, Sakura Tower, 339 Bogyoke Aung San Road,
Kyauktada Township, Yangon, Myanmar
Email address: myanmar@tilleke.com
Dated: 18th June, 2015
TRADE MARK CAUTION

SYNGENTA LIMITED, a company organized under the laws
of England and having its principal office at Syngenta European
Regional Centre, Priestley Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford,
Surrey GU2 7YH, United Kingdom is the owner and sole
proprietor of the following trademarks:-
(Reg: No. IV/7055/2014)

(06.6.2014)
(Reg: No. IV/9694/2013)

(03.9.2013)
Use in respect of: - Preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides,

herbicides, insecticides; Seed treatment insecticide and fungicides
for agricultural use; (International Class 5)
(Reg: No. IV/2158/2015)

(23.02.2015)
Use in respect of: - Chemicals for use in agriculture, Horticulture
and forestry; Fertilizers and manures, Plant growth; Seed treatment
preparations (International Class 1); and Herbicides, insecticides,
Fungicides, Pesticides, Rodenticides, preparations for destroying
vermin; (International Class 5).
Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements, or fraudulent
intention of the above trademarks will be dealt with according
to law.
Moe Mynn Thu (LL.B; LL.M; M.Res)
Rouse Myanmar
For SYNGENTA LIMITED
Email: myanmar@rouse.com
Student protesters arrive at Tharyarwady court for a hearing on April 30. Photo: AFP
Handcuffs a violation of
students rights: MP
HTOO
THANT
thanhtoo.npt@gmail.com
STUDENTS detained after the brutal police crackdown at Letpadan in

March are being handcuffed during
court hearings in violation of their human rights and official police practice,
parliament heard yesterday.
NLD MP U Win Myint told the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw that the practice of
handcuffing prisoners during their
court appearance was a violation of
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as well as the Myanmar Police
Manual.
The practice emerged as MPs discussed a report by the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.
The arrests at Letpadan on March
10 were the culmination of a series of
marches by students across the country against the controversial National
Education Law. Despite the crackdown, talks on the amendment of the
law have continued in Nay Pyi Taw.
Students are being handcuffed
during court hearings. It is not credible that they pose a risk of flight or violence against the police. This practice
contravenes article 5 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which
states that no one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as

well as the directives of the Myanmar
Police Manual, said U Win Myint.
The MP said that the treatment
meted out to the students by the police
after their arrest included brutal beatings and insults, also in violation of
human rights and proper procedure.
Relatives of those arrested have
alleged that the protesters, who are
being held at Tharyarwady Prison in
Bago Region while on trial, have been
denied adequate medical treatment
for injuries sustained during the Letpadan crackdown.
Two detainees, Ko Khin Hlaing, 26,
and U Tin Win, 44, were both recently transferred from Tharyarwady to
Yangon General Hospital for medical
treatment, according to the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners.
The group said in an appeal for
This practice
contravenes article
5 of the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights.
U Win Myint
NLD MP
adequate healthcare for political

prisoners that U Tin Win was admitted to hospital after collapsing in court
on June 2. He was reportedly suffering
neck and rib injuries and underwent
surgery on June 5.
Ko Khin Hlaing, who has been regularly falling unconscious and coughing blood, was unable to attend court
on June 9 and was transferred to Yangon the same day, the AAPP said.
On June 8, members of the All
Burma Federation of Student Unions
announced plans to submit a case to
the rights commission over the police
crackdown. The students are working with Equality Myanmar, a rights
group, on gathering evidence and
drafting legal letters to register a case
with the commission.
They have warned that if the commission fails to take action they will
submit the case to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, or even sue police.
The students asked me to help.
They dont know how to complain
about human rights violations to the
commission. Equality Myanmar truly
believes that Letpadan was a violation
of human rights so we have decided to
help them, said U Aung Myo Min, executive director of Equality Myanmar.
Commission chair U Win Mra, responding to MPs criticisms, said the
staff were too few and lacked skills,
but he would try to follow MPs suggestions. Translation by Zar Zar Soe
www.mmtimes.com
Views
News 7
Laos: The cork

in the bottle
ROGER
MITTON
rogermitton@gmail.com
HEN John Kennedy

took over the presidency of the United
States more than half
a century ago, his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower told him
that Laos was the cork in the bottle
of Southeast Asia.
It is now becoming apparent just
how prescient the comment was, and
how brave, perhaps even foolhardy,
it must have seemed to many in the
White House at the time.
After all, the US ambassador in
Vientiane had told Kennedy that Laos
was a basket case, its king was hopeless
and the general Washington was backing had never been near a battlefield.
It was barely a country, he claimed,
and most of its people were illiterate.
Theyre charming, indolent, enchanting folks, he said. Theyre just not
very vigorous.
Well, perhaps indolent charm can
be an asset if it helps assuage bigger,
hungrier neighbours and thus retain
territorial integrity, while also allowing time to judge when best to ease
out that cork and let the wine bloom.
It seems that time is now. For, in
an almost unnoticed way, Laos has
begun to blossom, and thanks to the
benevolence of its northern giant,
it is poised to reap a cornucopia of
huge Chinese infrastructure investments.
All of them will greatly benefit the
nations 6.7 million people fewer than
many cities in the region but that
is not the main reason why Beijing is
being so generous and is focusing so
strongly on Laos.
No, the key reason is that Laos
really is the cork in the bottle of an ambitious transport network that will link
China with the nations of this region
and with outlets to the Andaman Sea
and the Gulf of Thailand.
It is all part of Chinas New Silk
Road, which, starting in Kunming,
cuts through the middle of Laos and
continues down to Bangkok and
Singapore, with branches to Cambodia,
Myanmar and Vietnam.
Whether it is a much-mooted
high-speed rail network, a standard
rail line or an integrated highway,
the new road will bring huge trade
benefits and give Beijing a large
degree of economic control over the
entire region.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is
a geostrategic master plan of Bismarckian proportions, and that indolent little
Laos is the key to its success.
While it has all been done quite
openly, only now, long after China
began easing out the Laotian cork, are
barks of anxiety coming from Hanoi,
Kuala Lumpur and Yangon and especially Washington.
But the barking is too late; the
caravan is moving on. And among its
most awesome projects, two stand out:
the visionary new Silk Road and the
multiple hydroelectric dams along the
Mekong River.
Several of these dams are already
completed and more are under way
as Laos, with Chinese money and

workers, pushes ahead with its goal
of becoming the Battery of Southeast
Asia.
In doing so, it has turned a coldly
deaf ear to the barking environmental
concerns of its former mentors, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Indeed, when Laos does become a
major regional energy exporter, those
countries buying its electricity, principally Thailand and Cambodia, will
become stakeholders in its stability.
Thats no small achievement for the
indolent Laotians.
Naturally, Vientiane is obliged to
show its gratitude to Beijing and thus
has allowed other key sectors of its
economy, notably mining, to be taken
over by Chinese interests.
Formerly, the companies exploiting
its rich mineral deposits were Australian, like Oz Minerals and PanAust Ltd.
Not anymore.
Chinas MMG Ltd has taken over
the massive gold and copper mine at
Xepon in eastern Laos from Oz Minerals, and Guangdong Rising Assets
Management is in the process of buying PanAusts mines in Laos.
From Beijings point of view, these
moves not only make economic sense,
but they also exert pressure on its
regional rival Vietnam and help it to
counter Hanois intransigence in the
South China Sea.
Already, the degree of Chinese influence in Laos is astonishing and should
act as a tocsin for the rest of the region.
Recently, several Vientiane-based
diplomats travelled to where one of the
new dams is being built by the Chinese
in northwestern Laos.
Although their party included the
provincial governor and other top Lao
officials, they were refused admission
and told that the area is under Chinese
control.
Likewise, Beijing has stipulated
that several kilometres on either side
of the new Silk Road railway line that
will bisect Laos must be fenced off and
access restricted to those with approval
from the Chinese management.
And while even the indolent Laotians are pushing back on that one, the
fact is that China has now surpassed
Vietnam as the biggest foreign investor
in Laos and wields the most political
influence.
Naturally, Hanoi is peeved, but it
simply cannot match Chinas growing
political and economic footprint in the
region and nor can the US, Japan or
anyone else.
Bangkok, for instance, has acquiesced to Beijings actions, which is
understandable given that China is its
biggest market and that Laos supplies
much of its electricity.
Likewise, Singapore downplays concern about Beijings creeping tentacles
and suggests that the new Silk Road
will emulate the old one and bring
trade and mutual gain to all countries
involved.
George Yeo, Singapores former foreign minister, recently said the historic
road was built on the basis that we
protect trade and property and theres
a fair exchange. Value is added, theres
a positive sum, we all benefit.
Not everyone buys that line, and
certainly not Hanoi, which views
Beijings advances, notably in Laos, as
being at its expense and it is right.
But there is little Vietnam or anyone
else can do about it.
And when Beijing finally pops
out that cork, indolent little Laos will
become the fulcrum for projecting Chinese influence across all of Southeast
Asia.
Fishermen cast nets on the Mekong River in Laos, where multiple hydroelectric dams are planned by China. Photo: EPA
8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015
Business
ANALYSIS
Presidents Office steps

in with forex role
CLARE HAMMOND
clarehammo@gmail.com
AYE THIDAR KYAW
ayethidarkyaw@gmail.com
JEREMY MULLINS
IN PICTURES
Photo:
Naing Win Tun
Yangon Heritage Trust installed its sixth

blue plague on the current Myanmar
Agricultural Development Bank
yesterday, which was built in 1930.
TRADE MARK CAUTION

DEVGEN N.V., a company organized under the laws of Kingdom
of Belgium and having its principal office at Technologiepark
30, GENT, B-9052, Belgium, is the owner and sole proprietor of
the following trademark:-
(Reg: No. IV/12160/2012)

(18.10.2012)
Use in respect of: - Agricultural, horticultural, and forestry products
and grains not included in other class; fresh fruits and vegetables;
seeds, natural plants and flowers; (International Class 31).
intention of the above trademark will be dealt with according to
law.
Rouse Myanmar
For DEVGEN N.V.
OVER the past few months, many

believe the Central Bank of Myanmars commitment to allow a floating exchange rate based on the
market price has faltered. Concerns
about the currency have resulted
in extensive meetings and direct
intervention from the Presidents
Office.
Bankers, economists and traders
are growing increasingly concerned
that the Central Banks policy is moving away from the managed floating
exchange rate, which was established
in 2012 with the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It
ended 35 years of a dual rate system,
in which the official rate of around
K6 to the US dollar was more than
a hundred times stronger than the
black market rate.
Many are also concerned that the
Central Bank does not have sufficient
US dollar reserves to support the kyat
the IMF Article IV Consultation report published last October said they
were low, then covering less than
three months of prospective imports.
Central Bank officials have more recently said there are enough reserves
for essential imports.
Furthermore, the black market for
currency trading, which was on the
way to being eliminated, is showing
signs of reemergence. Depositors are
withdrawing US dollars and money
changers have all but stopped buying
the local currency inside the Central
Banks official band.
The government has stepped in
and the response to the currency
crisis is now being managed in coordination with the Presidents Office, a senior Central Bank official
confirmed.
In many countries, if there is a
situation where the economic stability is threatened or where significant
amounts of foreign exchange reserves
need to be utilised to control the situation, Central Banks cooperate with
the relevant ministries, he said.
In the case of Myanmar it is not
abnormal that the Central Bank cooperates with the Presidents Office and
other relevant ministries. In other
countries, Central Banks need formal
approval of either the finance minister or prime minister by law. However, in Myanmar, decisions [are made
in] cooperation.
Last year, when the US dollar
began to strengthen versus international currencies, the Central Bank
of Myanmars reference rate, which is
supposed to reflect the market rate,
began to diverge from the price offered by local banks and foreign exchange traders.
Over the past few weeks the gap
has widened significantly on June
10 the unofficial rate reached a high
of K1280 to the US dollar, compared
to the official rate of K1105, which has
remained fixed since June 5, despite
major volatility in the unofficial market. The market rate is now around
K1200, according to industry website
naungmoon.com.
Concerns are growing that the

Central Bank has not taken an active enough response to the situation.
The big mistake theyve made is to
do nothing, which is actually one of
the riskiest things you can do. They
have confused inaction with conservatism, said a local banker.
Others ascribe the diverging exchange rates to speculation by the
banks. The Central Bank holds daily
foreign exchange auctions, which
theoretically allow it to set the reference rate according to demand, but
the amount auctioned each day is far
too small to provide a fair representation, said bankers.
The auctions are a joke it changes each day, but is around $200,000
per day compared to $150 million
dollars of demand. They are basically
not giving out any currency at all. Im
not sure how much money the Central Bank even has to give, said one
banker. Local banks have reportedly
been playing the auction system, by
bidding at the official rate of K1105,
and selling the dollars on the unofficial market to make a profit.
To address the issue, meetings
have been held in Nay Pyi Taw and
Yangon during the past few weeks,
attended by parliamentary committees, ministers and representatives
from the Central Bank. If Myanmar
is committed to defending the kyat, it
would need significant US dollar reserves to buy up local currency from
the market.
Bankers say that greater use could
be made of the reserves held by the
Ministry of Energy and other ministries that generate revenues from
exports.
The Central Bank is currently selling only around $10,000 to each domestic bank through its daily auctions,
[It would be] so

much better to
simply let the kyat
find its own level in
the market.
Sean Turnell
Economist
which is not nearly enough, said U Mya

Than, chair of the Yangon Foreign Exchange Market Committee and chairman of Myanmar Oriental Bank (MOB),
adding that some banks are in short
supply.
Meanwhile, state banks such as
Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial
Bank, and some commercial banks
are likely to have enough US dollars
to sell to the public, he said, adding
that the Central Bank has the authority to buy currency from these banks.
A senior Central Bank official confirmed previously that this is already
happening. We do have enough forex
for the import of essential items. The
Ministry of Finance and state-owned
banks have reinforced the Central
Bank. They have so far transferred
hundreds of millions of dollars into
the Central Bank and there is more to
come, he said last week.
Furthermore, he said that measures will be taken to support the kyat,
such as speeding up approvals for the
$1.8 billion backlog of offshore loans
and encouraging foreign banks to lend
more through the interbank market.
The Central Bank also called a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday to discuss a plan for banks to offer US dollars to importers on the basis of need.
U Mya Than said that while he
was not opposed to efforts to make
dollars available immediately, the
measures put forward so far are only
short-term solutions. Instead of simply selling US dollars to the market,
the Central Bank could be setting
policies to encourage the inter-bank
foreign exchange market to become
more active, he said.
Its important to do this immediately, to reduce the burden on the
Central Bank, he said, adding that in
meetings over the past week, bankers
have suggested the Central Bank sets
an official rate that is much closer to
the market rate, to encourage an active market.
Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmars economy at Australias Macquarie University agrees. [It would
be] so much better to simply let the
kyat find its own level in the market,
which more than likely will be at a
rate that enhances the countrys competitiveness. There is no reason there
should be any sort of currency crisis
in Myanmar, he said.
The exchange rate has been under the microscope. Photo: Staff
BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com
Yangon beats out

