Myanmar weekly news vol01 no 11

Myanmar Weekly News

15th March 2014

Vol.1 No.11

MYANMAR WEEKLY NEWS Vol 1, No.11

15th March 2014

www.myanmar.com

Table of Contents NEWSMAKERS

Extremist Buddhists out to kill Suu Kyi's election hopes

Myanmar rejects UN claims of anti-Muslim massacre

Myanmar at Asean helm: we must push for national reconciliation

Reaching out to men who have sex with men in Myanmar

More Than 10,000 Local Business Evaded Taxes In 2012-2013

Rise in Bigotry Fuels Massacre Inside Myanmar

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POLITICS Myanmar Army ‘among most abusive in world’.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published — Friday 14 March 2014 WASHINGTON: Human Rights Watch is criticizing the United Nations for raising the possibility of Myanmar contributing UN peacekeepers. The New York-based group says the nation’s military remains among the most abusive in the world.

The group voices its concerns in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it made public Thursday.

Human Rights Watch says that despite Myanmar’s democratic opening, its military remains unreformed and continues to use child soldiers.

Ban’s special adviser on Myanmar raised the issue when he met with Myanmar’s commander in chief in late January.

A spokesman says the adviser said that like any UN member state, Myanmar could discuss its interest in peacekeeping with the world body.

Myanmar’s UN mission did not immediately comment.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/news/539806

Extremist Buddhists out to kill Suu Kyi's election hopes Htun Aung Kyaw Special to The Nation March 13, 2014 1:00 am

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Wirathu delivers a sermon on

Forces for democracy in Myanmar are facing a fierce backlash from the ruling USDP and its murky political alliances The ruling party and the main opposition have laid down their campaign strategies for next year's election in Myanmar (Burma).

Both parties will use their political power and support from allied parties to try to win.

However the key difference between the two is that the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has the army behind it, which will greatly influence the election outcome. The USDP leadership is almost exclusively made up of former military generals, and the current generals were once their trusted subordinates.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is trying to amend constitutional clause 59(f), which prohibits anyone who has been married to a foreigner or has children who hold foreign passports from running for president. Calls from the NLD to transform a one-sided military-drafted constitution into a democratic one via parliamentary amendment are growing louder by the day. Both President Thein Sein and lower House Speaker Shwe Mann have said they will not bar Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from running for the presidency and support her in the event she is elected as president. Meanwhile, however, the USDP has secretly collected 106,000 signatures from party members rejecting a proposed amendment to clause 59(f), which bars Suu Kyi - who was married to a foreigner and has children with UK passports - from running for the top post.

Meanwhile, in Rakhine State, what began as an inter-religious conflict has now transformed into a racial conflict that is spreading across the country. Nationalist Buddhist groups have emerged to form an umbrella organisation known as the National Religious Protection Group (NRPG). The first major effort by the organisation was pushing for a law to protect Buddhist women from being forced to change their religion when marrying Muslim men. The initiative later shifted focus to preventing Buddhist Myanmar women from marrying foreigners, before narrowing its focus and targeting Suu Kyi for marrying a British academic. The leader of the NRPG, a monk called Wirathu who Time magazine has called "The Face of Buddhist Terror", has indirectly attacked Suu Kyi on this issue. He said he respected Suu Kyi for her dedication to the democratic movement, but because she married a foreigner he would not favour her in the presidential election, instead supporting former general Shwe Mann.

Speaking at a conference of the sangha late last year, he directly endorsed the USDP, by default opposing the NLD led by Suu Kyi.

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The question that arises here is whether Wirathu's NRPG, in pushing for the new law, is seeking to protect Buddhism from Islam, or to support the USDP and attack the NLD leader for marrying a British citizen.

Suu Kyi has devoted her life to Buddhism. Her late husband was also a Buddhist, and she followed tradition by having her sons ordained as novices. So why is the NRPG still attacking her and campaigning to convince people not to vote for her? The NRPG is ignoring the fact that her entire family is Buddhist, and carrying out a smear campaign centred on the fact she was married to a British citizen. The NRPG was founded with the aim of protecting Buddhism, not promoting racial discrimination or xenophobia. Yet its leader, Wirathu, has stated that the reason he will not vote for Suu Kyi is that she married a foreigner. In other words, he is against all foreigners, even if they are Buddhists. So a contradiction exists between the NRPG's stated aim and its actions.

This raises a further question: Does the NRPG really want to preserve the Buddhist faith, or simply manipulate devoted Buddhists to act against the NLD party and its leader who married a foreigner? If the latter is so, the NRPG is not trying to protect Buddhism but simply attacking Buddhists who are foreigners. Unfortunately, it's likely that many monks and Myanmar citizens fail to understand the NRPG's true aim.

Two minor political parties rallied in Yangon recently to protest against moves to change clause 59(f) in the constitution. One speaker claimed the clause was written by General Aung San, founder of the military and Suu Kyi's father. In reality General Aung San did no such thing. One MP stood up to endorse Shwe Mann, the USDP's presidential candidate, saying he had sacrificed his life for the country like a good soldier. About 1,500 people attended the rally, which authorities were happy to permit without any interference. The same went for a recent rally in the second largest city, Mandalay, where 1,000 citizens, including monks, were in attendance. "If we change the constitution, our race and our religion will disappear in the future," said the keynote speaker. Meanwhile, the NRPG has called for a conference of Buddhist monks to discuss the issue of constitutional amendments.

The NRPG talks of protecting Buddhism but in the same breath endorses ruling-party candidates for the 2015 election. Several leading monks publicly support the ruling USDP. These facts illustrate that the NRPG's declared intention to protect religion is a secondary issue. The primary issue is using nationalist and Buddhist sentiment as a springboard to attack Aung San Suu Kyi and her party. In fact, the main role of the NRPG has become to campaign for the USDP - and directly attack the NLD. Fears that constitutional change is being blocked have been raised further by the make-up of the committee tasked with collecting data for potential amendments. The majority of committee members - 15 - are from the USDP, with seven members from the army, two members from the NLD and eight members from ethnic parties. With this majority, the USDP clearly has the final decision-making power over which amendments will be approved.

Of those proposed, 59(f) will be the last one to be decided upon.

USDP presidential candidate Shwe Mann has said the committee follows democratic principles, with the number of members reflecting the number of MPs each party has. This is odd reasoning, as the constitutional amendment process requires individuals with specific expertise in law, not members and representatives of political parties. But Shwe Mann prefers to talk about quantity, not quality. In reality, Myanmar citizens need the constitution to be amended by people who have expertise in law and a real commitment to democratic

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values, not members who follow party orders without considering what is best for the country.

Amending the constitution will not be easy for the NLD and the country's democratic forces.

The ruling party is employing its full might to block Suu Kyi, using the NRPG and other political allies to bar the way to reform. Those seeking to speak publicly in support of constitutional amendments are usually blocked by local authorities, or their gatherings restricted to 200 people. NLD support is thus limited, while government supporters enjoy the freedom to hold public rallies attended by thousands.

Though unlikely, there is still hope that key constitutional clauses like 59(f) may be amended. Without such changes, it's possible that Myanmar will see a repeat of the popular uprisings of 1988 and 2007. Such an uprising would likely lead to one of two scenarios: the end of military rule, or the resurrection of another military dictatorship.

Htun Aung Gyaw is a former head of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front who resettled in the US and did a master's degree at Cornell University. He is currently back in his homeland on a visit.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Extremist-Buddhists-out-to-kill-SuuKyis-election--30229047.html

Myanmar rejects UN claims of anti-Muslim massacre Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Human Rights Watch says if had to choose between Myanmar government report and UN one, would rather believe the U.N.

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SITTWE, Myanmar - A Myanmar government commission has rejected United Nations' claims that an anti-Muslim massacre took place in the west of the country in January.

The investigation into violence in the country’s Rakhine State earlier this year, claims that there is no evidence of any Muslim deaths, despite U.N. claims to the contrary.

In January the U.N. said it had evidence that at least 48 Muslims were killed when Buddhist mobs attacked a village in Rakhine. It called on the government to carry out a swift, impartial investigation and to hold those responsible accountable.

The report echoes a position the Myanmar government has taken since the claims first emerged from Du Chee Yar Tan, a village of some 4,000 people in Maungdaw Township, near the Bangladesh border.

The commission interviewed 175 residents in mid-February, and was chaired by Thar Hla Shwe of the Myanmar Red Cross Society.

Speaking at a press conference in Myanmar's former capital, Rangoon, he said: “Where are the bodies? Where are the dead bodies buried? Nobody could tell us.”

Kyaw Yin Hlaing, an advisor to Myanmar’s President Thein Sein and the secretary of the commission, said that conflict had taken place after a Rakhine Buddhist police officer went missing, but denied that anyone had died other than the policeman.

The U.N. believes that after the officer disappeared, security forces carried out raids on homes owned by Rohingya, a largely stateless group of Muslims who live in Rakhine.

