Myanmar weekly news vol01 no 12

Myanmar Weekly News

22th March 2014

Vol.1 No.12

MYANMAR WEEKLY NEWS Vol 1, No.12

22th March 2014

www.myanmar.com

Table of Contents NEWSMAKERS

Japan FM to visit Bangladesh, Myanmar

Jaguar Land Rover rolls into growing Myanmar market

Myanmar opium fight failing

The Lady speaks out

First K-pop Concert To Hit Myanmar

Myanmar government excludes Rohingya from census

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POLITICS Japan FM to visit Bangladesh, Myanmar Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to visit Bangladesh and Myanmar from March 21 to 24 to boost Japan's relations with the two countries, Japan's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The minister would hold talks with the leaders and foreign ministers of the two countries on "how to promote economic cooperation," according to Japan's Kyodo News.

Kishida is expected to hold talks Saturday in Dhaka with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali separately.

After arriving in Yangon on Sunday, he plans to meet Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin on Monday followed by a courtesy call on President U Thein Sein.

Since returning to power in December 2012, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has attached great importance to developing relations with Southeast Asian nations. His cabinet members also paid visits to those countries frequently.

Source: http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/164729/japan-fm-to-visit-bangladeshmyanmar.html

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Myanmar journalists on trial for reporting on a Chinese chemical weapons plant Four reporters and their editor are in prison for leaking "state secrets". Their paper, the Unity Journal, was founded after the country adopted a more liberal media law. The paper published reports about a China-backed secret plant and the use of toxic gas. The journalists could get up to 14 years.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - In spite of Myanmar's new press freedom, Myanmar authorities charged four journalists and their editor with leaking state secrets after their paper published reports about an alleged chemical weapons factory in Myanmar linked to China.

All five pleaded not guilty at the Pakkoku District Court on Monday, and asked the court to dismiss the case. However, they are presently in jail wait for trial.

The defendants work for the Yangon-based Unity Journal, a paper founded after the country's more liberal media law was enacted in 2012, ending pre-publication censorship.

The newspaper has a weekly circulation of 15,000 copies. In two reports, it identified an alleged chemical weapons factory near Pakkoku, in central Myanmar's Magway Division.

In both stories, the newspaper (front-page pictured) alleged a secret facility built in 2009 in tunnels near Pakkoku stretching over 3,000 hectares of land was used to make chemical weapons, and that Chinese workers were seen at the site.

Lei Zhen, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Yangon, said he had no information on the matter.

For its part, the Myanmar government has consistently denied having a chemical-weapons programme.

The issue is a sensitive one. It comes as the international community shows greater openness to the Myanmar government after the country's military junta relinquished power, which was followed by the resumption of humanitarian aid and the lifting of trade sanctions.

However, greater openness is also directly linked to government policy vis-Ă -vis the rights of the country's the ethnic minorities.

Some groups seeking independence from the central government have alleged in the past that they were targeted with "toxic gas" by Myanmar's armed forces, but did not provide evidence.

Robert Saw Maung, the lawyer for one of the defendants, said that he expected the trial to take at least six months. A conviction could lead to 14 years in prison.

"The detention and trial of the Unity journalists is the clearest indication yet that military authorities are chafing under the more open reporting environment," said Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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"The conviction and sentencing to prison of the reporters would be the nail in the coffin of Myanmar's supposed media reform drive."

Source: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Myanmar-journalists-on-trial-for-reporting-on-aChinese-chemical-weapons-plant-30610.html

Myanmar’s northeast: China’s version of Crimea?

Published on Monday, 17 March 2014 21:39 Written by Nay Tun Naing YANGON—Reports are circulating that Chinese authorities proposed to the Myanmar government before the end of last year that Wa soldiers be assigned to the KyaukphyuKunming oil pipeline project to take care of security.

The source was reportedly someone who monitors military affairs near the China-Myanmar border area. But the report, which has not been confirmed, also said that the Myanmar government refused the Chinese proposal.

The Kyaukphyu-Kunming gas pipeline passes through central Myanmar and is connected to Kunming in China. It is still too early to say whether the project will be a stable investment.