Rome and Paris for
expats expense
Thailands central bank

searches for tough job
as institutions head
BUSINESS 10
BUSINESS 13
Winners of the
Myanmar Property
Awards 2015
THE winners of the 2015 Myanmar Property Awards were announced at a gala dinner yesterday evening. The nominees are
listed below, with winners in
italics
DEVELOPER
Best Developer
Yoma Strategic Holdings
Green Vision
Naing Group Capital
DEVELOPMENT
Best Condo Development
Diamond Inya Palace Condo
Mandalay Golden Wing Construction
Galaxy Towers at Star City
INFINITY Luxury Condominium KHG Development Co
The Gems Garden Condominium Capital Diamond Star
Group
The Illustra at Pho Sien PSWN
Development
Best Office Development
Vantage Tower Myint & Associate
OEPG Office Ocean Emerald
Pearl Group
Parkside One Green Vision
Best Hotel Development
Kempinski Hotel Nay Pyi Taw
Jewel Luck Family Co
Ngwe Saung Yacht Club & Marina Ngwe Saung Yacht Club
and Marina Development Limited
The Rose Garden Hotel Emerald Development
Best Serviced Office Development
Hintha Business Centres Hintha Business Limited
The Keier Group The Keier
Group Myanmar
My Yangon Office Green Vision
Best Renovated Property
The Strand Mansion Synapse
Original Company
Inya Myaing Serviced Residence
Green Vision
Rangoon Tea House Rangoon
Tea House
Union Bar 57 Below Company
DESIGN
Best Residential Architectural
Design
Development
Diamond Inya Palace Condominium Mandalay Golden
Wing Construction
INFINITY Luxury Condominium KHG Development
May Inya Condominium
Ocean Emerald Pearl Group

The Gems Capital Diamond
Star Group
Best Residential Interior Design
Shangri-La Serviced Apartments Shangri-La Yangon
Diamond Inya Palace Condominium Mandalay Golden
Wing Construction
Galaxy Towers at Star City
INFINITY Luxury Condominium KHG Development
Development
Best Office Architectural Design
OEPG Office Ocean Emerald
Pearl Group
ShweGone Emotion Tower December Construction.
Best Hotel Architectural Design
Jewel Luck Family
and Marina Development
Best Hotel Interior Design
Jewel Luck Family
Best Landscape Architecture
Design
Star City-Thanlyin Yoma Strategic Holdings
Golden City Golden Land Real
Estate Development
Jewel Luck Family
BEST OF THE BEST
Best Commercial Development
(Myanmar)
Best Residential Development
(Myanmar)
Shangri-La Serviced Apartments Shangri-La Yangon
Company
PUBLISHERS CHOICE
Real Estate Personality of the
Year
Stephen Suen, founding chair,
Marga Group of Companies
Exchange Rates (June 17 close)

Currency
Euro
Malaysia Ringitt
Singapore Dollar
Thai Baht
US Dollar
Buying
K1232
K295
K815
K33
K1112
Selling
K1252
K306
K829
K35
K1114
Mining locked up by
difficulty of peace
AUNG
SHIN
koshumgtha@gmail.com
MINING companies are eagerly

following the Myanmar peace
process, which may unlock large
areas of the country to mining
operations.
While delays of amendments
to the Mining Law and logistical
challenges are also holding up the
sector, some of the areas with the
best prospects are near conflict
zones.
U Win Htein, director general
of the Department of Mines under the Ministry of Mines, told
The Myanmar Times that industry
players are pushing for peace in
the hopes that these areas will be
opened.
The eastern part of the country has a lot of mineral resources,
but the conflict with ethnic armed
groups is still ongoing in these areas, he said.
At the moment, these conflicts
hinder particularly foreign investment in the mining sector, even
though there is a lot of interest.
When the peace process is successfully completed, there will be a lot
more foreign investment coming.
The Ministry of Mines has permitted 2410 mining operations
up to 2015. Most of the permitted
operates are localised, small-scale
projects using out of date methods.
Currently, only five of the total
15 foreign investments in mining
are in the production stage, and
the other 10 are still studying,
said U Win Htein.
The peace process is only one
factor that foreign companies are
considering before investing.
Another hindrance in developing the mining sector is amendments to the 1994 Myanmar Mining
Law. The amendments have been
revised for over two years by the
ministry and related government
bodies. Parliamentary approval for
the amendments to the law have
been delayed since last year.
U Win Htein said revisions to
the law have been finished by the
ministry.
The majority of local mining operations are small-scale and artisanal. Photo: Staff
It is still being discussed in

parliament, he said. The Pyithu
Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw
have different ideas in amending
the 1994 law, and how that relates
to the 2008 constitution.
Without the amendments being
passed, the industry is still regulated according to the 1994 Mining
Law and 1996 Mining Regulations.
Large-scale projects covering
over 247 acres need to obtain permission from the Myanmar Investment Commission and the central
government. Smaller projects, up
to 20 acres for gold, 50 acres for
mining and one acre for jade, can
be permitted by the Ministry of
Mines directly.
U Win Htein said one difference with mining is the large number of government approvals it is
necessary to obtain.
The difference of mining from
other sectors is licensing, he said.
The investor needs licences for
every step they take in the permitted mining area.
Currently, small-scale projects
are permitted for five years, and
large projects receive 25 year permits, with the possibility of another five years.
Up to the 2014-15 financial year,

the Ministry of Mines had permitted mining projects on 2770.81
square kilometres. Data from the
Ministry of Mines Department of
Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration said there are a total of
63 mineral commodities in 2000
locations around the country.
The mining sector will be a
very crucial driver in the development of the countrys economy. At
the moment, most mining projects
are still small-scale, and we cant
expect much from them, said U
Khin Maung Han, vice chair of the
Myanmar Federation of Mining
Association.
To move the mining sector
from the small-scale to the largescale, we need not only capital
investment but also technology,
he said. The mining sector will
not boom if we rely on traditional
methods.
I do expect the new mining
law will be flexible for both local
and foreign investors, he said.
Foreign investment in the mining sector totalled $2.9 billion to
the end of May 2015, according to
statistics from the Myanmar Investment Commission.
Daewoo CEO quits over Shwe Gas

JEREMY MULLINS
JEON Byeong-eal, CEO of Daewoo
International, has quit due to a protracted feud with the steelmaker
over its Myanmar natural gas project, according to Korean media
reports.
The Korea Herald said that Mr
Jeon had been under pressure from
POSCO, the majority owner of Daewoo, since openly disapproving of
POSCOs plans to sell of a stake in
its gas project as part of restructuring efforts.
Daewoo International is the
operator of the Shwe Gas project.
The gas resource was discovered in

2003 and has been in production
since June 2013.
The Korea Times said that Daewoo posted 94.1 billion won (US$84
million) in operating profit from its
Myanmar natural gas project in the
first quarter of this year, accounting
for 88 percent of the firms 110.8 billion won operating profit.
That indicates the trading company will likely earn nearly a 400
billion won operating profit from
producing natural gas in the Southeast Asian nation for 2015, the report said.
On June 16, the Korea Herald reports said that according to reports,
POSCO was seeking to sell the stake

in the gas project for 1.5 trillion
won (US$1.3 billion).
However, industry watchers
have raised concerns that the sale
would result in little actual gains
for the steelmaker due to the
hefty tax levied by the Myanmar
government. Last week, Mr Jeon
stated that he would announce his
future course of action and that
he felt responsible for the developments regarding the gas project
sale plans, according to the Korea
Herald.
Yesterday, Daewoo International
officials did not comment when
contacted.
10 Business
HONG KONG
Yangon more expensive

for expats than Paris,
Sydney or Abu Dhabi
YANGON became considerably more
expensive for expats last year, compared with other cities around the
world, according to Mercers annual
Cost of Living Survey.
Yangon, the only Myanmar city
among the 208 that were surveyed,
climbed 38 places from 66th overall in
2014 to 28th last year.
Asia in general is becoming one of
the most expensive regions for people
working abroad, according to the survey, with its major cities accounting
for half of the top 10 costliest expat
destinations.
Hong Kong climbed one place
from last year to become the worlds
second-most expensive place for expats, Mercer said in its annual list,
with Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and
Seoul also making the shortlist.
Much of the change in rankings is
down to currency fluctuations, with
the appreciation of the yuan against
the dollar pushing up the cost of living
in China, which now accounts for nine
of the top 30 most expensive expat cities in the world.
Chinese cities jumped in the ranking due to the strengthening of the
Chinese yuan along with the high
costs of expatriate consumer goods,
said Mercer executive Nathalie Constantin-Metral in a statement.
By contrast Tokyo, ranked the most

expensive city for expats in 2012, fell
four places from last year to number
11 due to a slump in the Japanese currency after a massive easing program
by its central bank.
Japanese cities have continued
to drop in the ranking this year as a
result of the Japanese yen weakening
against the US dollar, added Ms Constantin-Metral.
Overall, the cost of living in Western European cities dropped due to
a slide in the euro. The three cities
that made the top 10 Zurich, Geneva
and Bern use the Swiss franc, which
jumped in January after the central
bank removed a ceiling on its strength.
Leading the rankings was the Angolan capital Luanda, which retained
its top spot due to the high price of
imported goods and security services
used by many foreigners.
The survey by the Mercer consulting group compares the cost of
over 200 items in 207 cities, including housing, food, transport and
entertainment.
It takes New York as its base city
for comparison, and measures currency movements against the dollar,
which has appreciated significantly
from a year ago as the health of the US
economy has improved. AFP/Staff
2015 Rank
2014 Rank
City
Country
Luanda
Angola
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Zurich
Switzerland
Singapore
Singapore
Geneva
Switzerland
10
Shanghai
China
11
Beijing
China
14
Seoul
South Korea
Bern
Switzerland
10
NDjamena
Chad
11
Tokyo
Japan
12
12
London
United Kingdom
15
24
Guangzhou
China
16
16
New York City
United States
23
67
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
28
66
Yangon
Myanmar
29
71
Chengdu
China
30
19
Libreville
Gabon
31
26
Sydney
Australia
33
68
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
37
74
San Francisco
United States
38
20
Oslo
Norway
41
61
Taipei
Taiwan
45
88
Bangkok
Thailand
46
27
Paris
France
50
92
Washington, DC
United States
59
31
Rome
Italy
205
211
Karachi
Pakistan
206
210
Windhoek
Namibia
207
209
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan
The Sakura Tower office of Global Growth and Golden Global. Photo: Aung Khant
Customers irate at
futures trading firm
KYAW
PHONE
KYAW
k.phonekyaw@gmail.com
UNLICENSED futures brokers have

been accused of cheating large sums
of money from clients who fear they
will never be able to claim the money back because the companies are
operating illegally.
A company which goes by two
names Global Growth and Golden Global has allegedly cheated
US$1.48 million (K1.65 billion) from
customers, according to local newspaper 7day Daily. The company
reportedly tells clients that it is a
branch of Standard Bullion, which is
a member of the Chinese Gold and
Silver Exchange Society.
The company is based in one
of Yangons most expensive office
buildings, the Sakura Tower. It has
opened two separate offices on different floors, and put up signs to
say that it is an authorised money
changer.
However, it has allegedly been
running a futures exchange broking
business, allowing Myanmar clients
to invest in countries such as New
Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Indonesia. Futures trading is mostly
conducted in contracts for commodities such as gold, oil and gas, and
timber, as well as foreign currencies.
There are at least six or seven

unlicensed futures brokers operating in Myanmar, according to an
investigation by The Myanmar
Times in April, most of which were
established last year. Customers are
required to pay a deposit of between
US$500 and $10,000 to open an account, and must pay commission
fees on investments.
However, many of the customers
of Global Growth and Golden Global
have been unable to claim their deposits back. I didnt lose too much,
but some of my friends will lose
about K100 million, a former client
of the company told The Myanmar
Times.
A Myanmar company official told
her that the problem was due to illiquidity and will be solved soon, but
she no longer trusts the company.
She also said that she is unsure
whether the investment was legal, as
the company is unlicensed and she
possesses no legal receipt of her payment. I knew the company was illegal, but I did not take it seriously,
she said.
Other clients are equally confused about the legal path they
should take. It is too early for suing.
We have to wait. And legal action is
expensive, a former customer said.
Company officials and staff refused to answer questions about
their business. We cant explain
anything yet. And we cant meet
with journalists yet, said a member of staff to Myanmar Times
reporters at the office on June 15.

Following this, a company official
called security and ushered out
reporters. Futures broking is illegal in Myanmar, but the number
of companies offering the service is
on the rise. Some of the newcomers
are reportedly educating prospective customers about their business
models in the offices of the largest
business federation in the country
the Union of Myanmar Federation of
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).
In the prohibition and punishment chapter of the Securities Exchange Law, section 22 states that
no one may operate a business of a
stock exchange without permission
from the Security Exchange Commission Myanmar, which is chaired
by U Maung Maung Thein, who is
also the deputy minister of finance.
Until now, the government has
taken no action against the companies, despite the fact that newspapers have been reporting on illegal
future brokerage businesses since
May. However, U Maung Maung
Thein may meet with journalists
soon, his personal assistant said on
June 15.
In April, he told The Myanmar
Times that the government would
serve serious warning notices to the
brokerage companies personally. If
they did not then stop their business
then the government would instruct
police to launch criminal investigations and prosecute them, he said.
BANGKOK
Thai energy activists slam move

to phase out LNG vehicles
ENERGY activists assembled near
Thailands Government House yesterday to protest a plan to discontinue use of liquefied petroleum gas for
transport use, claiming it will affect
owners of 1.5 million vehicles.
Rungchai Janthasing, a member
of the People's Network for Energy
Reform, said his group is urging
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to
rethink plans to raise the excise tax
on LPG and phase out use of LPG vehicles in the sector in two years.
The plan to phase out LPG is still

in the early stages and it remains unclear whether the government would
simply discontinue sales of LPG
equipment on vehicles or substantially raise excise taxes on the fuel to
encourage users to switch to liquefied
natural gas. That would affect private
motorists who drive about 1.5 million
LPG-fuelled cars as well as raise costs
for public-transport operators who
use the liquefied gas, he said.
Mr Rungchai suggested the
government instead increase the

excise tax on LPG used by petrochemical companies because, he
argued, they were the largest consumers of LPG. At the protest, Parnthep Pourpongpan, another member,
said the network also opposes proposed two bills to alter current petroleum-exploration concessions and
change taxation levels on oil producers. The activists complained that the
public did not get a chance to review
the legislation. Bangkok Post
International Business 11
www.mmtimes.com
CANBERRA
China and Australia sign free