The raid was ostensibly to find the officer, but descended into a massacre involving security forces and Rakhine villagers, according to the U.N. “If I had to choose between believing a Myanmargovernment report and a U.N. report, I would rather believe the U.N. one,” Phil Robertson, the deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch told the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

He added that the Myanmar government's commission “has been established long after the fact and has worked in a way which is neither transparent nor credible."

“I would like to see under what conditions the interviews were done. For instance, whether they interviewed Rohingya villagers in the presence of security personnel,” he said.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship and erroneously described by Myanmar’s government as “Bengalis,” reflecting the widespread myth that most are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The report also recommended that Rohingya be granted citizenship so they can administer their own communities.

A 1982 citizenship law is regarded by Human Rights activists in the region as a tool used to strip Rohingya of their citizenship rights.

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But Hlar Shwe said that many Rohingya would become citizens if the law were implemented properly.

Robertson told AA Wednesday that under the law “the number of eligible Rohingya would be very small.� *Anadolu Agency Correspondent Arnaud Dubus contributed to this story from Thailand.

Source: http://www.turkishpress.com/news/395027/

Myanmar spent $1.6 billion on embassy building in Bangkok Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 YANGON - Myanmar has spent US$ 1.3 billion (S$1.6 billion) building a new embassy in Bangkok, the most expensive among 18 new embassies being opened in major cities around the world, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry has disclosed on March 6 that the government is spending millions of dollars in public funds to open up diplomatic offices around the world, while the country still struggles to provide basic services such as water and electricity.

"Myanmar is now opening counselling offices including embassies and permanent representative offices in 40 major cities around the world to carry out diplomatic affairs.

Moreover, the lands as state owned ones, were bought in other 18 cities for the opening of embassies," said Tin Oo Lwin, deputy minister for foreign affairs.

Tin Oo Lwin was addressing Myanmar's Upper House in Nay Pyi Taw where he disclosed that Myanmar both bought the land and built the new embassy in Bangkok rather than hire an already existing building.

The biggest spenders following Bangkok were New Delhi (US$ 427 million), Tokyo (US$ 246 million), London (US$ 34.65 million), New York (US$ 26 million) and Singapore (US$ 15.63 million).

Other embassies are being opened Washington, Paris, Berlin, Cairo, Islamabad, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Vienna, Kunming, Vientiane, Seoul and Jakarta, all costing in the millions of dollars.

Source: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/myanmar-spent-16-billion-embassy-buildingbangkok

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Myanmar at Asean helm: we must push for national reconciliation Eliane Coates RSIS March 8, 2014 1:00 am

A Muslim woman carries her child and a bag of aid at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Sittwe in Rakhine state, western Myanmar. Doctors Without Borders, which provides medical and other aid to tens of thousands of Muslims displaced by intercommunal viol

Nay Pyi Taw's road to reform remains long and winding, but its neighbours can help power the country towards internal peace Myanmar's chairmanship of Asean, which began in January, will become an open display of its progress on national economic and political reforms. Nay Pyi Taw's hosting of the regional bloc has the potential to improve the country's international reputation, national economy and domestic reconciliation efforts.

After emerging from international-pariah status, Myanmar sees taking the Asean helm as an opportunity to demonstrate its reformist credentials and as a platform to re-engage the global community. The nation's chance comes after almost 50 years locked in the grip of a fierce and repressive military regime that paid little attention to international criticism.

However, under the leadership of a quasi-civilian government, it has stepped onto a path towards substantial reforms, including a loosening of the political system, press freedom and economic liberalisation. This has not only convinced Nay Pyi Taw's Asean neighbours, but has also managed to woo major powers including the United States into easing sanctions.

As Asean Chair, Myanmar now has the opportunity to discard its isolationist foreign policy and become a responsible stakeholder of the international community, helping steer Southeast Asia through contentious regional issues, including the South China Sea disputes.

Nay Pyi Taw's challenge now is to translate this chairmanship into genuine leadership.

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Apart from raising its international profile, leading Asean could unlock greater economic opportunities for Myanmar, spurring investor confidence and further integration with surrounding economies.

Asean's goal is to create a single Southeast Asian market and regional trading bloc by 2015.

However, Myanmar remains the bloc's poorest member with a GDP of only US$53 billion (Bt1.75 trillion), contributing only 0.2 per cent of total production in mainland Southeast Asia. Myanmar will struggle to meet the strict policy reform requirements for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in the specified time frame.

Nevertheless, increased investor confidence after taking the regional helm could help narrow the crucial gaps in critical infrastructure and employment, as well as provide the momentum to achieve market regulation and greater human capacity in Myanmar.

Domestic economic reforms have already helped to increase the flow of foreign capital into Myanmar. In a recent report by the private sector, Myanmar was listed as one of five countries that had made the greatest improvements over the last five years to their business environment. The floating of its currency, the kyat, as well as the launch of a new foreign investment law to regulate foreign ownership limits and land leasing rules, have not only made Myanmar more attractive to foreign investors but has also enabled further exploitation of its natural resource riches, such a arable land, forestry and natural gas. One report suggests the country's energy and mining sector is projected to expand to $22 billion by 2030 from $8 billion in 2010.

However, Myanmar's capacity to fully exploit such opportunities is questionable at best.

Endemic corruption, lack of transparency, limited legal recourse, slow and costly approval procedures to rebuild infrastructure, and remaining Western economic sanctions continue to stifle the country's economic growth. The World Bank recently ranked Myanmar 182 out of 189 countries for ease of doing business.

There has also been a brain drain of skilled workers to neighbouring countries which offer higher wages. While the economic payoffs in heading Asean may be great, more reforms must be made to create an inviting business environment to set the stage for Myanmar's full integration with the AEC. Rohingya crisis National reconciliation presents the biggest hurdle to the country's reform process. Many outsiders remain sceptical of Myanmar's development amid ongoing internal inter-ethnic conflict. Myanmar expects Asean to recognise its national reconciliation efforts to solve deep-rooted conflicts between the government and ethnic armies with ceasefire deals and comprehensive peace settlements.

While its neighbours are keen to see it succeed in its path to democratisation, Asean's support for the country will not be unconditional. The prestige and legitimacy associated with helming Southeast Asia's regional bloc must not obscure the fact that Myanmar still has a long way to go, particularly in protecting human rights and pursuing national reconciliation.

Myanmar's inter-ethnic violence continues to strain its Asean neighbours with the flow of Rohingya-Muslim refugees to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The Rohingya also pose a

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spillover potential security threat to some Asean members. In 2013 two Rohingya leaders linked to the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) were reported to have enlisted assistance in the form of weapons and tactical knowledge from Islamist groups in Indonesia.

At present, peace agreements with ethnic armies have not been consolidated. Instead of granting greater autonomy, Nay Pyi Taw is offering economic incentives through development projects to rebel leaders in exchange for signing ceasefire agreements. While this process has facilitated re-engagement between the two sides, it is no more than a short-term fix; it cannot replace sincere political dialogue to address the underlying political, economic and social causes of the ongoing armed conflict.

Human rights setbacks Slow progress in national reconciliation efforts is compounded by increasing concern over human rights inside Myanmar. Reports of rights violations - particularly against the Rohingya - are rife, despite Nay Pyi Taw having set up a national human rights commission in 2011. The visit last month by the UN special rapporteur on Human Rights only confirmed Myanmar's inability to conduct objective investigations on widespread violations and to bring the perpetrators to justice, including those belonging to local security forces.

Last week, Nay Pyi Taw further angered the international community by suspending the operations of medical NGO Doctors Without Borders in Rakhine state, claiming it was biased towards the Rohingya.

While Myanmar has announced the Rohingya issue will not be on the Asean agenda, the government says it will accept advice on the crisis from individual Asean members. Asean could thus play an instrumental role in pushing Myanmar to achieve national reconciliation and encourage it to implement the 2012 Asean Human Rights Declaration. The bloc could also call upon its Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR). The AIPR's Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights could investigate the various demands of ethnic groups and give recommendations to Nay Pyi Taw. As the largest democracy in Asean, Indonesia could also cooperate to strengthen Myanmar's civil society and engage in more transparent inter-ethnic dialogues. With the potential regional spillover of Myanmar's internal strife, Nay Pyi Taw should not interpret Asean's move as intervening in its internal affairs. Rather, it would be in Nay Pyi Taw's best interests to embrace Asean's assistance with open arms.

Eliane Coates is a senior analyst at the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Myanmar-at-Asean-helm-we-mustpush-for-national-re-30228643.html

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Reaching out to men who have sex with men in Myanmar

A wedding-style event in Yangon YANGON, 7 March 2014 (IRIN) - A colonial-era law criminalizing "unnatural" sex is reinforcing the stigma that leaves men who have sex with men (MSM) in Myanmar "hidden, silenced and shamed", hindering efforts to contain HIV/AIDS among this highly at-risk group, AIDS experts and activists say.