The project was announced despite widespread public opposition. Due to a strong campaign against the project, conflicts and disagreements related to the construction of the gas pipeline are now occurring between the company and local residents.

Battles are now taking place along northern Shan State, through which the pipeline is expected to pass while extending the military’s strength.

The Chinese authorities, of course, do not want to see any more unrest about the pipeline, which will directly support Chinese interests. That is why, according to political analysts, China thought that soldiers from the Wa Solidarity Party, which is strongly influenced by the China, would be useful for maintaining pipeline security.

Based on the mutual understanding between Myanmar and China, the Chinese authorities pledged that Wa ethnic leaders would participate in talks and sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement, according to someone who monitors military affairs.

Despite all the instability, the gas pipeline project is not the only major infrastructure project China is pushing in Myanmar. Kyaukphyu-Kunming is only one project in the Chinese development strategy. As a second phase, China is striving to build the KyaukphyuKunming railroad project. That is why the two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding-MoU.

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On the other hand, the future of the Wa nationals is worrisome because the Wa are generally understood to be under Chinese influence. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of the most powerful armies among the ethnic armed groups, is now receiving Chinese aid.

Although the two sides have denied any such financial support, research has confirmed that it happened.

Some Chinese authorities met with the Wa leaders in Kunming of China last December.

During a politburo meeting of the Wa Solidarity Party held earlier this year, party leaders born in Myanmar had been substituted for Chinese leaders.

Crimea crisis of Russia-Ukraine Although there are many differences between the two situations, there has been widespread concern that the current Russia-Ukraine crisis offers a hint of what might be going on with the Myanmar-Wa affair.

The Crimean region was situated in Russian territory before Ukraine gained her independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As Ukraine gained independence, the Crimean region fell under its influence. Ukraine continued allowing Russian navy troops from the Black Sea to be stationed in the Crimean region. But Crimea did not become a political firecracker while Ukraine and Russia were still on good terms.

However, when a popular revolt toppled President Viktor Yanukovych with Russia’s support, the American Central Intelligence Agency systematically arranged a plan to expose unpleasant aspects of the situation. Russia’s response was to occupy the Crimean region.

Crimea, where Russian language is widely spoken, has now voted in a referendum to rejoin Russia.

Myanmar-China “Wa” issue The situation of the Wa autonomous region is by no means identical to that of Crimea. But only those who speak Chinese live in the Wa autonomous region. The majority of residents are Chinese and only Chinese currency is used in the Wa autonomous region. In some matters, Wa leaders follow the directives of Chinese authorities. The Wa fully require China’s help. Myanmar-China relations are seen as Paukphaw (relatives). At a time when Myanmar and China are improving their relations, the situation in Wa region is raising questions. At present, Wa people have a desire to be recognised as an autonomous state and are demanding just that.

“Russia wants Crimea and China wants Wa, too,” said writer Htet Myet.

“It is too complicated for Wa region to make comparisons with Ukraine -except to say it gives China another area of leverage and power,” said journalist Tom Fawthrop, who is familiar with Southeast Asian affairs.

A new Chinese strategy appears to be centering on Myanmar.

String of Pearls strategy

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In 2000, Chinese discovered a new strategy to prepare itself for the challenges of international politics, economy and security that lay ahead. This “string of pearls” approach to energy security would help the People’s Republic to gain influence over other regions in the world. Myanmar is in a strategic position for China to apply this strategy. Given that it has yet to control the South China Sea, it is in China’s interest to seek access to the Indian Ocean by crossing Myanmar’s inland. If China can secure such an inland passage, its commodity transport routes to Africa will be shortened via the South China Sea by crossing the Malacca Strait.

Part of the string of pearls strategy is aimed at the United States: knowing the U.S. appears incapable of securing future energy security, it is advantageous to control the Indian Ocean.

Under this strategy, China intends to control all water territory up to the Persian Gulf and will build ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Myanmar thus becomes a key location for China as its transition point between maritime and inland energy routes.