trade deal after decade of talks
AUSTRALIA and China signed a
landmark trade deal yesterday after
a decade of talks, providing a boon
for growth and jobs by abolishing
tariffs across a raft of sectors.
Trade Minister Andrew Robb
and visiting Chinese Commerce
Minister Gao Hucheng formally
inked the document in Canberra,
ending years of often difficult and
protracted negotiations.
The leaders of our two countries
have attached great importance to
the signing of this document, said
Mr Gao. It is a milestone in bilateral relations.
Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott called it a momentous and
historic day for our two countries.
It will change our countries for
the better, it will change our region
for the better, it will change our
world for the better, he said. This
agreement will give our nations unprecedented access to each others
markets.
China is Australias biggest trading partner, with the two-way flow
exceeding A$160 billion (US$123
billion) annually.
Under the deal more than 85
percent of Australian goods entering the country will carry no penalty, rising to 95pc in coming years.
With Australia having already
sealed similar pacts with Japan and
South Korea, a large percentage of
Australian exports will soon become

tariff-free.
Australian
businesses
currently face charges of up to 40pc
on goods sent to China, but under
the deal penalties on virtually all
resources and energy products a
key plank in the trade relationship
and among Australias top exports
will be abolished.
Duties will also be lifted on agricultural exports including wine,
meat, seafood and dairy products to
feed Chinas growing middle class.
In return, Australia will remove
the existing 5pc tariff on Chinese
electronics and whitegoods, meaning cheaper goods for Australian
consumers but some reduction in
revenue.
China also won concessions
on foreign investment, with the
threshold for government review to
be lifted in most areas apart from
agricultural land and agribusiness.
In a statement, the Chinese
commerce ministry said the pact
would help facilitate the Chinadriven FTAAP, or Free Trade Area
of the Asia-Pacific.
Beijing has embraced the broader FTAAP, which is seen as a rival to
the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pushed by the United States
but which excludes China.
Mr Robb said that, together
with the Japanese and South
Korean pacts, the Chinese deal

would underpin Australias prosperity for years to come.
Given whats going on in the region, the extraordinary explosion of
people going into the middle class,
this is a landmark set of agreements,
he said.
Any claimed
benefits from this
FTA will pale into
insignificance
compared to the
lost opportunities
for working
Australians and the
impacts that will
have on our society.
Allen Hicks
Electrical Trades Union
It will see literally billions of dollars, thousands, many hundreds of

thousands of jobs, and will underpin
a lot of our prosperity in the years

ahead.
One contentious outcome could
be the temporary employment of
Chinese people in Australias highpay workforce, a move condemned
by unions.
Electrical Trades Union national
secretary Allen Hicks said there
was concern that Chinese investors
would be able to use Chinese workers on projects in Australia that involve an investment of more than
$150 million.
Any claimed benefits from this
FTA will pale into insignificance
compared to the lost opportunities
for working Australians and the impacts that will have on our society,
he said.
This agreement is an absolute
disgrace and its signing marks a sad
day in Australian history.
In contrast, the Australia China
Business Council said it came at an
opportune time as Chinas economy shifts to consumption-driven
growth, driving demand for Australian premium products and services.
The deal will ensure that Australian companies can compete on a level playing field with those countries
holding existing FTAs and will give
us a significant advantage over some
of our largest competitors including
the US, EU and Canada, said council
president John Brumby. AFP
South Korea to look

into forex market
rigging
South Koreas anti-trust
watchdog said yesterday it has
launched a probe into alleged
foreign-exchange market rigging
by global banks, following a report that six lenders were under
investigation.
A probe has been launched
into how alleged foreign currency price fixing by international banks may have hurt South
Korean firms, a Fair Trade Commission official said, declining to
disclose details.
The Seoul Economic Daily
said yesterday that Barclays,
Bank of America, Citigroup, JP
Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of
Scotland and UBS were under
investigation.
The commission is probing
whether manipulation of the
price of US dollars and euros,
and of derivatives markets,
damaged South Korean financial
institutions and firms, the newspaper said.
Last month US and British
regulators fined six major global
banks Barclays, JPMorgan
Chase, Citicorp, Royal Bank
of Scotland, UBS and Bank of
America a total of nearly US$6
billion between them for rigging
foreign exchange market and
Libor interest rates.
Also in May South Africas
competition watchdog opened
an investigation into foreign currency price fixing by Citigroup,
Barclays and other banks. AFP
12 International Business
JAKARTA
Motorbike taxi
app cruising
through
Indonesia
A POPULAR motorbike-hailing app is
putting a new, two-wheeled spin on
smartphone taxi services in the Indonesian capital, with thousands of motorcyclists in distinctive green jackets
and helmets offering commuters an
escape from Jakartas notorious traffic gridlock.
Go-Jek is an Indonesian start-up
that has won widespread
praise, as well as triggering aggressive competition from other
businesses already
fighting for a stake
in the market.
Like appbased taxi
service
Uber,
which
made its debut in
Indonesia in August, Go-Jek is a
smartphone-based service. But instead of allowing users to hail a car,
it lets them book a personal motorcycle driver.

The service takes its name from
Jakartas ubiquitous motorbike taxis,
known as ojeks, which have been
occupying street corners in the capital for decades but always operated
informally with no safety standards
or pricing guidelines.
It is proving popular as a means
of getting Jakartans more rapidly through jams than taxis,
on bikes that are newer
and more reliable than
standard ojeks, which
are often shabby and
neglected. It is also
a much-needed addition to the citys scant
public transport options,
such as spluttering old buses and auto-rickshaws.
Jakarta is the largest city in
the world without a subway or
mass rapid transit system although
one is under construction causing
havoc in a sprawling metropolis with
poor infrastructure where millions
commute by road every day from
nearby satellite cities.
Go-Jeks founder and chief executive Nadiem Makarim admits his business isnt a panacea for the citys intractable gridlock, rated the worst in
the world in one study this year, but
hopes it can go some way to helping.
Were basically giving Jakarta customers an option to opt out, he said.
Go-Jek first launched in 2011 but
revamped itself in January with a
A motorcycle driver with Indonesian start-up Go-Jek in traffic along a street in Jakarta. Photos: AFP
new-look mobile app. It has seen

exponential growth in the past six
months in the tech-savvy city of 10
million, where even the shortest journey by car can result in hours wasted
in traffic snarls.
The number of drivers has jumped
from 1000 six months ago to 10,000
today and the app has been downloaded almost 400,000 times, making
it currently the most popular app in
Indonesia on both Apple and Android
handsets, according to Mr Makarim.
Unlike the informal ojek sector
Were basically
giving Jakarta
customers an option
to opt out [of the
gridlock].
Nadiem Makarim
Go-Jek founder
where passengers must seek out

drivers and negotiate a rate on the
spot Go-Jek informs the passenger
of the price upfront and provides the
drivers name, contact number and a
photo.
With Go-Jek, you just put in your
destination and where you are and
boom you know the fare, and its
definitely cheaper, said 33-year-old
corporate worker Dina Denso, who
has just started using the service.
But in an echo of the problems
that Uber has faced in many countries, the success of the start-up is
agitating traditional drivers who
cannot compete on price and are
feeling the pinch as distinctive bikers clad in green Go-Jek branding
swarm the city.
The service was forced to release
a statement this month condemning
threats of violence made against its
drivers while Jakartas governor has
been criticised for publicly throwing
his support behind the venture.
It also faces challenges from other
companies.
Southeast Asian outfit GrabTaxi
launched a motorcycle service GrabBike in May, offering free rides for an

initial period and with drivers sporting bright green uniforms similar to
those worn by Go-Jek motorcyclists.
Mr Makarim is all too aware of
GrabBike copied us to a tee
but is prepared for a fight. Go-Jek
launched a food delivery service in
April, throwing its hat into an already
crowded ring, and also offers a courier service delivering everything from
shopping to medicine.
Were competing on multiple
fronts, he said.
Some predict the business model
will go global and inspire similar
homegrown start-ups in other trafficclogged cities.
John Rossant, chair of Paris-based
think-tank New Cities Foundation,
said crowded megacities from Cairo
to Delhi would be keeping a close
eye on Jakarta and the innovations it
comes up with in the future.
The way young Indonesians embrace these kind of things is completely amazing, he said, holding up
a smartphone. AFP
SYDNEY
Woolworths on
lookout for new chief
IN PICTURES
Photo: AFP
Indian labourers plant rice paddy cuttings in a field on the

outskirts of Amritsar. The India Meteorological Department
has predicted an overall 12 percent shortfall in monsoon
rains for the season, mainly due to the presence of El Nino
conditions in the Pacific Ocean which often weakens the
southwest monsoon over India.
AUSTRALIAN supermarket giant

Woolworths said yesterday its chief executive will quit and 1200 jobs faced the
axe after months of disappointing sales.
Grant OBrien, who has been with
the company for 28 years and has
been chief executive since late 2011,
recently set out a three-year plan to
grow the business.
However, the recent performance
has been disappointing and below expectations, he said in a statement.
I believe it is in the best interests of
the company for a new leadership to see
these plans to fruition.
His retirement saw shares in Woolworths, which is one of the biggest
supermarket chains in Australia along
with rival Coles, climb 1.86 percent to
A$27.34 (US$21.10) by mid-afternoon.
Mr OBrien said the company was on
track to exceed a forecast A$500 million
(US$390 million) in cost savings but it
would take time for the three-year strategy to produce results in sales.
Food and liquor sales were poor
in December and January, still disappointing in April, and had failed to
improve since. Woolworths said it expected a net profit for the year of about
A$2.15 billion after significant items
while ongoing strategic change would
cost about A$270 million, including up
to A$50 million in redundancy costs.
We now anticipate a total reduction of approximately 1200 roles
across support functions, supply

chain and non-customer facing store
positions, it added.
Company chair Ralph Waters said
the board remained committed to the
three-year strategy announced in May
but said any new chief executive would
not have their hands tied.
EMPLOYEES
1200
Number of employees slated to be
sacked with Woolworths plan
I dont think any CEO worth their

salt would take the job with handcuffs
on, Mr Waters was quoted as saying in
The Sydney Morning Herald.
If they have a different view
from the current strategy ... theyd
need to convince the board to
change direction.
Mr OBrien will remain in the job
until a replacement can be found, with
a search already under way. AFP
International Business 13
www.mmtimes.com
NEW YORK
BANGKOK
Bank of Thailand in
tough leadership hunt
Rupert Murdoch arrives to the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in West Hollywood,
California. Photo: AFP
Murdochs son takes

over Fox on July 1
RUPERT Murdochs 21st Century Fox
said late on June 16 its board approved
a shakeup that puts the 84-year-old tycoons son James in the chief executive
job effective July 1.
The media-entertainment conglomerates board approved the plan
in which the Australian-born magnate
would step down as CEO and become
co-executive chair with his other son,
Lachlan.
The succession plan, which was
leaked last week by sources close to
the company, allows Rupert Murdoch
to ease out of the day-to-day management of the group, with his sons sharing many of those tasks.
The statement said the companys
corporate functions and its global television and film operations will now
jointly report to Lachlan and James
Murdoch.
It has always been our priority to
ensure stable, long-term leadership for
the company and these appointments
achieve that goal, Rupert Murdoch
said in the statement.
Lachlan and James are each talented and accomplished executives
and together, we, as shareholders and
partners, will strive to take our company to new levels of growth and opportunity at a time of dynamic change
in our industry.
Lachlan and James Murdoch said

in a joint statement, We are both
humbled by the opportunity to lead,
with our father and the talented team
of executives at 21st Century Fox, this
extraordinary company.
James Murdoch, 42, will hold the
CEO job at the group, which owns the
Fox studios in Hollywood, and Foxs
television operations in the US and
around the world.
He ran the Asian and European operations for his fathers group and was
thrust into the position of crisis management in the phone-hacking scandal
that rocked the company in Britain.
James managed News Corps
musical division and later headed
BSkyB, a satellite broadcaster in
which the company had invested,
before resigning amid the phonehacking scandal.
21st Century Fox was created two
years ago when Mr Murdoch split the
struggling publishing operations from
his News Corp empire from the fastergrowing media and entertainment operations.
Rupert Murdoch and his family remained in control of both companies
after the split. He is executive chair at
News Corp with Lachlan listed as cochair.
AFP
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Putin to ink gas deal

with Greece tomorrow
A FORMER International Monetary

Fund economist, a woman and a
central banker who defended the
baht before it was floated 18 years
ago are among the likely candidates
to be the new governor of the Bank
of Thailand.
Five applicants have met the
criteria of the central banks selection committee, which will propose
at least two names to the finance
minister by July 2 after interviews
on June 23, according to Krisda
Chinavicharana, head of the finance
ministrys Fiscal Policy Office. Once
he makes his choice, he will seek the
Cabinets approval, after which the
prime minister gets the kings endorsement.
Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul, who will end his five-year tenure on September 30, has held office
through a military coup, the worst
floods in seven decades and three
governments. The new chief faces
falling exports, deflation, an economy that grew at the slowest pace
in four years in 2014, the prospect
of higher US interest rates and diminished firepower after two unexpected rate cuts this year.
Its a tough job to become governor at this juncture because of
limited monetary-policy effectiveness, said Santitarn Sathirathai, a
Singapore-based economist at Credit Suisse Group. The new governor
must have strong credibility and
respect to set powerful policy guidance, which will help boost policy
efficiency.
The five candidates are deputy
governors Paiboon Kittisrikangwan
and Tongurai Limpiti, the only woman; Veerathai Santiprabhob, a former
executive at Siam Commercial Bank
Pcl and the Stock Exchange of Thailand; Supavud Saicheua, managing

director of Phatra Securities; and
Kiatchai Sophastienphong, a former
BoT director, according to local media reports.
We cant comment on this matter as the central bank doesnt get
involved in the selection process,
said Bank of Thailand spokesperson
Chirathep Senivongs Na Ayudhya.
A seven-member selection committee, led by a former permanentsecretary for commerce, has met
twice to screen applicants. All five
shortlisted candidates are required
to write a paper detailing their views
on the Thai and global economy, as
well as their plan for managing the
central bank, from monetary policy
to the payments system.
Each candidate had a 30-minute
closed-door interview today, with
Mr Paiboon going first after drawing lots, said Krisda, who is secretary of the selection committee.
The selection wasnt always
this rigorous: Before 2008, when
the process was put in place, the
finance minister named the governor in consultation with the government. The system differs from
countries like Indonesia and the
Philippines, where the president
makes the appointment.
In Thailand, Mr Veerathai, 45,
would be the youngest governor in
four decades if chosen. He is seen
as a frontrunner along with Mr
Paiboon, with both also on the ratesetting monetary policy committee.
A former economist at the IMF,
Mr Veerathai has a doctorate in
economics from Harvard University and was an Eisenhower Fellow
in 2013. He returned to Thailand to
lead the Policy Research Institute of

the Ministry of Finance during the
Asian financial crisis, and is credited with driving the countrys capital market development and Asean
capital market integration during
his tenure as chief strategy officer at
the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
It's a tough job to

become governor
because of limited
monetary-policy
effectiveness.
Santitarn Sathirathai
Credit Suisse Group economist
Mr Paiboon, 54, was a recipient