Some monks, lawyers and police are now calling for the rarely-enforced law from the British colonial era - Section 377 of the Penal Code - to be used to imprison one gay man and an HIV/AIDS activist who earlier this week marked their 10-year anniversary together with a wedding-style event.

The ceremony made front page news on 3 March - but the backlash was swift and furious.

The next day Myanmar's largest newspaper, Eleven Daily, equated sex between men to bestiality, and asked why the couple were not being investigated for violating Section 377, which carries a 10-year prison term.

Aung Myo Min, director of rights group Equality Myanmar, which is leading the campaign to repeal Section 377, said Eleven Media was using "hate speech" to stoke homophobia, but not all news outlets were following suit.

Increased hostility against MSM could make it harder to reach the community's most hidden members, said Nay Oo Lwin, programme manager with Population Services International (PSI) which operates the largest HIV/AIDS outreach programme in Yangon.

A hidden population

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AIDS experts here say it is already difficult to provide MSM with safe-sex information, counselling and testing services because intense stigma keeps them hidden.

MSM are "hard to reach in the most extreme sense" and that "stigma keeps them hidden", said UNAIDS country representative Eamonn Murphy.

Anne Lancelot, director of PSI's Targeted Outreach Programme, agreed. "We know there is a large population of MSM who do not identify themselves that way, but we don't even know how large that population is," she added.

Murphy noted, however, that over the past decade the visibility of MSM was increasing, particularly in cities.

Questionable numbers Myanmar's National AIDS Programme (NAP) puts the number of MSM at less than 0.5 percent of the population: 240,000 out of an estimated 60 million people. Less than 30 percent of them have received HIV prevention services.

This low level of outreach to a group that may also be vastly underestimated alarms experts. Concerns are compounded by the lack of sex education in Myanmar.

NAP conducted its first surveillance of HIV prevalence among MSM in 2007, finding a 29 percent infection rate. The rate is about 7-8 percent now, compared to less than 0.6 percent for the overall population.

The decline is often attributed to deaths from lack of access to antiretroviral medicines and increased condom usage, but it is possible, too, that some MSM are hiding their identity to escape the stigma, Murphy said.

Another urban epidemic?

Nearly half of the estimated 200,000 people with HIV/AIDS in Myanmar live in Yangon or Mandalay, the two largest cities, according to a recent report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Cities offer MSM freedom, but the risk of HIV infection rises when awareness of safe sex is scant, discrimination is rife and services frail, the report notes.

A PSI outreach worker hands out condoms

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If Myanmar wants to avert what has happened in other Asian cities, it needs to reduce stigma and expand services for MSM in cities, it says, stressing the need to repeal Article 377.

Doctors need to become less hostile to MSM, the report says. MSM are often treated with contempt by doctors, the report says. As a result, "most MSM are terrified of going to a doctor for a sexually transmitted infection," Lancelot said.

Shifting identities Myanmar's MSM have a unique set of terms for describing themselves, one based, in part, on the degree by which masculinity and femininity are experienced and displayed.

Transgenders are less likely to be hidden and more likely to experience harassment, especially from police, according to complaints to the Human Rights Commission set up by Myanmar's nominally civilian government.

MSM who identify as heterosexual, however, are more likely to be hidden, married and susceptible to bribery, according to the UNDP report.

Expanding Internet access in Myanmar is providing a new way for hidden MSM to connect anonymously, as well as more opportunities for risky sex.

PSI is expanding its outreach programme online. "We're going on the cruising websites and Apps, like Grinder and Jack D," Lancelot said. "This might help us reach people who do not come to our [18] drop-in centres."

"We are watching very carefully what is happening in Thailand, where there seems to be quite a rebound of the HIV epidemic amongst MSM. We need to be ahead of the curve," she said.

HIV prevalence among MSM in Bangkok surged from 17.3 to 28.3 percent from 2003 to 2005, and remains nearly 30 percent, according to a 2013 report by Thailand's Ministry of Public Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=99752

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BUSINESS Yoma diversifies in booming Myanmar market SINGAPORE — Singapore-listed conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings is planning to expand into education, agriculture and logistics in a bid to capture emerging business trends and diversify its income stream in Myanmar, a booming frontier market.

The conglomerate, which has a portfolio that currently focuses primarily on real estate, yesterday announced plans to develop several educational facilities, including an international school and a local school, in two of its major real estate projects in Myanmar.

The expectation is that establishing premium schools in housing developments will add value to the properties on offer, said Group Chief Executive Andrew Rickards during a press conference in Singapore.

“From a property development’s point of view, it’s clear what happens to your (property) project when you announce a school nearby,” he added. “In Singapore, there’s a 20 to 30 per cent increase in the value of residential development and about 15 per cent in Vietnam … So, 15 to 30 per cent might be the increase just by having schools there.”

Yoma will partner two British education groups — Dulwich College International and Harrow International Management Services — to establish the schools, which will give the company exposure to an industry that offers significant growth potential after the Myanmar government decided to open up the education sector to more private operators in late 2012.

The private-school market could be worth more than US$100 million (S$127 million) in 2024, research by Thura Swiss shows and, as Myanmar currently has only about five international schools, the pent-up demand for world-class education presents a great business opportunity, said Executive Chairman Serge Pun. The expansion into new sectors also marks Yoma’s strategy to diversify its source of income, he added.

“Ideally, I hope Yoma, as a conglomerate, would have a balanced income stream. Real estate will always be a pillar and, at this moment, contributes to slightly more than 90 per cent (of income),” he said. “I’d like to see at least 50 per cent of our income stream coming from non-real estate businesses.”

One of these initiatives is a coming joint venture with global commodity specialist ED&F Man Holdings to plant and produce coffee in Myanmar. The joint venture, of which 85 per cent is owned by Yoma, aims to invest US$20 million and plant 1,497ha of coffee in four years, in anticipation of Myanmar’s emergence as a major producer in South-east Asia.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/business/yoma-diversifies-booming-myanmar-market

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New Bids Force Further Myanmar Airport Delay March 11, 2014 Work on the USD$1.1 billion Hanthawaddy Airport in Myanmar faces additional delays because the four short-listed competitors for the job will have to submit new bids because of "a major change in project policy", a senior Transport Ministry official said.

"Our government has agreed to seek ODA (official development assistance) for implementing the project," the senior official told Reuters news agency, asking not to be identified.

"So, to make the competition fair... we decided to invite the four short-listed bidders to send in their tenders again. The deadline is on April 22," he added. "Originally, the project was targeted to finish by 2018, but it would now take some more time."

In August a consortium led by South Korea's Incheon Airport was named as the preferred bidder to build Hanthawaddy International Airport, but those discussions were said to have broken down.

Other bidders include a consortium made of up Singapore's Changi Airport Planners, Yongnam Holdings and Japan's JGC and a consortium made up of Vinci Airport of France and Taisei of Japan.

The official said both Incheon and Yongnam had come up with suggestions on partially financing the project with development assistance and the government took that into consideration.

Located near Bago Town, Hanthawaddy Airport is about 96 km (60 miles) away from the airport in the commercial capital of Yangon.

Only three of about three dozen airports operating in Myanmar are considered international airports. Yangon International is being upgraded and expanded and Mandalay Airport is awaiting upgrades.

Spurred by political and economic reforms in the past few years, tourist arrivals to the country have almost exceeded the capacity of existing facilities in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/myanmar-airport-rebididUSL3N0M82HL20140311

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HSH Signs Deal for Peninsula Hotel in Yangon

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) and Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd. have signed a definitive shareholders' agreement for the purpose of restoring the former Myanmar Railway Company headquarters into a hotel to be called The Peninsula Yangon.

The agreement, subject to conditions and approval, will seek to redevelop and restore the heritage building, which dates from the 1880s and is one of the oldest existing colonial buildings in Yangon.

It is located on Bogyoke Aung San Road in the central business district of Yangon, one kilometre north of the Yangon River and adjacent to the tourist attraction known as Scott's Market.

Mr Clement K.M. Kwok, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HSH, said, "Myanmar is one of the world's most exciting emerging markets and we see good potential in this market as a luxury travel and tourism destination. We are delighted to partner with Yoma, who share our long-term vision for the success of this project and have a proven track record of successful investments in Myanmar."

Mr Serge Pun, Chairman of Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd, added, "The former Myanmar Railway Company headquarters is an iconic building in Myanmar. We believe that working with one of Asia's most established hotel owner-operators and creator of world-class experiences will be invaluable in restoring the building to its former glory, as well as bring to Yangon a new luxury experience. It is a privilege to be part of this endeavour."CallSend SMSAdd to SkypeYou'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype.

Source: http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news14/113-PeninsulaHotel.shtml

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Myanmar Government: More Than 10,000 Local Business Evaded Taxes In 2012-2013

By Sophie Song on March 11 2014 5:43 AM

A girl plays a game as she sits by her mother's betel shop in Yangon, Myanmar, November 18, 2013.

REUTERS/Minzayar

The government released a notice on its website last Thursday listing the 10,670 local companies that have yet to pay their 2012-2013 taxes, and ordering them to contact the IRD by March 20, as the fiscal year ended in March 2013 and their taxes are a year overdue, the Irrawaddy reported.

But the IRD may never get the money, because it’s unclear whether these companies are still in business, said Tin Htun Oo, director of the department. Many of the companies failed to pay their taxes in previous years as well.

“Most companies have had no connection with our department for four or five years, so we want to know clearly which companies have stopped their businesses, and also which companies are newly founded and have not started operating yet,” Tin Htun Oo said.

“Companies that do not contact the department by March 20 will be considered abolished.”

As the civilian government that took over in 2011 tries to move forward politically and economically, it desperately needs funds from taxes to operate, Tin Htun Oo added, according to the Irrawaddy.

The business sector in Myanmar remains poorly regulated, and as the list of companies shows, evading taxes is not difficult. A separate list of 100 companies that paid the most in commercial and income taxes for the 2012-2013 year showed that some companies are flourishing despite paying their due. Tobacco and alcohol concerns, along with a range of companies in mining, tourism and banking, were among the biggest taxpayers, contributing to the country’s budding economy.

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Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/myanmar-government-more-10000-local-businessevaded-taxes-2012-2013-1560574

Hong Kong textile manufacturers move production to Myanmar Workers at industrial park in Yangon will be paid around 20pc of those on mainland

Hong Kong textile manufacturers move production to Myanmar

Hong Kong textile manufacturers have signed a deal to set up their first industrial park in Yangon, which they expect will slash production costs by at least half.

Workers at the 200-hectare facility in the former capital of Myanmar will be paid about a fifth of those employed in mainland factories.

Liberal Party lawmaker Felix Chung Kwok-pan, representing the textiles and garment constituency, made the deal on behalf of 12 manufacturers to rent half of the 400-hectare Thilawa Special Economic Zone, co-built by Myanmar and Japan.

"We will start the construction work in mid-2015 and hope the factories can start operating by the end of next year," Chung told the South China Morning Post.

The manufacturers will retain their production plants on the mainland to keep things "flexible", he added.

The land is rented for US$52 million annually for 50 years.

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Chung said the Hong Kong manufacturers planned to employ at least 30,000 Myanmese workers at the market salary of US$100 to US$120 a month.

"The salary level is only one-fifth of the mainland workers. All products exported from Myanmar enjoy duty-free access to all EU countries after [Western counties lifted] economic sanctions on the country," Chung said.

"We expect it would - at a very conservative estimate - trim at least half of the cost in contrast to the production in China."

Chung, honorary life chairman of the Hong Kong Apparel Society, was confident that the manufacturers - who will invest US$2 million to US$3 million in the industrial park - could break even in one to two years.

To avoid conflict of interest, Chung is not an investor but the industry plans to set up a worker training centre in Yangon with Myanmar's labour ministry. Experts from Hong Kong's Clothing Industry Training Authority could be sent as coaches.

Jimmy Ng Wing-ka, vice-president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, said he could not see a trend for manufacturers moving their factories from China to Myanmar, as low production costs were not their only concern.

"Logistics also matter. If you plan to export the products to United States not the European Union, there would be no reason for you to move to Myanmar due to the flight path," he said.

But Ng admitted that the appreciation of the yuan had nibbled away at their profits which drove some factories to move from south to northwest China. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1445682/hong-kong-textile-manufacturersmove-production-myanmar

TOURISM Education Programs Try to Close Gaps in Myanmar

By GINANNE BROWNELLMARCH 9, 2014 NYAUNG SHWE, MYANMAR — Across the marshes and open waters of Inle Lake, in Myanmar’s Shan State, motorboats and traditional canoes carry monks to temples and villagers to market, while fishermen with spherical wooden nets pull fish from the murky

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waters. Lately, another sight has also appeared — boatloads of tourists, cameras readied for the perfect shot of a rapidly disappearing traditional way of life.

Tourism in Myanmar, formerly Burma, is readying for takeoff, with new hotels, airports and restaurants under construction all over the country. Yet development in places like Inle Lake risks being held back by a major constraint: Decades of isolation and repression under the former military junta have left a shortfall in higher education and vocational training in essential skills, not least a working knowledge of foreign languages.

As a step toward filling the gap, a pilot program last summer sponsored by Partnership for Change, a Norwegian social business organization, arranged a six-week English language immersion course for Inle people working in tourism and hospitality. Supported by Teachers Across Borders, 77 students were taught a range of material including English grammar and giving spoken directions. The program proved so popular that 120 students are expected to join a version of the course this summer.

Yangon University in Myanmar, which was reopened in December. Since the country opened up three years ago, changes in higher education have been relatively swift. Credit Khin Maung Win/Associated Press “We talked to the locals here and they were very specific. They wanted to improve their English skills,” said Barbara Bauer, a retired American telecommunications executive who coordinates the program. “We used a rather crude assessment at the beginning and then again at the end, and it was literally a measurable improvement in written and grammar skills. It improved their confidence dramatically.”

The Inle Lake program is one among dozens of vocational education programs that are being implemented to get Myanmar — a place where major multinationals are eager to invest — up to speed in skills as varied as hospitality, information technology and nursing.

For example, Telenor, which won a mobile phone license tender last year and planned to hire 1,000 employees by the end of this year, started the Telenor Myanmar Academy in December, focusing on skill training and professional development.

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There are also huge changes afoot in university education. In October 2012 a “Comprehensive Education Sector Review” was begun to bring the quality of education at all levels, from primary school through to university and adult learning, up to international standards.

Led by the Myanmar government, working with partners including the Asian Development Bank, the British Council and Unesco, the review is expected to produce a final draft of recommendations in June as a framework for sweeping improvements in curriculums, matriculation exams and school environments.

“The education system, especially in higher education, will be key to the economic development of the country,” said Daniel Obst, deputy vice president for international partnerships with the Institute of International Education. The I.I.E., a nonprofit group based in New York has been helping the government create links with global educational institutions.

“You have all these companies swooping in and investing,” Mr. Obst said: “But if you do not have the courses that can teach the right things — and professors who do not have the knowledge to teach them — it is very challenging.”

The country’s higher education sector was devastated by five decades of military rule, which formally ended in 2011. After a nationwide spate of student protests in 1988, brutally suppressed with thousands of deaths and arrests, the university system was essentially dismantled, with undergraduate courses dispersed to satellite campuses far away from the city centers like Yangon and Mandalay.

“Students had to literally wade through paddy fields to go to university,” said Tharaphi Than, a Burmese languages professor at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. “The idea was to not just physically disperse the student population but to also send a strong message that you cannot use higher education institutions for political activities.”

Universities were nationalized, with 13 different ministries in charge of various higher education institutions, and academics were cut off from their international counterparts.

Since the country opened up three years ago, however, changes in higher education have been happening quickly: “It is hard to keep up with, really,” said Kevin Mackenzie, the director of the British Council in Myanmar.

Among the changes, undergraduates have been allowed back to the main campuses of schools like Yangon University; in December a first cohort of 1,000 students moved back into Yangon’s dorms and started classes.

There are also plans to give universities more autonomy and to decentralize some powers, moving some authority away from the ministries.

In parallel with the comprehensive review, two parliamentary committees are examining how to redraft higher education laws and how to modernize Yangon University. There also is a strong understanding that the current vocational and higher education curriculums may not be relevant to the needs of the job market.

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“We need to look towards courses with greater job orientation in practical areas,” U Zaw Htay, director general for the Department for Higher Education, wrote in an email. “This is an area of imbalance in our current system and it is important that we redress this.”

That is where catch-up vocational courses such as the Inle Lake English classes have served as a stopgap.

“People are leaving university without the kind of skills that are needed for employability,” Mr. Mackenzie said. “Companies that are coming in now are finding it difficult to recruit skilled workers. If you want to recruit someone with critical thinking skills or business management and with good English, that is very, very challenging.”

There is also an understanding that international educational links are essential for universities to improve their courses and prepare students for a global job market. The I.I.E. began a 20-week course in November aimed at helping universities in Myanmar set up links with schools around the globe.

“Our thought was, you cannot wait until education reform is enacted, you have to do something now,” Mr. Obst said. “All this stuff is happening, but how can you redesign your curricula if you do not have contact with a foreign university? How can you bring in foreign faculty to co-teach courses? So it is International Education 101.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/education-programs-try-to-closegaps-in-myanmar.html?_r=0

Myanmar to be awarded World Best Tourist Destination for 2014

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Myanmar will be presented the award of World Best Tourist Destination for 2014 by European Union Council on Tourism and Trade soon, state-media reported Sunday.