of a central bank scholarship, with
which he earned his bachelors degree from the London School of
Economics and a masters from the
University of Chicago. He has held
several positions at the monetary
authority and was part of the team
that defended the baht before the decision to float the currency in 1997.
Thai monetary policy is highly
accommodative and more rate cuts
would do little to boost growth, Mr
Paiboon said in an interview.
As in countries including India
and Indonesia, the central bank
governor in Thailand has had to
contend with pressure from the
government. The new chief also has
to confront challenges that were unknown to the predecessors.
Bloomberg
U.S. Soybean Export Council Southeast Asian Regional Office (USSEC SEA) Seeking
Applicants for a Full Time Aquaculture Technical Manager Position in Myanmar
Are you a professional in the Myanmar aquaculture industry and looking for an exciting and challenging new position? The
USSEC SEA Regional Office is seeking applicants for the position of USSEC Myanmar Technical Manager Aquaculture
(USSEC MM TM). Our aquaculture program has been in existence since 1985 and specifically growing in SEA since
2002 - and we are now expanding our professional staff in the SEA region. We are seeking someone who is wellconnected, self-motivated, and looking to continue to develop our national program for the USSEC in Myanmar. This
position will require an independent work approach, significant domestic and international travel, and will expose the
successful candidate to international experts, training and experiences. The USSEC SEA Office has an established,
long-term program and a strong team of experts that work to promote a profitable, sustainable, soy-optimized, feed-based
aquaculture industry in SEA.
We are seeking a person who is innovative, proactive, flexible and committed to helping the USSEC to develop a long
term program in Myanmar and region-wide.
The USSEC is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable, feed-based aquaculture production approaches
through knowledge transfer, on-site trainings, seminars, workshops, conferences, industry tours and demonstrations.
The specific goal of the USSEC aquaculture program is to promote the use of soy, and specifically U.S. soy products,
in aquaculture feeds. However, as all aspects of aquaculture are interlinked, the work will include a broad variety of
responsibilities and knowledge, from broodstock and hatchery operations, to feedmill and production operation and even
up to the processing and marketing side of seafood.
Minimum applicant requirements:
PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin will

showcase plans for a Russian recovery
to investors at a key economic forum
this week, signing a major gas deal
with Greece as it teeters on the brink
of default.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras will meet Mr Putin tomorrow
at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, making his second visit
to Russia in less than three months.
Once billed as Russias answer
to Davos, this years forum will be
overshadowed by the conflict in
Ukraine, as well as taking place
against the backdrop of increasingly tense wrangling over the Greek
debt crisis.
Analysts say they expect few
deals to be signed at the event amid
continuing Western sanctions over
Moscows alleged support for the proRussian separatists fighting in eastern
Ukraine.
Mr Tsipras has openly criticised the
sanctions, but his dealings with Putin
are unlikely to help his immediate

problem of a deadline at the end of the
month for a 1.6 billion euro (US$1.8
billion) payment to the IMF.
Tsipras is looking to manoeuvre
in an impossible situation, but his efforts are unlikely to bring Athens any
hard cash, said Yevgeny Gontmakher,
an economist with the Russian Academy of Sciences.
He makes these trips to Russia to
show the Europeans that he has other
cards to play. Objectively, Russia is not
capable of resolving the problem of
Greek debt.
The Russian government has repeatedly stressed that Greece has
never requested direct financial
aid from Moscow. But ever since
the radical-left Syriza party swept
Greeces elections in January, Moscow has been courting Mr Tsipras,
a former Communist who has made
no secret of his desire for closer ties
with Russia.
AFP
Myanmar national with established aquaculture industry experience. Technical skills in the hatchery, feed, production
and health management aspects are desired, particularly for freshwater and marine fish. Undergraduate students and
non-Myanmar citizens should not apply.
Based in or near Yangon with a current passport and consistent good access to the internet. Drivers license is
appreciated but not needed.
Must have a desire to travel extensively domestically and internationally for training and work assignments and be
physically able to maintain an aggressive travel schedule and to conduct technical servicing in remote locations under
challenging conditions
Good English language ability (speaking/reading/writing). Ability to speak several national dialects is an advantage.
Ability to follow required accounting and administrative tasks. Contractors working for USSEC are expected to work on
a reimbursement model for project activities, therefore it is critical that accounting and administration be done quickly
and accurately (training will be provided by our Singapore office).
Ability to work largely independently with remote supervision by the USSEC SEA Technical Director Aquaculture
(USSEC SEA TD). Will also work on team activities with regional aquaculture staff.
The USSEC MM TM will be trained extensively and will be specifically expected to work with the Myanmar aquaculture
industry to identify where the USSEC can be most effective in promoting good aquaculture practices, feed-based systems
and use of U.S. soy. It is expected that the successful candidate will be hired on probationary basis during training until
October 31, 2015 after which a one year contract will be offered. An attractive/competitive compensation package will be
offered to the successful finalist.
Please send a brief introduction letter detailing experience that matches the requirements above, a current CV and two
English speaking references to Ms. May Myat Noe Lwin- Myanmar Aquaculture Local Technical Support
(noenoeinbk@gmail.com) with the words USSEC MM TM 2015 in the subject line. Applications that do not follow this
format and submit all required documents will not be considered - following this format is part of the application process.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, target start date is by or before June 30, 2015 if the appropriate
candidate is identified. USSEC plans to conduct in-country interviews on June 24, 2015 in Yangon.
14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015
15
World
WORLD EDITOR: Kayleigh Long
TOKYO
UN releases report
on peacekeeping forces
sex abuse allegations
Last-minute registration
scramble for Haitians
in Dominican Republic
WORLD 19
WORLD 16
HONG KONG
SEOUL
WHO issues warning as MERS

outbreak spreads in S Korea
Japan warns China on reclamations

JAPAN warned China yesterday that
its extensive land reclamation in the
disputed South China Sea does not
make ownership a done deal, after
Beijing announced it had almost finished its controversial island-building.
The rebuke came after Washington
urged China against militarisation of
the area, saying that risked escalating tensions, even as satellite pictures
have shown a runway long enough to
let even the biggest aircraft land.
It also came as details emerged of
a joint exercise between Japan and
the Philippines, as the relationship
blossoms between the two regional

powers most prepared to push back
against Beijings perceived rising aggression.
We hold serious and significant
concerns about the unilateral actions
aimed at changing the status quo,
which are bound to increase tension,
Japans chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
With the completion of the reclamation, we must not accept the land
reclamation as a done deal. We demand [China] not take unilateral actions that bring irreversible and physi-
Disputed claims in the South China Sea

CHINA
TAIWAN
(claims Spratly
Islands)
Vietnamese
claim
Chinese claim
Paracel
islands
Philippines
claim
VIETNAM
PHILIPPINES
Spratly
Islands
Brunei
claim
Malaysian
claim
BRUNEI
MALAYSIA
200 km
Thitu Island airfield
SPRATLY ISLANDS
Major outposts and facilities
By country
China
Subi Reef
Malaysia
Sand Cay
Itu Aba airfield

Gaven Reef
Philippines
Taiwan
Eldad Reef
Mischief Reef
Fiery Cross Reef
Vietnam
Cuarteron Reef
Hughes Reef
Johnson South Reef
Spratly Island airfield

West London Reef
Swallow Reef airfield

50 km
Sources : D.Rosenberg/MiddleburyCollege/HarvardAsiaQuarterly/Phil govt/ChinaMaritimeSafetyAdministration/CSIS/AMTI
cal changes, he said.

Japan has long criticised Chinas
attempts to change the status quo unilaterally and by force, mindful of its
own dispute with Beijing over islands
in the East China Sea.
The US says China has created
2000 acres (800 hectares) of new land
in the South China Sea in the last 18
months.
Huge dredgers have been spotted
dumping sand on previously submerged reefs, many of which now
house buildings and ports.
Manila said yesterday that a 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) runway on Fiery Cross
Reef big enough to handle a Boeing
747 was 75 percent complete,
This can serve as Chinas forward
operating base, a refuelling stop for
ships and aircraft, Philippine defence
department spokesperson Peter Galvez told AFP.
This will allow China easy reach
in the West Philippine Sea [the Filipino term for a section of the South
China Sea claimed by Manila] and extend their reach up to Australia and
other parts of the South Pacific.
They can do anything they want
there. It could be their command and
control centre, he said.
Some commentators suspect China
is preparing to declare an Air Defence
Identification Zone over the sea, forcing all aircraft to declare themselves
to Chinese authorities.
The US is particularly wary of Beijings growing ambitions in the area,
and last month invited a television
crew aboard a surveillance plane as it
flew near the island reclamation work.
Chinese military transmissions
could be heard telling the American
plane to stay away.
Washington on June 16 welcomed
Beijings announcement of an end to
some reclamation work, but warned
against weaponising the new islands.
We certainly dont want to see the
militarisation of these facilities, a senior State Department official told reporters. They do nothing to decrease
tensions in the region, in fact they
have the opposite effect.
The Philippines has led Southeast
Asias charge against China.
Manila has also sought support
from the US and from Japan, including in acquiring military and paramilitary hardware to bolster its woefullyequipped coastguard, which is at the
frontline of its pushback.
Japan and the Philippines will
hold their second joint naval drill next
week in waters near the contested
Spratly islands, following an exercise
in the South China Sea in May. AFP
BANGKOK
Man gored by elephant at restaurant

AN elephant killed a 28-year-old
Thai man and injured his colleague as
they were eating dinner at a beachside
restaurant in eastern Thailand, police
said yesterday.
The local telecoms employee died
in hospital after the elephant gored
his chest with its tusk as he ate
hotpot with a fellow worker in the
coastal city of Rayong late on June 16.
They were talking to the mahout
[elephant keeper] about buying food
for the elephant when it suddenly
stabbed one man in the chest with
its tusk and kicked the other, local
police Lieutenant Thawat Nongsingha
told AFP.
The mahout has been charged with

offences including violating animal
welfare legislation and negligence
causing death, Pol Lt Thawat said.
He added the mahout had been
released from custody while the
elephant was still under the mahouts
care.
The maximum penalty for negligence causing death is 10 years in jail
and a fine of 20,000 baht (US$600).
Thailands
roughly
4000
domesticated elephants outnumber
an estimated 2500 remaining in the
wild.
The capture of wild elephants for
entertainment use is banned.
Domestic elephants in Thailand

where the pachyderm is a national
symbol have been used en masse
in the tourist trade since they found
themselves unemployed in 1989 when
logging was banned.
They are prohibited from entering
cities but incidents of mahouts using
the animals as a tool for begging are
not uncommon, while elephants are
frequently used legally for the amusement of holidaymakers in camps and
zoos.
The telecoms worker died on
June 16 while his 30-year-old colleague
remains in hospital.
AFP
Placards symbolising a vote against the governments controversial electoral roadmap are displayed on the seats of pro-democracy lawmakers in the citys
legislature in Hong Kong on June 17. Photo: AFP
Crunchtime for Hong Kong on

electoral roadmap reform vote
HONG Kong entered a political
showdown yesterday as lawmakers
debated a divisive reform package
ahead of a key vote, with tensions
high over an alleged explosives plot
that police said was linked to a
radical group.
The vote pits democracy campaigners against the government in
the culmination of a fraught chapter which saw tens of thousands of
protesters take to the streets last
year over the controversial electoral
roadmap.
Although the governments reform proposal would for the first
time give all residents the right to
vote for the chief executive in 2017,
it adheres to a Beijing ruling that
candidates must be vetted by a loyalist committee.
The plan is derided as fake democracy by opposition lawmakers,
who have vowed to vote against it
and deny the two-thirds majority it
needs to pass.
Authorities in Hong Kong have
said repeatedly they cannot diverge from Beijings August ruling, which sparked weeks of rallies
that brought parts of the city to a
standstill.
The debate began yesterday afternoon, with the vote expected to
take place by June 19.
Deputy leader Carrie Lam, one
of the first speakers, warned that

reform would be off the table if the
package was blocked.
This administration cannot relaunch the [reform] process ... political development will inevitably
come to a standstill.
A front-page editorial in the
Chinas Peoples Daily, the Communist Partys mouthpiece, yesterday
urged lawmakers to pass the bill,
saying social chaos could ensue
otherwise.
One of the starting points to
promote long-term prosperity and
stability in Hong Kong is the promotion of universal suffrage, it
said.
Pro-democracy
lawmakers
sat with multi-coloured placards
marked with a cross to signal their
intention to reject the bill.
Hundreds of protesters from
both sides gathered outside the legislature earlier yesterday, separated
by metal barriers.
Civic Party lawmaker Alan
Leong urged cheering pro-democracy supporters to continue to
fight.
Meanwhile
pro-government
supporters waved Chinese national
flags and shouted 2017, make it
happen! through loudspeakers.
Political analyst Sonny Lo called
the vote a critical juncture and
said the bill was unlikely to pass

due to the pan-democrats pledge.
That paves the way for a further
schism between Hong Kong and
Beijing, he said.
Beijing will lay the blame on
those democrats who torpedo the
political reform bill, which [it] believes represents a sincere concession from the central government.
Beijing will lay

the blame on
those democrats
who torpedo the
political reform
bill, which
[it] believes
represents a
sincere concession
from the central
government.
Sonny Lo
Political analyst
It comes after police arrested 10

people on suspicion of conspiracy
to manufacture explosives, and
seized materials they said could be
used to make the highly-volatile explosive TATP.
Police said one suspect had
claimed to be a member of a radical local group named by local
media as the National Independent
Party.
The group was reportedly linked
to the pro-democracy localist
movement that is seeking a more
independent Hong Kong.
Five men and one woman were
jointly charged with conspiracy
to cause an explosion and were
due to appear in court yesterday,
while one man and three women
were freed on bail pending further
investigations.
Activists accuse the authorities
of a smear campaign, with many
saying they had never heard of the
group.
Some fear more radicalism could emerge if the political
impasse continues.
With the current political deadlock ... Hong Kong is moving to a
situation where it could be unstable and could be more violent, said
Surya Deva, an associate professor at Hong Kongs City University
school of law. AFP
SOUTH Korea announced its

20th death from the Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus yesterday as criticism of efforts to contain the outbreak grow,
with alarming reports of new
cases slipping through a quarantine that already affects thousands.
The World Health Organization cautioned yesterday that the outbreak
in South Korea is something all
countries ought to be vigilant about.
The outbreak really should
serve as a wakeup call for countries, WHO assistant director general Keiji Fukuda said after an
emergency
committee
meeting.
All countries should always be prepared for the unanticipated possibility of outbreaks like this and other
serious infectious diseases, a WHO
statement said.
However, the UN health body
said that conditions for a public health emergency of international concern have not been met.
The warning came as a 54-year-old
woman died of MERS yesterday morning after being diagnosed on June 5,
South Koreas health ministry said.
It also reported eight new patients
including four who had been infected at Samsung Medical Centre in
Seoul, considered the epicentre of the
outbreak.
This took the total number of infections including those
who have died to 162, the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.
Seventeen patients are in critical
condition, the ministry said, adding
19 had recovered and been released
from hospital.
The number of new infections
had fallen for three days in a row
from 12 on June 14 to four on June
16, when the ministry said it was cautiously optimistic the worst was over.
But the latest number dashed such

hopes, as a health official raised concerns over more new infections beyond the Samsung hospital.
We think that more new cases
can sporadically occur en masse in
hospitals other than Samsung, Kwon
Joon-Wook, a senior health ministry
official, told reporters.
The government aims to curb outbreaks in 11 hospitals considered major epicentres including Samsung
by the end of this month, he added.
Critics say the governments handling of the crisis shows it has done
little to improve lax overall public safety standards since the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014.
Almost all infections so far have been
restricted within hospitals.
But
several
patients
diagnosed in recent days were not
among those put in quarantine.
One patient reported on June 16 in
the southeastern city of Daegu developed symptoms on June 13 but continued his normal activities, including going to work and taking a trip to
a public bathhouse.
The 52-year-old public servant,
currently in isolation, visited his
mother in late May while she was a
patient in the Samsung hospital, and
his sister was diagnosed with MERS
on June 10, the Daegu city council
said yesterday.
Another patient a 55-year-old
ambulance driver at the Samsung
hospital continued to go to work
via subway for days after developing
symptoms including fever on June 2.
He was officially diagnosed on June
12, the health ministry said.
He came into contact with nearly
500 people while developing symptoms including 160 patients at the
Samsung hospital, it said, adding most
had been placed under observation.
The
Dong-A
Ilbo
newspaper
slammed the government for
unrealistically
playing
down
the magnitude of the outbreak.
All the optimistic words and predictions from health authorities have turned out to be wrong
so far, it said in an editorial.
We are concerned whether [health
minister] Moon Hyung-Pyo ... will
ever be able to get the situation under control.
A staff member at Samsung hospital is also among the eight new
cases announced yesterday, though
the health ministry said it was unclear where the 33-year-old had been
infected.
About 80 patients, visitors and
workers have contracted the virus
at the hospital one of the countrys
largest, which suspended most operations on June 14 to stem the further
spread of the disease.
Staff members at two other hospitals were also diagnosed, as well as
a patient in the city of Hwaseong, 43
kilometres (27 miles) south of Seoul.
The number of people who were
exposed to patients and put under
quarantine either at state facilities
or at home has jumped by 922 to
more than 6500.
As public alarm grew, the number
of subway and bus passengers plunged
by more than 20 percent in the capital
Seoul, the city council said yesterday.
The virus appeared in South Korea
on May 20 when a 68-year-old man
was diagnosed after returning from a
trip to Saudi Arabia.
Since then it has spread at an
unusually rapid pace, sparking widespread alarm.
There is no vaccine for MERS
which has a mortality rate of 35 percent, according to the WHO.
AFP
PNOM PENH
Draft NGO law slammed by UN

AS the controversial draft NGO law
finally reached Cambodias National
Assembly yesterday, a UN rights expert became the latest to heap criticism on the proposed legislation,
saying it proved that it was not
meant to serve the sector but to
control it.
Chheang Vun, a member of parliament with the ruling Cambodian
Peoples Party, confirmed that the
draft Law on Associations and
Non-Governmental Organisations
(LANGO) had been received by the
National Assemblys Permanent
Commission.
After a meeting of the commissions
members, he said, the draft will
soon be sent to one of the National
Assemblys expert commissions
for review. When the review is complete, the Permanent Commission
will decide whether to approve the
law and set a date for parliament to
officially vote on it.
It is still an ongoing process within the National Assembly before we
give it approval, Vun said.
CNRP lawmaker Um Sam An, a
member of the Legislation Commission, said he had not yet seen a
copy of the draft law, so was unsure
if any issues were likely to be found
in the review.
The law, an unofficial draft of which

was first obtained by The Post last
week, has long instilled fear among
civil society that it will hamper
rather than help NGOs.
The legislation was green-lighted by
the Council of Ministers on June 5,
after Prime Minister Hun Sen recommended two articles be scrapped
to reduce red tape.
But despite claims that people
would be pleasantly surprised by
the bill, a number of vaguely worded provisions and seemingly harsh
restrictions remain.
After reviewing the draft, Maina
Kiai, the UN special rapporteur on
the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association, said
todays version seems worse than
the [heavily criticised] 2011 draft in
many respects.
The most significant issue with
the draft as it stands is that it requires all associations to register,
and criminalizes those that dont,
he commented via email.
Any group of people coming together to pursue a common cause,
be it a human rights issue or cleaning up their neighbourhood, is an
association. And under this draft,
every single one of them will be a
criminal organization if they do not
register.
Mr Kiai said that this provision is
a clear violation of international
law and lacks common sense.
Its frankly none of the governments business, he added.
Additional problems include the demand that NGOs be neutral toward
all political parties, Mr Kiai said.
It seems to me that it can be interpreted so broadly that any criticism of the government could be
banned.
Opposition
spokesperson
Yim
Sovann said the Cambodia National
Rescue Party was waiting to see an
official version of the draft before
commenting on the legislation.
But, he said, a review of the unofficial draft suggested the rights of
civil society are limited so much its
not acceptable.
Council of Ministers spokesperson
Phay Siphan argued that compared
to legislation in other countries, the
law is very mild.
If they dont understand it, call
our government to explain, he said.
Mr Kiai, however, said that urgent
changes need to be made and urged
the Assembly to engage in meaningful consultations with all relevant stakeholders in a truly democratic process. Phnom Penh Post
16 World
SANTO DOMINGO
Deportation
fears for Haitian
migrants
THOUSANDS of Haitian undocumented immigrants lined up outside
government offices in the Dominican
Republic on June 16, racing a deadline
to register with the authorities or face
deportation.
The Dominican government gave
undocumented immigrants the vast
majority of whom are from Haiti next
door, the poorest country in the Americas until 7pm yesterday to submit
papers under new rules to regularise
their status.
Those standing in the long lines
under the hot sun said the deadline
was impossible to meet, as rights
groups estimated that some 200,000
Haitians would be facing deportation.
Ive been coming here for five
days, and havent managed to get in,
said Jean Claude Jodias as he stood
outside the interior ministry.
In the morning, I got through the
entrance. But the police kicked me out
and I couldnt fight them. I gave a man
500 pesos [US$10] to get me in, but I
never saw him again, said Mr Jodias,
a construction worker who has lived
in Santo Domingo, the Dominican
capital, for the past 10 years.
An estimated 458,000 Haitians
live in the Dominican Republic, often
labouring in the sugar cane fields or as
domestic workers.
They make up nearly 90 percent of
the countrys immigrants and 5.4pc of
the total population. Just one in 10 has
legal status.
As the deadline approaches,
Haitian men, women and children
have been lining up outside the interior ministrys gates day and night,
through drizzling rain, morning chill
and midday heat of 35 degrees Celsius
(95 Fahrenheit).
Similar scenes played out at registration centers across the country,
where the immigrants had until 7pm
yesterday to turn in their paperwork.
Those who do not register under
the regularisation plan ... are subject
to deportation, said Deputy Interior
Minister Washington Gonzalez.
The so-called National Plan for the
Regularisation of Foreigners is the latest source of tensions between the Dominican government and the Haitians
who have sought to carve out a better
life in the country next door and escape chronic poverty and instability at
home.
Haitians have long been targets of
resentment and racism, which boiled
over into the massacre of thousands of
them in 1937 under the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.
Haitians queue up at the night to legalize their status at the Interior Ministry in Santo Domingo, on June 16. Photo: AFP
Mariamis Crousef, who had spent

the night in line, was awaiting her
turn with her 18-month-old daughter.
She complained, like many of those
waiting, that Haitian authorities were
dragging their feet in delivering her
the required identity document.
I applied for our papers in November and I still havent received them,
she said.
Those who have managed to get
inside and begin the paperwork often
do not realise they no longer need to
beat the deadline.
They wait in line with the rest,
I applied for our

papers in November
and I still havent
received them.
Mariamis Crousef
Undocumented Haitian immigrant
even though the government has said

that those who have begun the process
by deadline will have a year to complete it.
The interior ministry estimated
that 250,000 foreigners would register, between 94 and 96 pc of them
Haitian.
The government, which has been
accused of violating deported Haitians rights, says it has invested in
buses and holding centers to ensure
decent treatment of those who will be
deported. AFP
NDJAMENA
Chad vows no impunity for masterminds of suicide bombing

CHADS President Idriss Deby has
vowed there would be no impunity for
those who masterminded twin suicide
bombings that killed 24 people and
wounded more than 100 on June 15.
The bombings, the first such attacks in the capital NDjamena, have
been blamed on Boko Haram jihadists who have previously attacked
villages along Chads border with
Nigeria.
Whoever is responsible [for the attacks] ... will answer for their action.
And I promise that this action will not
stay unpunished, said Mr Deby, who
had just returned from an African Union summit in Johannesburg.
This invisible hand and its

co-sponsors have hit a peaceful people who were only seeking peace for
themselves and for Africa and for the
world, he added.
Mr Deby said he was not surprised by the attack given Chads lead
role in a regional offensive against
Boko Haram fighters operating out of
northeastern Nigeria.
Security was stepped up in
NDjamena on June 16, with scores
of police and soldiers patrolling the
streets and stopping cars for security
checks.
Vehicles with tinted windows had
been barred from the streets and the
area around the presidential palace

and the police headquarters which
was one of the bombers targets, along
with a police academy had been
sealed off.
The June 15 attacks on the police
caused deep shock in the capital.
Its terrible ...I never would have
thought that such a thing would happen in NDjamena, Ali Gamane, an
engineer working for the agriculture
ministry, said.
Doctors at the citys Amitie hospital were struggling to cope with the
influx of wounded.
Many of the injured risk dying if
the public doesnt come forward to
donate blood, nurse Ache Zenaba

warned.
Four terrorists were also killed in
the blasts, according to the authorities, who gave no further details.
The government called for calm.
These attacks, which aimed to
strike fear into the people, will not
slacken Chads determination to combat terrorism, the government said,
assuring the situation was entirely
under control.
Although Boko Haram has yet to
claim responsibility for the bombings, France, which relies heavily on
NDjamena in the fight against jihadist
groups in the Sahel region, accused the
militants of being behind the attack.

There is no doubt that Boko Haram is responsible and will be brought
to justice for this new humanitarian
horror, French President Francois
Hollande said during a visit to Algeria.
Mr Hollande spoke with Mr Deby
by telephone and hailed the Chadian
leaders brave fight against terrorism while assuring him of Frances
support, a statement from the French
presidents office said.
UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon also condemned the attacks and
praised Chad for its courageous role
in the fight against Boko Haram.
AFP
World 17
www.mmtimes.com
MOSCOW
Putin cites threats as arsenal boosted

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia must defend itself
if threatened, as the US warned against
a return to a Cold War status after
Moscow announced plans to boost its
nuclear arsenal.
The declaration from the Kremlin
strongman came on June 16 as Russia
reacted with fury to reports the US is
planning to bulk up its military deployments in eastern Europe, adding to
already high tensions between Russia
and the West over the Ukraine conflict.
Mr Putin said NATO which has
accused Russia of backing rebels in
eastern Ukraine with weapons and its
own troops, a claim Moscow denies of
coming to our borders.
If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will
have to direct our armed forces and
modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates,
he said at a meeting with his Finnish
counterpart Sauli Niinisto.
As soon as some threat comes from
an adjoining state, Russia must react
appropriately and carry out its defence
policy in such a way as to neutralise a
threat against it, Mr Putin added.
Relations between Moscow and
Western countries have plunged to
their lowest point since the Cold War
over conflict in Ukraine, and on June
16 Mr Putin once again raised the spectre of the conflict by announcing plans
to boost Russias nuclear arsenal by the
end of the year.
This year, the size of our nuclear
forces will increase by over 40 new
intercontinental ballistic missiles that
will be able to overcome any, even the
most technologically advanced, missile
defence systems, Mr Putin said at the
opening of an exhibition of military

hardware outside Moscow.
The United States slammed the
announcement as a retrograde move
reminiscent of the Cold War.
Weve had enormous cooperation
from the 1990s forward with respect
to the destruction of nuclear weapons
that were in former territories of the
Soviet Union. And nobody wants to see
us step backwards, said US Secretary
of State John Kerry.
Nobody should hear that kind of
announcement from the leader of a
powerful country and not be concerned
about what the implications are, he
said, adding that nobody wants to I
think go back to a kind of Cold War
status.
Russia has an estimated 7500 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, of which around 1780 are deployed on missiles or at military bases.
The United States, in comparison,
has some 7300 warheads, of which
2080 are deployed.
In 1991, the US and the then-Soviet
Union signed the START treaty to reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals.
Nobody wants to
I think go back
to a kind of Cold
War status.
John Kerry
US Secretary of State
IN BRIEF
Washington
US Senate votes to ban torture
The US Senate has voted to ban torture

during interrogations, a measure
aimed at ending brutal techniques that
were used on terror suspects following
the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
The measure passed overwhelmingly on June 16, 78 votes to 21, with
all members of the Democratic caucus
and 32 Republicans in support.
They included Republican co-sponsor John McCain, who was tortured in
Vietnam, where he was a prisoner of
war for more than five years after he
was shot down over Hanoi in 1967.
This amendment provides greater
assurances that never again will the
United States follow that dark path of
sacrificing our values for our shortterm security needs, said Mr McCain,
who has pushed for years to end the
practice.
The ban passed in the form of an
amendment to the National Defense
Authorization Act for 2016, which is
under debate in Congress. The Senate
and House would both have to pass the
broader bill for the torture ban to head
to President Barack Obamas desk for
his signature, but that is a question
mark.
The White House last month said
Mr Obama threatened to veto the
defense bill because it short-changes
key administration priorities.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who led
a years-long investigation on the use of
torture and released a startling report
late last year describing the Central
Intelligence Agencys use of brutal
techniques such as waterboarding
and rectal feeding, also co-sponsored
the torture measure.
Todays vote puts the Senate on
record that there can be no return to
the era of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and that President
Obamas executive order (against
torture) should be enacted into law,
Ms Feinstein said.
Should the amendment become
law, it will limit interrogations to the
Army Field Manual, she said.
It would also require that the International Committee of the Red Cross
be provided access to detainees in US
government custody.
Washington
Meeting air pollution targets
could save lives, study finds
Cleaner air worldwide would save 2

million lives a year, a study released
yesterday found.
We were surprised to find the importance of cleaning air not just in the
dirtiest parts of the world which we
expected to find but also in cleaner
environments like the US, Canada and
Europe, co-author Julian Marshall
of the University of Minnesota said in
the study published by Environmental
Science & Technology.
His team found that areas with dirtier air such as China, India and Russia
could save up to 1.4 million lives by
meeting WHO pollution targets.
In addition, hitting the targets in
less-polluted regions could reduce
premature deaths from pollution by
more than half a million a year.
Pollution especially by tiny particulate matter (PM) that can find its
way deep into lungs is to blame for
3.2 million preventable deaths every
year, according to the WHO.
Lead author Joshua Apte of
the University of Texas focused on
suspended particles smaller than 2.5
microns; this kind of PM can play a role
in heart disease, stroke, emphysema
and lung cancer.
Around the world most people live
in environments of under 10 micrograms of the particles per liter of air,
the maximum allowed by WHO recommendations. But in parts of India and
China, the levels can top 100
micrograms. AFP
Mr Kerry in April said the US was

ready to hold new negotiations with
Russia on additional strategic nuclear
cuts below the level agreed in the 2011
New START treaty.
NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said
Mr Putins remarks were part of a
pattern of aggressive behaviour by
Moscow.
This nuclear sabre-rattling by Russia is unjustified, destabilising and it is
dangerous, Mr Stoltenberg said.
But Mr Putin said that observers
should not blow anything out of proportion with regard to Russias perception of the threat from NATO, saying it was more political signals aimed
towards Russia or its allies.
Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe have been rattled by Russias actions in Ukraine, where it annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014
before pro-Moscow separatists began
fighting Kievs forces in the countrys
east.
NATO has moved to reassure Russias nervous Eastern European neighbours, launching US-led drills in the
Baltic states and Poland earlier this
month.
The New York Times reported at the
weekend that the Pentagon was poised
to station heavy weapons for up to
5000 American troops in several Eastern European and Baltic countries to
deter Russian aggression.
This would be the first time since
the end of the Cold War that the US
has had heavy military equipment including battle tanks in newer NATO
members that were under Moscows
influence in the Soviet era.
Poland said on June 14 it was in
talks with Washington about storing
A Russian Heavy Flamethrower System TOS-1 fires during the Army-2015

international military forum in Kubinka, outside Moscow, on June 16. Photo: AFP
heavy US weaponry on its soil.