The award is aimed at boosting Myanmar's tourism industry and promote tourist attractions in the country which are famed for their unique cultural heritage not only in Asia but also in the world, said the New Light of Myanmar.

The award is presented based on ethics for tourism industry, safety of tourists and preservation of cultural heritages designated by the United Nations Tourism Division, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and European Union Council on Tourism and Trade.

The World Best Tourist Destination Award, introduced in 2007, is one of the highest accolades in the travel and tourism industry in the world.

Additionally, in the wake of dramatic increase in tourist arrivals, Myanmar has planned to introduce travel insurance services. However, the number of applicants is still low.

To enhance development of its tourism industry, Myanmar opened four entry and exit gates on the Myanmar-Thai border in August last year. Meanwhile, visa-on-arrival for visitors from 48 countries and regions have also been offered to facilitate their travel to the country.

In 2013, Myanmar attracted over 2 million tourists, of whom 1. 14 million entered through border gates and 885,476 through airports .

Myanmar targets 3 million tourist arrivals in 2014.

Source: http://www.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/travel/myanmar-to-be-named-worlds-besttourist-destination-133355.html

ETHNIC GROUPS Arakanese to demonstrate against changing of Bengali title during census (Narinjara, March14 , 2014 ) / Myochit Khine ( kyaukphyu)

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Protesting against some ‘Bengali’ people’s initiative to change their titles in the nation-wide Burmese census, many city dwellers of Kyauk Pru in Arakan have decided to demonstrate their resentments.

The central Burma government has planned to conduct the nation-wide population census starting on March 30 to culminate on April 10 next. It would be the first Burmese census in three decades as a national census was conducted earlier in 1983.

U Thanda Maung, a community leader of Kyauk Pru, informed that the angry residents have applied for permission for the demonstration. U Kyaw Than, a community leader from Pip Sake ward has already written to the city police on March 11 asking for the permission.

“If we get the permission from the relevant authority, we will stage the demonstration on March 16 next,” said U Thanda Maung. Besides Kyauk Pru, similar demonstrations are expected in many other parts of Arakan on the same day.

Talking about the controversy, the community leader explained that the name/term of Rohingya remained a matter of controversy, as the Burmese people in general do not recognize them as an indigenous community of Burma.

He also added that they were trying to insist on preventing anybody to put different titles in the household assessment list. According to the Code 16 (B) of Household Law, which is prepared by the Burmese Immigration Ministry, no name unless it is identical to any ethnic groups of the country, is legalized to put in the assessment list.

The Burmese immigration & population minister Khin Yi had recently announced that ‘if one says he or she is Rohingya while answering queries during the national census 2014, the answer will be recorded’. But he or she may not be recognized as a citizen of Burma.

Because Rohingya is not included in the list of 135 ethnic communities of Myanmar designated. In the census, there will be no codename for Rohingya, asserted the minister.

The proposed rally should include 10 monks, 110 men and 30 women which is scheduled to start from the southern Bayargyi yard and then march through the Bayargyi monastery street, Market street and Bochoke street.

“We are expecting the permission soon,” revealed U Thanda Maung adding that the government normally allows the peaceful and non-violent demonstrations. But even though it would depend on the authority’s will, concluded the community leader.

Source: http://narinjara.com/index.php/arakanese-to-demonstrate-against-changing-ofbengali-title-during-census/

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International Rivers Day: Ethnic Groups Demand Govt To Halt Salween Dam Projects March 14, 2014 •

Author: Karen News

Tens of thousands of people from Shan, Karenni, Karen and Mon State joined with over 100 civil society organisations and political parties to issue a petition on International Day of Action for Rivers to demand an immediate moratorium on Burmese Government plans to construct six dams on the Salween River.

The petition, organized by Burma Rivers Network (BRN), released today to mark International Day of Action for Rivers, was signed by 33,538 people from Karen, Mon, Shan and Karenni States and a further 131 political and community-based-organisations.

The six dam projects are in Shan, Karenni and Karen State and include projects at Nong Pa, Man Taung and Tasang in Shan State, Ywathit dam in Karenni State and Hatgyi dam in Karen State.

The dam projects have been linked to forced displacement of local landowners, environmental damage and Burma Army militarization, intensifying the concerns of ethnic people and civil society groups that the projects will come at the expense of human rights and endanger delicate peace talks between ethnic armed groups and the Burmese Government.

Burma Rivers Network is alliance of 15 community-based-organisations that advocates for the protection of Burma’s rivers. BRN pointed out in a media statement that the government has ignored international standards and not done enough to consult with the communities that will be affected by the proposed dams.

“All six Salween dams are proceeding in violation of international dam building standards, which should ensure transparency and respect for rights of affected communities. The dam sites are strictly guarded, and local people have been given no information about the

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projects. Downstream communities remain ignorant about impacts on water flows, fisheries and agriculture, as well the dangers of potential dam breaks.”

BRN alleged that the majority of the power produced by the six dam projects would not benefit Burma’s citizens and would threatened the livelihood of local communities.

“The Salween River is one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the world, and is the lifeblood of millions of ethnic people in Burma. The six dam projects with a combined capacity of about 15,000 megawatts, planned by Chinese, Burmese and Thai investors, are threatening the future of these people and the rich biodiversity of the Salween basin. Although the ones who will be most affected by the projects are the local communities living along the river, the majority of the generated electricity will go to China and Thailand, leaving very little or no benefits for these communities,” BRN said.

The Karenni Civil Soceity Network (KCSN) added to the calls for a moratorium by stating that the two dams planned for construction in Karenni territory raised many concerns.

“Even though Karenni State is quite small, there are 22 Burma Army Battalions stationed here, and the government has continued to construct the No14 military training centre, despite opposition from local people, which has caused concern about the government’s sincerity towards the peace process,” the KCSN said.

KCSN maintained that an increased Burma Army presence has led to human rights abuses.

“Since 2013, military training exercises from this centre have involved shelling of farmlands, killing livestock and making villagers too afraid to go out to their fields. Moreover, personnel from the training centre have committed sexual violence, including against a 10-year-old girl,” KCSN added.

In a February interview with Karen News, a spokesman from the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) claimed that the Kunlong Dam project had already led to the displacement of more than 20,000 villagers.

“Over 20,000 people have been affected from over 60 villages. But if you include the future construction of the road project then it could be well over 100 villages,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman warned that large dam projects like Kunlong presented a direct threat to a lasting peace in Burma.

“Right now even though there are ceasefire, no actual political settlement has been reached so the fighting hasn’t stopped… Without consulting the people and doing this before a lasting political settlement, it’ll be more confused and difficult to deal a peace because of the big projects.” The spokesman said, adding, “Because of the conflict in the area the Burmese troops have reinforced in the area. The fighting could break out anytime if they do not stop with the construction.”

Source: http://karennews.org/2014/03/international-rivers-day-ethnic-groups-demandgovt-to-halt-salween-dam-projects.html/

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Ban on Doctors’ Group Imperils Myanmar Sect

By JANE PERLEZMARCH 13, 2014

Lay Lay Win, 28, gave birth last month at a clinic in an area of Rakhine State where a health care crisis has grown worse. Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times

BANGKOK — Nearly 750,000 people, most of them members of a Muslim minority in one of the poorest parts of Myanmar, have been deprived of most medical services since the government banned the operations of Doctors Without Borders, the international health care organization and the main provider of medical care in the region.

The government ordered a halt to the work of Doctors Without Borders two weeks ago after some officials accused the group of favoring the Muslims, members of the Rohingya ethnic group, over a rival group, Rakhine Buddhists.

Already, anecdotal evidence and medical estimates show that about 150 of the most vulnerable have died since Feb. 28, more than 20 of them pregnant women facing lifethreatening deliveries, medical professionals said. Doctors Without Borders had been the only way for pregnant women facing difficult deliveries to get a referral to a government hospital, they said.

At the time of the order, the government said it was suspending the group’s operations in Rakhine State in the far north, but it has offered no time frame for when services might be resumed. The deputy director general of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, said in a statement that his department would manage the health needs of the “whole community.”

A spokesman for President Thein Sein, Ye Htut, said the government dispatched an emergency response team with eight ambulances after the Doctors Without Borders clinics were closed.

Myanmar’s health services are among the most rudimentary in Asia, and with severe government restrictions on movement that prevent Muslims from seeking medical help

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outside their villages in Rakhine State, the impact of the shutdown will be severe, medical professionals said.

Doctors Without Borders was by far the biggest health provider in the northern part of Rakhine around the townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, serving about 500,000 people, most of them Rohingya, they said. An additional 200,000 people, many of them Rohingya in displaced camps around the state capital, Sittwe, had access to the group’s services.

In Aung Mingla, a Muslim neighborhood in Sittwe, patients with tuberculosis, a common disease in the area, said they were down to their last supplies of medicine. The Rohingya who live in Aung Mingla are prevented from leaving the district by barbed-wire security posts and police officers.

“Since Doctors Without Borders is not in Rakhine, I don’t know who will provide medicine when my supply runs out in three months,” said one patient, Muklan, 30, who like many people in Myanmar goes by a single name. “I hope Doctors can come back as soon as possible.”

Another Rohingya man, Shafiul, who worked for Doctors Without Borders in Aung Mingla, said he was concerned for his patients with tuberculosis, malaria and H.I.V. “These patients have been getting help from Doctors Without Borders for years,” he said.

In northern Rakhine State, where Doctors Without Borders had run five permanent clinics and 30 mobile ones, about 20 percent of children are acutely malnourished, medical professionals said. An intensive feeding center for those patients was shuttered as part of the government’s directive.

For the most part, Western donors and the United Nations say they are reluctant to antagonize the government of Myanmar, which has started along the path of economic and political reform. The donors have chosen quiet diplomacy over outspoken criticism of the government’s policies toward the Rohingya.

But the action against Doctors Without Borders raised some public alarm.

“We are extremely concerned about the situation,” said Mark Cutts, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar. “We are in intense discussion with the government in a way that will allow operations to resume as soon as possible.”

The deputy health director, Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, said the government would accept supplies of medicine for tuberculosis and H.I.V. from Doctors Without Borders. But how these supplies will be distributed remains unclear. Negotiations are underway with the government over the distribution, Western officials said.

Other international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, which supports government health centers around the towns of Sittwe and Mrauk U, have been allowed to continue operations in Rakhine. But Doctors Without Borders was by far the largest health provider.

The government targeted the group after its rural clinics provided treatment to 22 Muslims in the aftermath of a rampage by Rakhine security officers and civilians in the village of Du

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Chee Yar Tan in January. The United Nations says 40 people were killed in the violence that night.

The government has denied that the deaths occurred, and on Tuesday, a presidential commission sent to the village to conduct an inquiry reported that it could find no evidence of the killings. The commission was the third investigative group sent by the government, and its findings matched those of the previous inquiries.

After the killings in January, the government criticized Doctors Without Borders for hiring Rohingya and said the group was giving disproportionate attention to Rohingya patients.

Under state regulations in Rakhine, Rohingya are prevented from visiting many of the staterun clinics.

Doctors Without Borders says it has treated patients in Rakhine since 1994 regardless of ethnicity, and foreign aid workers point out that the Rakhine Buddhist ethnic group has access to government health facilities that are generally denied to the Rohingya.

A radical Buddhist leader in Myanmar, Ashin Wirathu, who has compared Muslims to dogs, arrived in Sittwe on Wednesday for a five-day visit that was likely to stir anti-Muslim sentiments further. In a sermon at the main Buddhist temple Wednesday night, he said that if Western democracies were allowed to have influence in Myanmar, the Rakhine people would be overwhelmed by increasing numbers of Muslims, and would eventually disappear.

The monk’s visit appeared to be timed ahead of a national census — the first in Myanmar in more than 30 years — that is due to take place March 30 to April 10 across Myanmar.

Tensions during the census, funded in part by the United Nations and the British government, are expected to be high in Rakhine.

Rakhine politicians have said they oppose allowing the Rohingya to to identify themselves as Rohingya when they fill out the census forms. If they did, the census would probably show that their numbers are greater than the current estimate of 1.3 million. The overall population is estimated at 60 million.

By shutting down Doctors Without Borders, the government is ensuring that there will be fewer foreigners to witness any outbreaks of violence during the census process, aid workers said.

Wai Moe contributed reporting from Sittwe, Myanmar.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/asia/myanmar-bans-doctors-withoutborders.html?_r=0

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Human rights 'worsening' in Myanmar: U.N. Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Special envoy Quintana says the situation "continues to worsen from an already dire state" since last October

GENEVA, Switzerland - A U.N. special envoy warned Wednesday that the human rights situation in Myanmar's Rakhine State had gone worse since last October.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said the situation "continues to worsen from an already dire state," in a 22page report on the situation in Myanmar.

"Discriminatory and stringent restrictions on freedom of movement for Muslim populations remain in place, which continue to impact on a range of other human rights including the right to life," he said.

Quintana criticized both local and central administrators for not making clear efforts to address the discrimination and human rights violations in Rakhine State.

He said the practice of separating communities continued to have a severe impact on the Muslim populations.

The special rapporteur also expressed concerns over torture in places of detention in Myanmar and lack of accountability.

Rakhine State was gripped by inter-communal violence erupted in June 2012 and, which, according to the U.N., uprooted about 75,000 people.

A second wave of conflict displaced a further 36,000 in October that year.

Source: http://www.turkishpress.com/news/395074/

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Critics question Myanmar’s report on Rohingya killings Critics are questioning the independence of an investigation by a 10-member commission set up by the Myanmar government into allegations of violence in a village in the western Rakhine state about two months ago.

Rohingya people collect water from a well near their barracks at Bawdupah's Internally Displaced People camp on the outskirts of Sittwe, Myanmar. (AFP/Soe Than Win)

YANGON: The United Nations and some foreign media had said that about 40 Rohingyas were killed in a village in the western Rakhine state about two months ago.

In response, the Myanmar government set up a 10-member commission tasked to investigate the allegations of violence in Du Chee Yar Tan village.

But in a report to present its findings, the commission said it had found no evidence of any Rohingya fatalities.

Critics are questioning the independence of the investigation as it did not offer any new revelations into what happened on the day of the incident.

Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, secretary of the Investigation Commission, said: "If they (the critics) think that we're not being objective or if they think that our report is not correct, then they should try to come up with better evidence, concrete evidence and refute our assessment. “It's not true that they can't go to that area. Independent researchers‌ have managed to go to Du Chee Yar Tan; they have interviewed many people over there. If they want to do it, even without the consent of the government, they can still find a way to do it. But if they want to find fault in it (the report), they won't make the necessary effort and they will just keep complaining."

The commission has made suggestions for the government to improve the situation in the troubled area.

They want security to be beefed up in the state and are urging the authorities to appoint a minister to oversee Rakhine.

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They also want government officers in areas dominated by Muslims to learn and better understand their culture.

However, some said the report is not comprehensive enough and did not involve the participation of residents living in Rakhine.

Mohammed Salim, spokesman for the National Development and Peace Party, said: “We have political parties and significant leaders. There are a lot of moderate people. If our people and Rakhine people participate in the commission, it'll be more transparent.�

The Investigation Commission came up with the report in Burmese and translated it into English for the benefit of the international community.

Representatives from the United Nations had listened in on their findings but declined to comment on it. They said they need more time to study the report before being able to make an assessment on the results.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/critics-questionmyanmar/1029148.html

Myanmar govt, ethnic armed groups agree to jointly draft single text document Myanmar government-formed Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) and National Cease-fire Coordination Team (NCCT) representing ethnic armed groups on Monday agreed to jointly draft a single text document for the nationwide cease-fire proposal ahead of Hpaan Peace talks in Kayin State.

In the statement issued at the end of the preliminary meeting between UPMWC led by Vice Chairman U Aung Min and NCCT at the Myanmar Peace Center here, both sides agreed to form a team including nine members each from the government and NCCT to draft single text document that includes seven sections.

Both sides also reached an agreement to hold next meeting in the last week of this month.

In late January, leaders of 17 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar held a six-day conference in KNU-controlled Law Khee Lar or Laywa, agreeing in principle to government's framework proposal for " first ceasefire, then political dialogue" to achieve domestic peace and the demand for political dialogue is stipulated in the armed groups' draft national cease-fire accord (NCA).

The Law Khee Lar conference was a follow-up of an earlier ethnic leaders' conference held in Laiza, northernmost Kachin state in October-November 2013, in which the ethnic leaders signed an 11- point framework agreement of their own and the framework had been presented to the first round of talks with the government in Myitgyina, the capital of Kachin state, for making nationwide cease-fire deal.

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The government claimed reaching individual cease-fire agreements with 14 ethnic armed groups since the President's peace offer was extended in August 2011.

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/847384.shtml

Myanmar census: risk or reward for Rohingya Muslims?

Rohingya people from Myanmar, who were rescued from human traffickers, react from inside a communal cell at Songkhla Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) where they are kept near Thailand’s border with Malaysia, February 12, 2014. — Reuters picSITTWE (Myanmar), March 9 — In the desolate camps of western Myanmar many homeless Muslims are determined to assert their identity as Rohingya after years of persecution, in a census some fear will spark further turmoil.

Myanmar’s first census in 30 years — which starts at the end of March with United Nations help — will provide new data on the country, until now relying on figures from a flawed population tally in 1983.

But observers warn that controversy over rigid official definitions of ethnicity and entrenched mistrust of authorities after decades of junta rule risk damaging the country’s fragile peace efforts and further inflaming religious tensions after waves of anti-Muslim violence.

Questions of identity go to the very heart of divisions in Rakhine State, where long-held animosity between Buddhist and Muslim communities erupted into bloodshed two years ago, leaving scores dead and displacing 140,000 people — mainly among the stateless Rohingya.