US Air Force Secretary Deborah
Lee James said F-22 fighter jets could
be deployed to Europe as the standoff
with Moscow rumbles on, The Wall
Street Journal reported on June 15.
Russias foreign ministry has lashed
out at the mooted US deployments
in the region, warning that the move
could take on a life of its own.
Russias Deputy Defence Minister
Anatoly Antonov on June 16 accused
NATO of pushing [Moscow] towards
an arms race, state-run agency RIA

Novosti reported.
Mr Putin toured a vast arms fair at
a site outside the capital on June 16,
a site that is set to become a Patriot
Park which will showcase Moscows
military might.
The Russian leader, who enjoys skyhigh approval ratings and has pumped
vast sums into retooling Russias armed
forces, praised the countrys militaryindustrial complex as a locomotive for
innovation. AFP
World 19
www.mmtimes.com
UNITED NATIONS
UN panel on sex abuse by peacekeeping

forces submits findings to Ban Ki-moon
TO eliminate sex abuse from UN
peacekeeping missions, the first major review of operations in 15 years
recommends that countries which
flout childrens rights be barred from
blue helmet missions.
A panel headed by Nobel Peace
Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta
was tasked with rethinking peacekeeping at a time when UN missions are increasingly under threat
and increasingly asked to manage
conflicts.
Mr Ramos-Horta was tapped to
carry out the mission last year before recent allegations implicated
UN peacekeepers in sexual abuse in
Haiti and Liberia, and French troops
in Central African Republic. On June
16, he submitted his report to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
A summary of the report, obtained by AFP, recommends that
troops from countries that flout the
rights of children in armed conflict
be excluded from UN peacekeeping
missions.
The United Nations publishes annual lists to shame countries with
questionable records on children
and armed conflict, and on conflict
related sexual violence.
The report also recommends that
disciplinary action or the lack of it
taken by troop contributing countries be disclosed.
Six-month deadlines should also
be imposed on investigations, compared to an average 16 months, and
an effective and adequately resourced victim-assistance program
set up.
Peacekeepers immunity from

prosecution must not mean impunity, and should not be extended to UN
personnel alleged to have committed
sexual exploitation and abuse, the
summary recommended.
Mr Ramos-Horta, a former president and resistance leader from East
Timor, recommended that UN civilian staff could face local justice.
No one should be above the
law, he told reporters. But he recognised that no soldiers of any country
would accept being subject to national law. Instead, they could face
justice at home.
Mr Ramos-Horta said the recent
UN troop scandals were the worst
thing that can happen to the UN
that undermines its credibility.
It will take enormous efforts to
overcome this dark chapter, he told
reporters at UN headquarters in
New York.
A draft UN report obtained by
AFP last week showed that UN
peacekeepers routinely buy sex
with anything from jewellery to
televisions in countries where they are
deployed.
One-third of sexual abuse allegations against UN personnel involved
children and teenagers under 18.
There were 480 allegations of sexual abuse from 2008 and 2013 with
the largest missions registering high
numbers of cases, in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Liberia, Haiti,
Sudan and South Sudan.
More generally, Mr Ramos-Hortas report recommends that the 16
UN peacekeeping missions adapt to
United Nations peacekeeping operations

125,396 personnel deployed in 16 operations worldwide
Current operations
*Latest available data, include uniformed and civilian personnel, volunteers
MINURSO
Western Sahara
Since April 1991
Current strength*: 470
UNMIK
Kosovo
June 1999
UNFICYP
Cyprus
March 1964
UNIFIL
Lebanon
March 1978
UNDOF
Golan
June 1974
366
1,072
11,430
941
15 killed
46
55
183
MINUSTAH
Haiti
June 2004
308
UNMOGIP
India and
Pakistan
January 1949
8,394
111
11
179
UNTSO
Middle East
May 1948
MINUSMA
Mali
April 2013
368
11,510
50
49
UNISFA
Abyei
June 2011
UNMIL
Liberia
September 2003
UNOCI
Ivory Coast
April 2004
7,309
8,678
MINUSCA
Central
African
Republic
April 2014
MONUSCO
DR Congo
July 2010
24,842
18
UNAMID
Darfur
July 2007
20,921
UNMISS
South Sudan
July 2011
10,339
2
190
4,303
14,342
86
132
Top contributors
As of April 2015
35
216
Military assets deployed
9,307
Bangladesh
Pakistan
8,163
India
8,112
Ethiopia
7,864
Rwanda
5,575
Nepal
5,316
Senegal
3,570
Ghana
3,053
Nigeria
2,975
Egypt
2,937
Source : United Nations Peacekeeping
Airplanes
59
Helicopters
167
UUAV
unmanned,
unarmed aerial
vehicle
11
Ships
Vehicles
13,248
Medical clinics
350
new realities in which they are killed

by extremist groups, as in Mali, or
kidnapped, such as on the Golan
It will take
enormous efforts
to overcome this
dark chapter.
Jose Ramos-Horta
Head of UN investigation panel
Heights.
In the past 15 years, crises have
multiplied and the number of UN
peacekeeping troops has soared to
nearly 130,000, up from 20,000, as
part of a budget that has ballooned
to more than US$8 billion.
Their mandate is also more complex: They have to protect civilians
but also help host countries prepare
for elections.
The report called for a strong
push on conflict prevention, for the
Security Council to address emerging threats more quickly and use UN
resources earlier to support prevention and mediation.
It called for the establishment of
a modest UN rapid deployment to

reinforce missions urgently but did
not agree that the United Nations
should get involved in military counter-terrorism operations.
It called on emerging and
developed powers to contribute
more cash and soldiers to missions,
often supported by developing
countries such as Bangladesh and
Pakistan.
The report summary also called
for greater womens involvement
in operations and the deployment
of human rights experts and regular public reporting on the human
rights situation.
AFP
THE MYANMAR TIMES June 18, 2015
the pulse 21
www.mmtimes.com
it
ge
t
yo
gers o
n
i
f
n
DePuTY Pulse eDiTor: ToM BArTon tom.a.barton@gmail.com
A man drinks from a roadside free water pot in

Yangon. Photos: AFP/Soe Than Win
Troubled waters ahead in

Myanmars economic boom
Delphine ThouvenoT
very morning on his way to work in yangon, builder

Zaw Min Tun takes a swig of water at a Buddhist
temple, a vital place to quench a thirst for the many
ordinary citizens left behind by Myanmars economic
boom.
Bottled water is among the plethora of consumer industries
set to take off as the country emerges from decades of isolated
junta rule, putting more money in the pockets of the countrys
rich and a growing middle class.
But, at around 300 kyats (US$0.25-30) a litre, it remains too
pricey for the majority of people in a country where the average
annual per capita income of US$1105 remains one of the lowest
in Asia.
Decades of weak investment under junta rule means the vast
majority of people eight in 10 are forced to drink from unsafe
supplies such as wells, boreholes, springs and streams while only
9 percent have access to tap or piped water.
Poor infrastructure combined with the high prices of bottled
water means many locals like Zaw Min Tun rely on the terracotta
jars of water left by kindly strangers at the many Buddhist
temples across the country.
This is where I have to wait for the bus, he says under a
baking hot sky outside the temple in downtown yangon. And
when Im thirsty I take a drink.
On the other side of Myanmars consumer boom, adverts for
purified water cover billboards and the sides of delivery trucks
in yangon and other cities, pushing aspirational and wholesome
messages.
With Alpine, live longer and healthier, says the slogan of
market leader Alpine, a local company which produced 200
million bottles in Myanmar last year, and projects to churn out
300 million by the end of 2015.
Myanmars bottled water market is, as yet, far from saturated.
In 2013 consumption of bottled water per head stood at just 0.1

litres, according to a 2014 report by researchers at euromonitor
International, compared with 21 litres in the Asia-Pacific as a whole.
Nestle is among the international companies that have circled
the market for water, although the Swiss food and drink giant has
shied away from major investment so far.
This business has a great future. As people get richer, the
middle class has more expectation, said Sai Sam Htun, CeO of
Lo Hein Company, which owns the Alpine brand.
For the countrys newly minted middle class, such bottlers
offer a sense of security in what had been, until recently, a
notoriously unreliable cottage industry.
Previously, there were a lot of small players. They did not
care about water treatment, Sai Sam Htun added.
They just got it from underground or from the pipe from the
city water. They treated it very lightly.
Concerns over poorly purified water became such an issue that
in February the Ministry of Health banned more than 70 brands
after spot checks showed they failed basic safety tests.
As people get richer, the middle

class has more expectation
Sai Sam Htun
CEO, Lo Hein
Fenton Holland, an Australian specialist who has helped

Western drinks companies and hotels access safe water supplies
in Myanmar, said businesses are becoming aware they need
access to safe water.
even when you make potato chips you need high-purity
water, he said.
Decades of economic mismanagement under the brutal junta
has left Myanmar with a creaking and decrepit infrastructure and
the water supply is no exception.
According to national census figures released this month, only
31 percent of inhabitants living in cities consume purified water
in some form, falling to just 2pc in the countryside.
even in yangon, the nations economic heart, wells and ponds
are a common water source for the citys 7 million inhabitants,
especially outside of the centre.
On the citys western outskirts, far removed from the
construction cranes and car dealerships of the city centre, Thein
Ham, 51, fills up some water jars on the side of the street.
Bottled water is for other people. My mother did the same
thing, she explained.
On paper, Myanmar should not lack for fresh, drinkable water.
As a tropical country boasting three mighty rivers, it is
annually soaked by life-giving monsoon rains, although the dry
season often brings drought due to poor management.
revamping the countrys infrastructure is a Herculean task,
even in a city like yangon.
French firm egis has been commissioned by yangons
authorities to come up with a plan to rehabilitate thousands of
kilometres of water pipes under the city.
These pipes have to be cleaned and repaired, explained
Marion Hasse, a project coordinator for egis. Most of the pipe
network is between 50 and 70 years old.
She estimates that the centre of yangon could see safe
drinking water delivered via taps within five years, but for the
whole city, it could take more like two decades. AFP
A worker loads water bottles onto a truck at a distribution centre in Yangon.
Government workers checks water pumps at Yegu water pumping station in Yangon.
A worker tests a water sample at a laboratory in Yangon.
Photo: Zarni Phyo
22 the pulse
The Good Son

turned out great
NaNdar auNg
nandaraung.mcm@gmail.com
f Shirly Berkovitz hadnt

followed her instincts when
a shy young man showed up
unannounced at her doorstep,
audiences around the world
would never have learned the story of
courage and love that unfolded.
Berkovitz, a 38-year-old
documentary film director, first met
22-year-old Israeli man Or after he
knocked on her door and asked her
to take a look at his adventure videos.
But this was no ordinary adventure
this video journal recounted
Ors preparations for a journey to
Thailand to change his gender.
Though the idea of sex change
surgery was not an unusual story to
Berkovitz, once she saw Ors footage
detailing his suffering, secrets and
dreams, Berkovitz knew she had to be
there to document the process.
At first, I didnt know if the trip
would work out well or the story
would be a success, said Berkovitz.
It was like gambling. But I knew this
was real and I realised that Id won a
lottery. I had a big story and I had to
be able to go to Thailand to complete
the second part.
Berkovitz was born in Tel Aviv and
graduated from the film Department

at Hamidrasha School of art in Beit
Berl. Her films have received critical
acclaim in Israel and worldwide. Her
first debut film, The Way Up (2009),
was aired on the Yes Docu channel,
competed in the Israeli film category
at the Docaviv film festival, won first
prize for best documentary feature
at both the Romania International
film festival (Ro-Iff) and Belgrade
International film festival (fEST),
and was screened at tens of other film
festivals around the world.
Berkovitzs passion for learning
and sharing peoples stories left her
no room for hesitation in pursuing
Ors story. She couldnt find funding
for the story, so what did she do?
Berkovitz sold her house and car,
quit her job, left her dog with the
neighbour and flew with Or to
Thailand.
On the other side of the world
by now, Ors family members
thought he was leaving to study at
Oxford University. Hed even given
his parents a fake invitation from
the university, so theyd pay him
the money for study fees. His plan,
however, was to use the money for his
surgery.
Was it a low trick to pull? The
more time Berkovitz spent with Or,
Israeli director Shirly Berkovitz poses during an interview with The Myanmar Times. Berkovitz documentary The Good Son
screens for a second time in this years Human Rights Human Dignity Film Festival in Yangon tonight. Photo: Thiri Lu
the greater she empathised with his

plight the feeling that he didnt
belong; the feeling that his soul was
stuck in the wrong body.
Berkovitz realised that Or had lied
to his family because he was terrified
of their reaction. All alone, Or flew
from Israel to Bangkok to undergo
eight different surgeries over a month
nose, jaw, forehead, breast and, of
course, gender reassignment.
I am the shadow for my

character, said Berkovitz. I want to
show the secrets we keep from our
family that we are afraid to share. I
had a secret dream from my mother
and my mother had a secret from her
mother. This is how the world works.
Why is it like this? Why we have
afraid of sharing? This is something I
want to focus on. We need to lose our
fear of sharing.
Everybody has secret dreams in
their mind, but often it wont happen
on the outside. But Or had a dream
to fix his soul to be in the right place.
And so did female Or, who proved to
me that she can do what she wants
to do. It is a good lesson for me, said
Berkovitz.
Berkovitz shot the film for a year
and a half and spent the next two
years editing the 52-minute-long
documentary.
The sacrifice was worth it. The
Good Son was aired on the Yes
Docu channel from Israel and
sold to 10 different TV channels
around the world. It competed in
the main category at the prestigious
International Documentary film
festival Amsterdam where it won the
Peoples Choice Award. The Good Son
opened the Docs Barcelona festival,
competed in the Israeli film category
at the Jerusalem International film
festival, and was screened at over 20
other film festivals around the world.
The Good Son also screened to
hundreds of appreciative fans at Nay
Pyi Taw Cinema on June 16 as part
of the third Human Right Human

Dignity International film festival in
Yangon. The documentary will enjoy
a repeat screening tonight at 6pm at
Waziyar Cinema.
I felt like I won a lottery to get
this amazing story. I accepted an
invitation and I flew all the way
from Israel to here to show this film,
said Berkovitz at press conference
following the first screening of The
Good Son. I didnt dream that the
audiences would be full like this.
She also said in the future she
will shoot another documentary film
about a murder case that happened in
Israel. It is a story of mystery which
tells the tale of the victims father,
seeking revenge on his sons killer.
Berkovitz has been working on it for
almost two-and-a-half years, hopes
she will film it in the next two years.
And what of Or? Though she
returned home to Israel after her
month of painful surgery, the recovery
did not begin right away. Her father
refused to meet with her and her
mother cried both parents angry
and afraid. Luckily, time slowly began
to heal the wounds and love found its
way back into Ors family. Or started
working two jobs to repay her parents
money, and in the meantime she
found love and earned a chemistry
degree.
It is a story about acceptance and
our ability to forgive someone who we
really love, said Berkovitz. The story
is really a love story between a family
not a story about a sex change.
A poster for The Good Son, screening in the HRHDFF tonight at Waziyar cinema.
the pulse 23
www.mmtimes.com
SHANGHAI
China screens
Star Wars
in cinemas for
first time
C
hina has become
one with the Force by
showing the original Star
Wars film at cinemas for
the first time, nearly four
decades after it became a global hit
and cornerstone of Western popular
culture.
The Shanghai international Film
Festival is showing all six Star Wars
films this week, including the first
screenings in mainland Chinese
theatres of the original trilogy, festival
organisers said. There are no plans
for nationwide release.
in 1977, as foreign audiences
followed the adventures of Luke
Skywalker, han Solo and Princess
Leia a long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away, China had just

emerged from the chaotic Cultural
Revolution and had yet to launch
economic reforms which would
transform the Communist-ruled
country.
June 16 was the first showing
through the film festival of A New
Hope made first but ultimately the
fourth film in the series though
hard-core fans were treated to a
specially arranged screening of the
original trilogy shown back-to-back
on June 14.
at a central cinema, the June 16
show was nearly sold out. The Star
Wars theme song played in the lobby
as the young crowd entered, one man
wearing a C-3PO T-shirt and a woman
Chinese fans (background) pose with actors playing Darth Vader (centre) and Stormtroopers at a cinema hall in Shanghai.
Photo: AFP/Walt Disney Studios China
sporting white Stormtroopers on her

black shirt.
Sales assistant Joy han took a
day off to see the film, even though
she has seen all six through illegal
downloads and pirated copies. The
six-DVD box set sells for around
US$12 in the Chinese commercial city.
it looks better on the big screen,
she said. This is the first time for
China.
Some audience members said they
were more familiar with the newer
prequel films The Phantom Menace,
Attack of the Clones and Revenge of
the Sith than with the original three
films: Star Wars: A New Hope, The
Empire Strikes Back and Return of
the Jedi.
US studio Walt Disney hopes the

screenings will prepare the Chinese
audience for the seventh episode in the
series, due for release later this year.
This will be the first-ever
theatrical screening of the original
trilogy in China, Kerwin Lo, vice
president and general manager of
Walt Disney Studios China, said
before the films showed.
The huge buzz and excitement
generated is going to be great for
the Star Wars franchise and the
upcoming Star Wars: The Force
Awakens, he said.
On the Chinese website Douban,
the original 1977 Star Wars film
received a rating of 8.3 out of 10 and
drew more than 35,000 comments.
We should view it with a

comparative perspective, said a
posting under the name T-maxdo.
in 1977, the United States already
had such stunning imaginative
creativity and movie special effects,
while China had just ended the
Cultural Revolution period and its
people had just emerged from a dark
era.
But some Chinese viewers
criticised the film for weak characters.
although the character design
is weak, the leading actress not
beautiful, the leading actor not
handsome and the action parts like
children fighting, placed in 1977,
the visual effects are amazing, said
Xiaosi Buxiang on the website. AFP
24 the pulse
DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

YANGON TO MANDALAY
MANDALAY TO YANGON
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Y5 775
Daily
6:00
7:10
Y5 233
Daily
7:50
9:00
W9 515
6:00
7:25
W9 201
Daily
8:40
10:35
YH 917
Daily
6:10
8:30
7Y 132
2,4,6,7
8:50
10:45
7Y 131
2,4,6,7
6:30
8:35
K7 223
1,3,5
8:55
11:00
K7 222
1,3,5
6:30
8:40
YH 918
Daily
8:30
10:25
6T 805
2,4,6
6:30
7:40
6T 806
2,4,6
10:30
11:40
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
7:00
8:55
YJ 202
1,2,3,4
12:00
13:25
W9 201
Daily
7:00
8:25
YJ 761
1,2,4
13:10
17:00
W9201
7:00
8:25
YJ 212
15:00
16:25
8M 6603
9:00
10:10
YJ 212
15:00
16:55
YJ 601
11:00
12:25
YJ 602
15:40
17:35
YJ 211
5, 7
11:00
12:25
7Y 242
1,3,5
16:40
18:45
YJ 761
1,2,4
11:00
12:55
K7 225
2,4,6,7
16:50
19:00
YH 729
2,4,6
11:00
14:00
YH 728
17:00
18:25
YH 737
3,5,7
11:00
13:10
W9 152/W97152
17:05
18:30
YH 727
11:30
13:40
Y5 776
Daily
17:10
18:20
W9 251
2,5
11:30
12:55
W9 211
17:10
19:15
7Y 241
1,3,5
14:30
16:25
YH 738
3,5,7
17:10
18:35
K7 224
2,4,6,7
14:30
16:35
8M 6604
17:20
18:30
Y5 234
Daily
15:20
16:30
8M 903
1,2,4,5,7
17:20
18:30
W9 211
15:30
16:55
YH 730
2,4,6
17:45
19:10
W9 252
2,5
18:15
19:40
YANGON TO NAY PYI TAW
NAY PYI TAW TO YANGON
YANGON TO HEHO
Flight
YH 917
YJ 891
7Y 131
YJ 891
K7 222
7Y 131
Y5 649
YJ 751
YJ 761
YJ 751
YH 737
YH 727
K7 224
7Y 241
W9 129
Days
Daily
6
2,4,6,7
1
1,3,5
Daily
Daily
3,5
1,2,4
7
3,5,7
1
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
1,3,6
Dep
6:10
6:20
6:30
6:30
6:30
7:15
10:30
10:30
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:30
14:30
14:30
15:30
HEHO TO YANGON
Arr
9:15
9:10
9:20
10:10
9:30
10:05
12:45
11:40
12:10
12:10
12:25
12:55
15:45
15:40
16:40
YANGON TO MYEIK
Flight
Y5 325
K7 319
6T 705
7Y 531
Y5 325
SO 201
Days
1,5
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
2,4,6
2
Daily
Dep
6:45
7:00
7:30
11:15
15:30
8:20
Flight
YJ 891
YH 918
YJ 891
W9 201
7Y 132
K7 223
YJ 761
YJ 752
YJ 762
7Y 242
K7 225
YH 728
YH 738
YJ 602
YJ 752
W9 129
Days
1
Daily
6
Daily
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
Daily
7
1,2,4
1,3,5
2,4,6,7
1
3,5,7
6
3,5
1,3,6
Dep
9:00
9:15
9:25
9:25
9:35
9:45
12:25
12:25
15:00
15:55
16:00
16:15
16:25
16:25
16:45
16:55
Arr
10:10
10:25
10:35
10:35
10:45
11:00
17:00
17:55
17:00
18:45
19:00
18:25
18:35
17:35
17:55
19:10
MYEIK TO YANGON
Arr
8:15
9:05
8:40
13:20
17:00
10:40
YANGON TO SITTWE
Flight
Y5 326
6T 706
7Y 532
K7 320
Y5 326
SO 202
Days
1,5
2,4,6
2,4,6
1,3,5,7
2
Daily
Dep
8:35
8:55
15:35
11:30
17:15
13:20
Arr
10:05
10:05
17:40
13:35
18:45
15:40
SITTWE TO YANGON
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
7:00
7:55
SO 101
Daily
7:00
8:00
K7 422
2,4,6
8:00
9:55
K7 423
2,4,6
10:10
11:30
ND 910
1,2,3,4,5
7:15
8:15
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
8:10
13:25
7Y 413
1,3,5,7
10:30
12:20
7Y 414
1,3,5,7
12:35
13:55
1,3,6
11:30
12:55
W9 309
1,3,6
13:10
14:55
Daily
11:45
12:55
6T 612
Daily
13:15
14:20
Domestic Airlines
Air Bagan (W9)
Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102
Air KBZ (K7)

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

Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640
Fax: 532333, 516654
Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051
Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)

Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020
Yangon Airways (YH)

Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264
Fax: 652 533
FMI Air Charter (ND)

Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545
APEX Airlines (SO)

Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311
Fax : 95 (1) 533312
Air Mandalay (6T)

Tel: (+95-1) 501520, 525488,
Fax: (+95-1) 532275
ND 105
1,2,3,4,5
10:45
11:40
ND 9102
1,2,3,4,5
8:35
9:35
W9 309
YJ 211
11:00
15:45
ND 104
1,2,3,4,5
9:20
10:15
6T 611
ND 107
11:25
12:20
ND 106
10:00
10:55
ND 109
1,2,3,4,5
14:55
15:40
ND 108
1,2,3,4,5
13:30
14:25
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
ND 9109
1,2,3,4,5
17:00
18:00
YJ 212
16:00
16:55
K7 422
2,4,6
8:00
8:55
K7 422
2,4,6
9:10
11:30
ND 111
18:25
19:20
ND 110
17:00
17:55
7Y 413
1,3,5
10:30
11:20
7Y 413
1,3,5
11:35
13:55
SO 102
Daily
18:00
19:00
ND 9110
1,2,3,4,5
18:20
19:20
W9 309
1,3,6
11:30
13:50
7Y 413
12:05
14:20
K7 = Air KBZ
7Y 413
11:00
11:50
W9 309
1,3,6
14:05
14:55
W9 = Air Bagan
Y5 421
1,3,4,6
15:45
16:40
Y5 422
1,3,4,6
16:55
17:50
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines
YANGON TO NYAUNG U
NYAUNG U TO YANGON
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
YH 917
Daily
6:10
7:45
YH 918
Daily
7:45
10:25
YANGON TO THANDWE
THANDWE TO YANGON
YANGON TO DAWEI
DAWEI TO YANGON
YJ 891
6:20
7:40
YJ 891
7:55
8:25
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
6:30
7:50
YJ 891
8:05
10:10
K7 319
1,3,5,7
7:00
8:10
YH 634
2,4,6
12:15
13:25
K7 222
1,3,5
6:30
7:50
7Y 132
2,4,6,7
8:05
10:45
YH 633
2,4,6
7:00
8:25
K7 320
1,3,5,7
12:25
13:35
7Y 131
2,4,6,7
6:30
7:50
K7 223
1,3,5
8:05
11:00
SO 201
Daily
8:20
9:40
6T 708
3,5,7
14:15
15:15
K7 224
2,4,6,7
14:30
17:25
K7 225
2,4,6,7
17:40
19:00
7Y 241
1,3,5
14:30
17:10
W9 129
1,3,6
17:50
19:10
7Y 242
1,3,5
17:25
18:45
W9 129
1,3,6
15:30
17:35
15:30
17:40
W9 129
15:30
17:35
YANGON TO MYITKYINA
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
MYITKYINA TO YANGON
LASHIO TO YANGON
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
YJ 751
3,5
10:30
12:45
YJ 752
3,5
15:40
17:55
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
YH 729
2,4,6
11:00
13:00
YJ 752
16:10
17:55
6T 805
2,4,6
6:30
8:55
6T 806
2,4,6
9:10
11:40
YJ 751
11:00
13:15
YH 730
2,4,6
16:45
19:10
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
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
YJ 233
11:00
15:10
YJ 234
15:25
W9 251
2,5
11:30
14:25
W9 252
2,5
16:45
YANGON TO PUTAO
SO = APEX Airlines
7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines
YH = Yangon Airways
YJ 891
W9 211
Airline Codes
PUTAO TO YANGON
Flight
Days
18:15
YH 826
1,3,5,7
7:00
10:35
YH 827
1,3,5,7
10:35
13:55
19:40
W9 251
2,5
11:30
15:25
W9 252
2,5
15:45
19:40
YJ = Asian Wings
6T = AirMandalay
FMI (ND) = FMI Air Charter
Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday
4 = Thursday
5 = Friday
6 = Saturday
7 = Sunday
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
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Dated: 18th Jume, 2015
Guams Travis Nicklaw attempts a shot as Indias Arnab Kumar Mondal extends to try to block the ball during a 2018 FIFA
World Cup Russia and AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Joint Qualification Round 2 match. Photo: AFP
Guam stun
India as Aussies
survive scare
G
uam stunned India to
move to the top of their
2018 World Cup qualifying group on June 16,
while Japan saw their
campaign get off to a rocky start as
they were held to a goalless draw by
Singapore.
Reigning asian champions australia scraped past a gritty Kyrgyzstan
with a 2-1 victory.
South Korea, China and the united arab Emirates, meanwhile, had
no such problems with all winning
their opening matches in their bids
to qualify for the 2018 tournament
in Russia.
The tiny Pacific island of Guam
produced the most remarkable result
on June 16, with the matao winning
2-1 against opponents who are currently 33 spots ahead above them in
the FIFa rankings and have a population of 1.24 billion to Guams 160,000.
The win, before an ecstatic capacity crowd of almost 5000 at the Guam
Football association (GFa) National
Training Center, followed their firstever victory in a FIFa World Cup qualifying match last week when they beat
Turkmenistan 1-0.
Guam took the lead after 38 minutes when Brandon mcDonald headed
in Ryan Guys long throw-in. Travis
Nicklaw extended the advantage in the
62nd minute when he received a long
pass from his elder brother Shawn and
fired home on the turn.
Sunil Chhetri got a consolation
goal for India with the last kick of the
game but it did little to take the shine
off the result for Guam, who moved
to the top of Group D with six points
from two games.
The small island that wasnt supposed to win any matches in the World
Cup qualifiers is standing an impressive 2-0 in the early qualifying stages,
the daily Marianas Variety newspaper
said.
Theres still a lot more soccer left
to be played, but its safe to say no one
is taking Guam for granted from here
on out, it added.
Guams only previous World Cup
qualification campaign, in 2000,

ended in disaster when they were
thumped 19-0 by Iran and 16-0 by
Tajikistan.
Their worst-ever international
defeat was a 21-0 humiliation at the
hands of North Korea in 2005, and India went into the fixture full of confidence after posting a 4-0 win over the
island team in 2013.
But Guams Pacific Daily News
pointed out the mateo meaning
courage in the indigenous Chamorro
language had dominated India in
nearly every phase of the game.
Guams fortunes have improved
since English coach Gary White was
appointed in 2012, and there have
been no double-digit scorelines since
he took charge.
White has bolstered the team with
uS-based players with Guam heritage,
such as La Galaxy defender aJ DeLaGarza.
It feels nice to be at the top of the
group, the coach told FIFa.com after
the India win.
We used american-based players
to the fullest extent. This is not the
same Guam who used to play some 1516 years back.
australia will count themselves
lucky that they didnt suffer a similar
fate as India. mile Jedinak gave the
Socceroos an early lead in the second
minute of the game when his free
kick from 25 yards out wasnt stopped
by the Kyrgyzstan keeper Valery
Kashuba.
But then instead of buckling under the pressure, the home side went
on the attack and caused quite a
few problems for the ragged aussie
defence.
The second half saw a similar script
with Kyrgyzstan extremely unlucky
not to score as they hit the side netting three times. But then in the 67th
minute Tommy Oar, who had come
on as a substitute just nine minutes
earlier, scored the second goal for
australia.
Kyrgyzstan tried to keep up the
attacking tempo but could only find
a consolation goal through azamat
Baimatov in injury time.