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Violence has already flared in the camps on the outskirts of the state capital Sittwe as anxieties over the possible impact of the census run high.

Eindarit, 36, lay beaten and bandaged in a wooden shack following an effort to prevent dozens of fellow Rohingya from fleeing Myanmar by boat.

“He asked them not to leave because we have to take part in the census,” said Hla Mint, a 58-year-old retired policeman and de facto local leader, speaking his behalf.

But it ended in violence. Eindarit was badly wounded, losing most of his teeth. The attack left him requiring strapping to his jaw.

“He was cut with knives on his head and hands and beaten with a pipe,” Hla Mint said, blaming the clash on local human traffickers.

Suspicion runs deep The incident adds weight to observers’ fears that the census is stirring up new divisions in the already combustible state.

“I think this is going to create a huge mess. Everyone is extremely worried this is going to erupt into a new stage of violence,” said Chris Lewa, of the Arakan Project, which campaigns for Rohingya rights.

Myanmar’s 800,000 Rohingya — who are stateless, and considered by the UN to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities — face restrictions that hamper their ability to travel, work, access health and education and even to marry.

Many Rohingya are deeply distrustful of the government — which maintains that most in the community are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh — and fear it could use its census findings to somehow extinguish their potential citizenship claims.

The survey form does not have a dedicated box for Rohingya, who are not one of the country’s 135 official ethnic minorities — despite the fact many can trace their ancestry back generations in Myanmar.

But they can still identify themselves as Rohingya in the census — there is a box for “other” with space to write any group or name they wish to be identified as, which some see as a breakthrough in their efforts to assert their identity.

Many of Rakhine’s Muslim population were listed as Bengali in the last census.

“We are labelled ‘Bengali, Bengali’ all the time. Evidence that we were born here, that we have been staying here, is crucial to us,” Hla Mint told AFP. Census fraught with risk The census “risks inflaming tensions at a critical moment” in Myanmar’s democratic transition, according to a recent study by the International Crisis Group (ICG), which added that controversial sections on religion and ethnicity should be dropped in favour of a focus on key demographic data.

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It said the results, many of which will be released before Myanmar holds its first national polls since the end of junta rule, had “direct political ramifications” because the country has some constituencies carved out along ethnic minority lines according to population size.

But the government and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have rejected those suggestions.

They say information on ethnicity is needed as part of efforts to provide a crucial snapshot of the country for national planning.

UNFPA’s Myanmar chief Janet Jackson said most ethnic armed groups — apart from Kachin rebels near the Chinese border — had accepted the census.

She told AFP that efforts are under way to ensure everyone is counted in Rakhine “sensitively and with calm”, adding the survey would not be linked to citizenship.

The UN aims to find census-takers among Rakhine’s Muslim population to ease intercommunal mistrust.

But divisions fester and in Sittwe, Buddhist politicians expressed deep animosity towards their Muslim former neighbours.

“There is no such thing as the Rohingya ethnicity... it is just a term. Ethnic Rakhines know their intention. It is a political aim,” said Shwe Maung, a senior member of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

The ICG said the previous census was believed to have deliberately under-reported the size of Mynamar’s Muslim population, at four rather than 10 per cent.

Consequently, this census could show a misleading “three-fold increase” in the Muslim population, “a potentially dangerous call to arms” for extremists in the Buddhist-majority nation, the study said.

For Muslims trapped between risking defiantly identifying themselves as Rohingya and the on-going precariousness of statelessness, the path ahead is fraught with uncertainty, said Rohingya politician Kyaw Min. “The future is very dark, gloomy — very dangerous,” he told AFP. — AFP Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140309/myanmar-census-risk-orreward-rohingya-muslims

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International Women’s Day – Refugees Show Fear and Hope March 8, 2014 • Author: Karen News

Women from the largest refugee camp in Thailand’s express their concerns and dreams as the world marks international women’s day.

Naw Kaw, 44, a mother of three and a Karen refugee, sits down, shielding her face from the midday sun. She has been in Mae La refugee camp for two decades. She fled Burma after being used by the Burma Army as forced labor. Speaking to Karen News she said that she does not want to go back to Karen State.

“My dream is that our whole family goes to America to live. My oldest son who is 18 wants to go right now, but our application process for resettlement has already taken two years.

He is getting more and more depressed that it is taking so long.”

Life in the camps can be tough, seven years ago an untreated eye infection left Naw Kaw blind in her right eye, but Naw Kaw said she felt safer as a mother raising her three children in the refugee camp than back in Burma.

“It can be hard – my husband works as a daily laborer to help us get by. Everyday he goes to find work, sometimes there is no work. He might earn one thousand baht per month, but it is better than Burma, there is no military here.”

Mae La refugee camp, one of three camps in Thailand’s Tak province and the largest in Thailand, is home to around 44,000 refugees, according to official statistics from The Border Consortium (TBC) that helps manage the camps.

Moo Say, 20, has just graduated from Post-10. A household leader in the camps, she is in charge of perhaps 100 houses, a considerable responsibility for someone so young.

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“Young people in the camps are hard workers, but I am concerned that they don´t know how to survive into the future if we go back to Burma, they do not know how to farm, or have a livelihood or a full-time job.”

Switching from Karen to English, Moo Say said her dream was to become a highly qualified professional translator of Karen language and that she wanted to move to Australia.

“I do not want to go to Burma, and neither do my friends. Some of them want to go see Karen villages in Burma, but for them it is a curiosity, like as tourists, they, like me, were born in the camp and have never been to Karen State. I want to live in Australia but it can’t happen, I don’t have any relatives there, so I will try and move to the USA. I want to be a translator.”

Dirnar Chit, a middle-aged woman from Papun district, Karen State, chews beetle-nut and looks out from her small, bamboo shop inside the camp. A mother of a 6-year-old boy, she also looks after a 60-year-old woman with tuberculosis and a 14-year-old girl orphan.

“They came from the same village as me in Karen State, so I feel obligated to help them,” she said.

Dirnar Chit said she fled Karen State in 2007, because of conflict between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

“I had a niece in Mae La camp so I fled here when the fighting started.”

Dirnar Chit smiled, her teeth stained red by beetle-nut, and said that women could at least have a measure of financial independence in the camp, not found in Burma.

“I came with my life savings, just three thousand baht (US$30), and started a small shop to support myself and my family. On a good day I might earn 100 baht (US$3).”

Aye Myint, 19, smiled as she said she wanted to be a teacher in Thailand’s border area and live a ‘normal life’ like any Thai young person.

“I want to be a Thai citizen, not a citizen of Burma. I was born here in Mae La camp, in Thailand. There are no work opportunities for women in Burma and I am not used to living in the jungle.”

Aye Myint said that as a young woman she was worried about experiencing ethnic discrimination in Burma over issues like equal education for her children if she started a family. “I am worried about racism in Burma, ethnic hatred. The stories we hear from our parents from when they lived there leave us hating the idea of living in Burma.”

Source: http://karennews.org/2014/03/international-womens-day-refugees-show-fear-andhope.html/

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Rise in Bigotry Fuels Massacre Inside Myanmar

By JANE PERLEZMARCH 1, 2014

DU CHEE YAR TAN, Myanmar — Under the pale moon of Jan. 13, Zaw Patha watched from her bamboo house as Mohmach, 15, her eldest child, was dragged from the kiosk where he slept as guardian of the family business.

The men who abducted the boy struck him with the butt of a rifle until he fell to the dirt path, she said in an interview, gesturing with a sweep of her slender arms. Terrified, she fled into the rice fields. She assumes he is dead.

Three doors away, Zoya, dressed in a black abaya, showed the latch on her front door that she said armed men had broken as they stormed in and began beating her 14-year-old son, Mohamed. She has not seen him since.

The villagers’ accounts back up a United Nations investigation, which concluded that the attack on Du Chee Yar Tan that night resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men, women and children, one of the worst instances of violence against the country’s long-persecuted Rohingya Muslims. They were killed, the United Nations says, by local security forces and civilians of the rival Rakhine ethnic group, many of them adherents of an extreme Buddhist ideology who were angered by the kidnapping of a Rakhine policeman by some Rohingya men.

Myanmar’s government, intent on international acceptance and investment, has steadfastly denied the killings occurred in the village, a collection of hamlets spread across luxuriant rice fields close to Bangladesh and a five-hour ferry ride up the languid Kaladan River from the state capital, Sittwe. The country’s human rights commission called the news “unverifiable and unconfirmed.”

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The United Nations findings, however, have become emblematic of the increasing violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya, an estimated 1.3 million people who are denied citizenship under national law.

The world organization’s report — presented to the government by the United Nations and United States but not made public — documents the initial discovery of the massacre by five Muslim men who sneaked into the area after the attack. They found the severed heads of at least 10 Rohingya bobbing in a water tank. Some of those were children’s.