It left the central asians ruing the
missed chances that could have caused
a big upset.
Japan, meanwhile, dominated
their opening match in Group E in
the second round of asian qualifying against Singapore but they
failed to make their possession count
against the Lions at a packed Saitama
Stadium 2002.
The Blue Samurai are aiming to
qualify for a sixth consecutive World
Cup, but Singapore goalkeeper Izwan
mahbud made a string of excellent
saves to deny the home side, including a pair of superb stops to keep out
second-half headers by Shinji Okazaki
and Keisuke Honda.
Honda went closest to breaking the
deadlock with a 73rd-minute free-kick
that came back off the crossbar.
The stalemate meant that Singapore moved to the top of Group E with
four points following their 4-0 win
against Cambodia last week.
afghanistan are level with secondplaced Syria on three points.
South Korea, who are eyeing a
ninth consecutive World Cup appearance, started well in Group G as goals
in either half by Lee Jae-Sung and Bayer Leverkusens Son Heung-min gave
them a 2-0 win over myanmar.
China also made an excellent start
in Group C with striker Yang Xu netting a hat-trick in a 6-0 thrashing of
Bhutan at Thimphu, but asian Cup
semi-finalists uaE had to work hard
for a 1-0 win over Timor Leste in
Group a as Omar abdulrahman netted the only goal 10 minutes from
time.
Hong Kong lead the way in Group
C after a 2-0 win over maldives, Thailand sit atop Group F after winning
2-0 at Chinese Taipei and North Korea
are frontrunners in Group H following a 4-2 victory over uzbekistan in
Pyongyang.
In the final match of the day, played
in Doha, Philippines eased past Yemen
2-0 with goals from misagh Bahadoran
in the 52nd minute and Iain Ramsey in
the 74rd minute. AFP
Sport 27
www.mmtimes.com
FIFA WOMENS WORLD CUP
Favourites advance to last 16

H
olders Japan and olympic champions the United
states both kept their title
challenges on track as they
advanced to the last 16 at
the Womens World Cup on June 16 as
group leaders.
The United states, beaten in the
2011 final by Japan, eliminated Nigeria
1-0 in front of their passionate fans in
Vancouvers BC stadium to lead Group
d, after the Japanese had earlier beaten ecuador 1-0 to top Group C.
The first southeast Asian representatives at a FIFA Womens World
Cup, Thailand succeeded in recording
one victory, beating Cte dIvoire 3-2
in their Group B encounter. But after
4-0 defeats at the hands of both Norway and Germany, their chances of
qualification as a best third-place finisher were slim yesterday.
surprise African newcomers Cameroon are the only side from the continent left as they beat switzerland 2-1
to advance second in Group C as Australia finished second in Group d after
holding sweden 1-1 in edmonton.
I think the crowd was amazing
and that had a big part in our game
tonight, said UsA coach Jill ellis of
the capacity crowd of nearly 53,000 at
BC Place stadium.
Im pleased with how we played
and pleased to be moving out of a
tough, tough group, she added of a
Group d dubbed the Group of death.

Captain Abby Wambach scored
her 183rd international just before half
time off a Megan rapinoe corner to set
the side on their way.
The 35-year-old now has 14 World
Cup goals, just one shy of Brazil star
Martas record 15 achieved earlier in
the tournament.
Nigerias defence had been hit
by Ugo Njokus suspension and the
African champions were down to 10
women for the final 20 minutes after
defender sarah Nnodim was sent off
for second yellow card.
The result means the UsA advance
to the knockout round as Group d
leaders with seven points, with Australia on four and sweden three.
Nigeria are eliminated with just
one point.
I dont think they [UsA] were very
good. It was a lack of concentration
on our part, said Nigeria coach edwin okon, who refused to shake elliss
hand after the game.
They were just lucky to win today.
she [Wambach] only got that goal because of a lack of concentration from
our defence.
As first in Group d the UsA next
meet one of the four best third-placed
finishers from another group in edmonton on June 22.
A draw was good enough to see
Australia through for their third con-
US fans hope the Olympic champions can add World Cup honours. Photo: AFP
secutive tournament, and they next

play Brazil in Moncton on June 21.
Captain lisa de Vanna scored after
five minutes for the Matildas but 10
minutes later 2003 runners-up sweden levelled thanks to sofia Jakobsson at edmontons Commonwealth
stadium.
Japans Yuki ogimi scored after just
five minutes in Winnipeg for Japan
against 48th-ranked ecuador.
Japan top Group C with nine
points, with Cameroon on six. switzerland have three points with ecuador
on the way home with none.
Coach Norio sasakis side will also
next face one of the four third-place
finishers to advance in Vancouver on
June 23.
It was good to score early tonight.
We should have scored more but
we werent able to. They were very
persistent in their defence, said sasaki.
In edmonton, Cameroon came

from behind to beat switzerland, who
had taken the lead when Ana Maria
Crnogorcevic scored after 24 minutes.
But Cameroon were transformed
after the break.
Goals from Gabrielle onguene after 47 minutes and a powerful header
from substitute Madeleine Ngono
Mani on 62 sealed all three points for
the 53rd-ranked side.
It is only the second time that an
African side have made it out of the
group stage after Nigeria in 1999.
Compared to Nigeria, Cameroon
are a small team. Were not just representing Cameroon but carrying the
colours of Africa, said coach enow
Ngachu.
As second-placed finishers in
Group C Cameroon next play Group
A runners-up China in edmonton on
June 20.
sweden and switzerland must now
wait to see if they finish as one of the
four best third-placed finishers across
the six groups.
The tournament continued late
yesterday with the final round of
group games.
In Group e Brazil played Costa rica
and spain were up against south Korea, while in Group F France took on
Mexico and england were up against
Colombia looking to seal a place in the
knockout rounds. AFP
FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

The Myanmar Times wallchart for New Zealand 2015
QUARTER-FINAL
1
Portugal
Brazil
QUARTER-FINAL
5
Brazil
USA
Serbia
*after penalties (0-0 FT)
june 14
june 14
SEMI-FINAL
SEMI-FINAL
1 V 2
5 V 0
june 17,
Brazil
Senegal
Mali
Serbia
june 17
june 20, 5pm, auckland
QUARTER-FINAL
0
Uzbekistan
QUARTER-FINAL
3
Senegal
june 14
Germany
Serbia
Mali
june 14
Sport
28 THE MYANMAR TIMES JunE 18, 2015
SPORT EDITOR: Matt Roebuck | matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com
Footballs
World Cups
SPORT 26 & 27
fIfa WORlD CUP 2018
Quiet start for Myanmars

World Cup campaign
MaTT ROeBUCk
matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com
YANMAr played out a

2-0 loss to South Korea
in front of a sparsely
populated rajamangala
Stadium in Bangkok on
June 16.
Just 1090 fans attended the Group
G joint qualifier for the FIFA World
Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019
home game played in Bangkok after
violence marred Myanmars last World
Cup qualifying campaign.
The numbers stood in stark contrast to the Myanmar fans that made
up a significant majority of the 31,143
spectators that watched the final of
the Southeast Asian Games football
tournament on June 15 when Myanmar U23s lost to their Thailand
equivalents.
Both goals were conceded from set
pieces as the Koreans tested Myanmars keeper Vanlal hruraia in the air.
The Ayeyawady No 1 flapped at Son
heung-mins corner-kick delivered
into the box in the 35th for Lee Jaesung to be left with a simple nod home
to open the scoring.
Most of the game was spent in
Myanmars half but the scoreline remained static until Son sealed the win
with a powerful free-kick that saw
Vanlal hruraia flail above his head,
failing to touch the ball as it passed
through his outstretched arms.
Despite the loss, Myanmars Serbian coach raddy Avramovi was reasonably satisfied with the result.
I think the result is not a bad one.
South Korea scored from static ball situations, which is unfortunate for us,
said Avramovi, quoted after the game
by the Myanmar Football Federation.
The first goal came from our defenders losing their attention on the
game. If this had not happened we
could have come away with a better
The Myanmar senior side line up for the pre-match rituals watched by a small crowd in Bangkok (inset). Photos: MFF
result, added the coach.

I hoped to use our wingers to
more effect on the counter-attack but
we struggled to make it happen despite the players best efforts. Im satisfied Myanmars players played to their
ability.
Whether all of those players will put
on the strip of the White Angels again

is to be seen. Avramovi has already
spoken of his interest in at least half-adozen of the players now released from
their duties with the U20s side that travelled to their age-groups World Cup at
the start of the month.
The goalkeepers jersey will be one
under particularly strong competition as both KBZ FCs Myo Min Latt
of the Myanmar U20s and Magway
FCs Kyaw Zin Phyo of the Myanmar
U23s received plaudits for their performances in recent tournaments.
Myanmars next qualifier will be
played away to Kuwait on September
3. They will then host Lebanon and

Laos on October 8 and 13 respectively
at Bangkoks Suphachalasai Stadium.
Myanmar sit fourth in Group G
after two games, with one point from
their visit to Laos on June 11.
Additional reporting
by Kyaw Zin Hlaing
BaSeBall
FBI probes Cardinals over Astros cyberattack

The St Louis Cardinals are under investigation by US authorities probing
whether officials of the Major League
Baseball powerhouse hacked into the
houston Astros computer network to
steal personnel information, US media
reported on June 16.
Major League Baseball, the Cardinals
and the Astros all issued statements saying they were cooperating fully with an
investigation into a breach of the Astros
database that was first reported to authorities last year.
The New York Times and Houston
Chronicle, citing law enforcement officials, reported that investigators from
the FBI and Justice Department had
uncovered evidence that Cardinals
employees successfully penetrated the
database that included information
about trades, statistics and scouting
reports.
The Times reported that FBI investigators in houston were leading

the inquiry and that subpoenas had
already been served on the Cardinals
and Major League Baseball for electronic correspondence.
The St Louis Cardinals are aware
of the investigation into the security
breach of the houston Astros database, the team one of baseballs most
successful franchises over the past
decade, with World Series triumphs in
2006 and 2011 said in a statement.
The team has fully cooperated
with the investigation and will continue to do so. Given that this is an ongoing federal investigation, it is not appropriate for us to comment further.
If confirmed, it would be the first
corporate espionage hacking case involving a professional sports team.
A series of high-profile companies
and government agencies have been

targeted by overseas hackers in recent
years, but often the intent is to steal
information to be used for fraud or
military and trade secrets.
It also would be a damaging blow
to the reputation of the Cardinals, one
of the most famous names in baseball
whose 11 World Series crowns are second only to the 27 of the New York
Yankees.
The Times cited law enforcement
officials as saying the hack was carried
out by front-office employees from the
Cardinals bearing a grudge against
Jeff Luhnow, the Astros general manager, who worked as an executive with
the St Louis team from 2003 through
the 2011 season.
It was not clear which Cardinals
employees were being targeted in the
probe, the report added.
The FBI in houston declined to

confirm or deny the probe, saying
only that it aggressively investigates
threats to public and private computer
systems.
Once our investigations are complete, we pursue all appropriate avenues to hold accountable those who
pose a threat in cyberspace, the agency said in a statement.
The alleged target of the hack,
Luhnow, is an avowed advocate of the
statistics-based approach to baseball
management depicted in the hollywood film Moneyball, based on the
best-selling book charting the rise of
Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics.
Since Luhnow joined the Astros
before the 2012 season, the team has
gone from a doormat to a contender,
this season standing atop the American League West division by two-and-
a-half games over Texas with a winning record of 37-28.

The Cardinals have appeared in
the National League championship
series in each of the past four seasons
and currently boast the best record in
baseball.
Going into the June 16 games, their
six-game lead over Pittsburgh in the
National League Central division was
the widest margin for any division
leader.
Luhnow said the Astros focus
would remain on the field.
Whatever team Ive been on has
always focused on themselves and
what were trying to do, he said in
comments reported on MLB.com.
Obviously, from the baseball
perspective, well deal with the baseball, and all other questions will go
elsewhere. AFP

Thursday, June 18, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 67)

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Thursday, June 18, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 67)

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HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

ISSUE 67 | THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015

New green cards meet

Potential mining sites

Yangon more expensive

Futures trader accused of

PHOTO: AUNG MYIN YE ZAW

Govt steps up on forex rate

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015

Ma Ba Tha leads protest over

ANGER is growing over the rape

Thailand, in the early hours of June 3.

Protesters bore placards accusing

This is not the first

Thailand concerning the sufferings

A BANGLADESHI border guard was

NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

NLD seeks help

UEC officials have admitted that

We found out that

Daw Hsu Mon Aung of Community

A ROW has erupted in parliament over the circulation among

involvement in the distribution.

MPs are particularly unhappy

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015

Chief Executive Officer

Myanmar Consolidated Media Ltd.

PHOTO: AUNG HTAY HLAING

Monks attend a conference at Tipitaka Nikaya Monastery in Dagon township yesterday on

Constitutional power struggle

AS attention focuses on the military

is generally only called upon to confirm the presidents appointments for

Speakers of parliament to select the

There are no good

vided support to the parliamentary

tenure for future judges was deeply

New green cards meet resistance

A NEW government project to issue

April 1 deadline. In return they were

A Muslim IDP in a camp in Sittwe holds a receipt given to him by immigration

create green cards. We dont believe in

and Rohingya migrants erupted last

were little different from the old white

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015

Green growth plan submitted

been discussed and debated by the 131

Antony Preston, second secretary

U Kyi Naing, LL.B., LL.M., (H.G.P.)

TRADE MARK CAUTION

(Reg: No. IV/7055/2014)

(Reg: No. IV/9694/2013)

Use in respect of: - Preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides,

(Reg: No. IV/2158/2015)

STUDENTS detained after the brutal police crackdown at Letpadan in

to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as

adequate healthcare for political

Laos: The cork

HEN John Kennedy

as Laos, with Chinese money and

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 18, 2015

Presidents Office steps

Yangon Heritage Trust installed its sixth

TRADE MARK CAUTION

(Reg: No. IV/12160/2012)