One of the men said he was so rattled, and concerned his eyes were playing tricks in the darkness, that he put his hands in the tank to confirm through touch what he thought he saw.

The killings are a test for Myanmar’s government, which has done little to rein in radical Buddhists, even as it pursues broad economic and political reforms of policies created by its former military leaders. The government has backed severe restrictions imposed by local authorities on Muslims’ freedom of movement and deprivation of basic services in Rakhine State, where most Rohingya live.

The bloodletting is also a challenge for Western governments that have showered economic aid and good will on Myanmar in the hope of winning the fealty of the resource-rich fledgling democracy. Those countries have mostly kept their concerns about the treatment of the Rohingya quiet in the hope, diplomats said, of persuading the government to change its stance.

On Friday, the crackdown on the ethnic minority continued, when the government ordered Doctors Without Borders, the Rohingya’s main health care provider, to stop providing its services to them. One of the group’s offenses, according to a government official, was the hiring of too many Rohingya.

Since 2012, many Rohingya, a long-reviled group in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, have been herded into miserable camps they are not allowed to leave, even for work. Those still allowed to live in villages like Du Chee Yar Tan are at the mercy of the local authorities, many of whom are inspired by an extremist Buddhist group whose monks have used the nation’s new freedoms to travel the countryside on motorbikes preaching hatred of Muslims.

Continue reading the main story The latest carnage is a major embarrassment for the government, which has just assumed an important position as the annual chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In a sign of the sensitivity, a visit to the village to assess the conflicting reports about the night of Jan. 13 was cut short when local police officers briefly detained two New York Times reporters and a photographer.

In response to a major 2012 spasm of violence in Sittwe that included the firebombing of homes and left an estimated 300 dead, most of them Muslims, President Thein Sein said most Rohingya were in Myanmar illegally, despite their having lived there, in some cases, for generations. His solution: The United Nations should help deport them.

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader, is rarely asked at home about discrimination against the Rohingya because it is broadly accepted in Myanmar.

She has defended her lack of action to the foreign news media, saying that taking sides could further exacerbate tensions, an explanation that even her Western supporters believe is calculated to avoid offending voters ahead of elections next year.

Though there have been attacks on other Muslim groups elsewhere in Myanmar in the past two years, the animosity toward the Rohingya is especially combustible. Many of them were brought to the country from India in British colonial times, and many ethnic Burmese despise them as illegal intruders from what is now Bangladesh.

About 140,000 displaced Rohingya whose homes were destroyed in two major attacks in 2012 now live in more than two dozen camps around Sittwe, a dilapidated trading center.

Largely dependent on assistance from international humanitarian groups, which are often harassed by the local authorities, the Rohingya remain trapped in the camps that foreign aid workers call the world’s largest outdoor jails.

The presidential spokesman, U Ye Htut, said in a telephone interview that plans last year for “resettlement and rehabilitation” of those in the camps were suspended because the “Bengalis did not agree and threw stones,” using a term common in Myanmar for the Rohingya, indicating the belief that they belong in Bangladesh.

Of the 18 townships in Rakhine State, seven have already barred Muslims from using their clinics, foreign aid workers said. And a report released last week by Fortify Rights, a group that specializes in the Rohingya, chronicled a pattern of discrimination by officials that is intensifying as local authorities appear increasingly desperate to drive the group out. A dozen leaked documents dated from 1993 to 2008 showed the government’s efforts to slow the growth of the Rohingya population, including a requirement for official permission to marry and limits on the number of children couples can have. The presidential spokesman, Mr. Ye Htut, dismissed the findings as “a one-sided view of the Bengali.”

As a way out of the bleak camps, nearly 80,000 Rohingya men, women and children last year took perilous sea journeys run by smugglers to Thailand and on to Malaysia or north to Bangladesh. Some drowned in capsized boats, and many were detained in Thailand, said Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project, a human rights group.

“The risk seems worth it to them,” she said.

Constrained Lives Muhamed Fourhkhat, 54, and his family have it better than most in the camps and the villages around Sittwe. They have managed — in a vastly reduced way — to replicate the lives they had as the scions of a well-to-do Rohingya quarter in Sittwe that flourished with markets, a primary school for Muslim and Buddhist children, a mosque and a monastery.

In the town, the family lived on the top stories of two concrete buildings laid with polished teak floors, and worked downstairs at their hardware business. The land had been passed down through his great-grandfather, Mr. Fourhkhat said.

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The properties were burned by a mob, backed by Rakhine security forces, in June 2012, he said, and bulldozed by the government a few months later. So was every other structure in the neighborhood.

On a recent day, the neighborhood was an empty stretch of land overgrown with weeds and littered with plastic bags waving in the wind. An eerie silence has settled over what, by many accounts, was once a friendly marketplace that served both Rakhine and Rohingya.

Mr. Fourhkhat has never returned, though he could probably bribe a police officer to get there for a short visit. “Why would I?” he asked, pointing out that his beard, touched with henna, gave him away as a Muslim. “If I went,” he said, making a cutting gesture across his neck, “you would find my dead body there.”

He has built a new, if less sturdy, home of bamboo in a Muslim village that sits astride the camps inside a security perimeter that is designated by the Rakhine government as a place Rohingya can live. “I have never lived in bamboo before,” he said.

Mr. Fourhkhat’s son, Shwe Maung Thani, 28, is a graduate of Sittwe University in biology, getting his diploma before the state expelled all Rohingya students from the school. He has rarely sneaked out of the camp, but tried twice to get his sick mother to a hospital.

She died in January after receiving inadequate medical care, he said.

The only Rohingya doctor in Rakhine State — Dr. Tun Aung, trained before a citizenship law in 1982 disqualified Rohingya for medical school — was jailed after the June 2012 violence.

He remains in prison, convicted of inciting violence, despite requests from the United States government for his release, an American official said.

A Longtime Fear The Rakhine people, a group of about 2.1 million who are fiercely proud of their ancient kingdom, known as Arakan, are fearful of the Rohingya based on “an acute sense of demographic besiegement,” according to a recent article by Kyaw San Wai, a Myanmar citizen who is a senior analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It is a feeling shared by many Buddhists across Myanmar.

Given the lack of a census since 1983, the demographics are imprecise. It is generally accepted by Myanmar and international officials that about 89 percent of the roughly 55 million people in Myanmar are Buddhist and 4 percent are Muslim. The Rohingya are a subset of those Muslims, making the Buddhists’ fear of being overwhelmed seem irrational though it is nonetheless real, the experts say.

“Among Burmese Buddhists, there is a widespread belief that Buddhism will disappear in the future,” Mr. Wai wrote.

While there is little chance of Muslims taking over the nation, they are enough of a presence here in Rakhine to make their presence felt politically.

In the 2010 general election, the central government allowed the Rohingya to vote despite their lack of citizenship, and the results were too close for comfort, said Khaing Pyi Soe, a senior member of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party. The Rakhine candidate in

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Sittwe won 52 percent of the vote, and the Rohingya candidate 48 percent. Mr. Khaing Pyi Soe and other officials say the Rohingya must not be allowed to vote next year because with many young Rakhine leaving the impoverished region for work elsewhere, the results would be reversed.

In the weeks before the attack on Du Chee Yar Tan, monks from the radical Buddhist movement called 969 visited a town nearby. The monks — who are at least tolerated by the national government, if not admired by some officials — have stirred anti-Muslim sentiment throughout parts of Myanmar.

There was no formal connection between the appearance of the monks and the killings, experts said, but their hate speech has increasingly infected the sloganeering of Rakhine civilians. Now, they say, even moderate Rakhine feel it would be too dangerous to stand up for reconciliation.

The United Nations and the United States have kept up the pressure on Myanmar about the killings in Du Chee Yar Tan, and Myanmar’s government, which has already conducted two fast inquiries, has ordered another and included a Muslim on the panel, though not a Rohingya Muslim.

One factor may complicate its investigation: The United Nations report on the attack said nearby villagers reported that in the hours immediately afterward, they saw Rakhine security forces ferry 20 bodies to surrounding hills, probably to cover up the murders.

Immediately after the slaughter, 22 wounded and traumatized villagers sought help at rural clinics run by Doctors Without Borders, the group said.

Some were women traumatized by the horrors they witnessed, according to aid workers familiar with the cases; others sought treatment for wounds.

At least some villagers have drifted back to check on their belongings. Zaw Patha, whose son was dragged from the kiosk, found that the goods he guarded had been looted and her cows stolen.

Red liquid signifying blood was splashed on a school not far from her house, a warning to stay away.

“To an extent, I understand the worry of the Rakhine about Rohingya population growth in an area next to Bangladesh,” said the international aid worker. “But at the same time, you can’t get rid of 1.3 million people.”

Wai Moe contributed reporting.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/asia/rise-in-bigotry-fuels-massacreinside-myanmar.html?_r=0

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