Kyaukphyu becomes an important port in the string of pearls strategy. Oil and gas can be transported from offshore blocks in Myanmar. The Kyaukphyu-Kunming gas pipeline was built crossing the inland of Myanmar. An express railroad was also prepared. This project becomes the opening step in the string of pearls strategy.

Moreover, Kokokyun and Zardatgyi islands become the best places for China to station its navy troops under the string of pearls strategy.

Express railways, and sustainability of the Union Recent news has emerged that Myanmar’s Ministry of Rail Transportation is re-assessing surveys conducted by China for a railway project to connect Kyaukphyu and Kunming. China is to bear most of the cost for the project, which will be a 50-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project. This is China’s main project passing through Myanmar.

The oil and natural gas pipeline is an initiative for the railway project. Once the project is launched, Myanmar states such as Rakhine and Shan, as well as regions such as Magway and Mandalay, are certain to suffer unfortunate side effects.

“There is no doubt that China will be the main power using that railway, and that Chinese companies will dominate the economic zone that's under construction at Kyaukphyu,” said Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist and a Myanmar affairs expert.

The worst impact appears to be that Myanmar’s sovereignty and the sustainability of its “Union” will be threatened.

Currently, there is no doubt that China has gained a foothold in the country, with projects scattered across Myanmar. Likewise, Chinese nationals and business people have penetrated deep into the country, through Shan State and even bypassing Mandalay in central Myanmar.

So it’s sure to be a concern for the sustainability of the Union which will certainly lose its “East” door once the Kyaukphyu-Kunming railway project is launched.

“When we mainly focus on security affairs for the country’s ‘West’ door, this only creates a situation where the country has no door at the east. The 50-year BOT project, which will be

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financed by China, is a big threat to Myanmar’s national security,” said Than Htut Aung, the CEO of Eleven Media Group.

“After a detailed analysis, it’s very doubtful that those who accepted this project and are trying to implement it are real citizens of Myanmar. We all should object to the project, which is unpatriotic.”

Writer Than Soe Naing argued that the government should reconsider all Chinese megaprojects at the moment—including the Kyaukphyu-Kunming railway project.

“They must be reconsidered, given the current climate of ‘worries’ and ‘emotions’ for the country's national affairs. Though a road construction is good in other ways, for the time being we can’t view it optimistically. Though the former government had worked for the sake of better transportation, their purpose seemed to be strategic rather than economic when reviewed. This project should be suspended for now,” said Than Soe Naing.

Even if the project is acceptable on economic grounds alone, said writer Htet Myet, Myanmar should still be wary because China may well have another agenda for the project.

In this context, it is useful to examine the history of Myanmar-China relations. After Burma’s independence from British Rule, China’s People’s Liberation Army once invaded the country. Despite China’s policy of not interfering with Myanmar’s domestic affairs, Chinese troops invaded the country in 1960 on the pretext that it was simply trying to attack fleeing Kuomintang troops. China invaded again in early 1968 after communal violence against the Chinese community throughout the country.

“Not only with China, we should also consider our national economy, healthcare, culture and security affairs in deciding how we should cooperate with other countries,” said economist Dr Aung Ko Ko. The example of Laos China’s influence over Myanmar has lasted more than a decade. Chinese manipulation of other Southeast Asian countries, especially by the military sector, has lasted even longer. In all this time, questions have been raised about China’s influence over Myanmar and Laos’s sovereignty.

“Whenever the Lao PDR needs to host a major international event they turned to the Chinese government to finance and build –first they built the new sports stadium for the hosting of the ASEAN games. In 2012 China built the ASEM conference centre and residential complex. Meanwhile a new Chinatown is springing up in part of the capital Vientiane,” said journalist Tom Fawthrop.

Moreover, there is the plan to build a hugely expensive Hi-speed train connecting KunmingVientiane will bring an ever greater influx of Chinese establishing themselves as immigrants –both legal and illegal- and threatening the survival of the Lao nations and its patchwork of more than 50 different ethnic groups, Fawthrop added.

“In the area of the Golden Triangle, the Lao communist government has virtually ceded all control over 16,000 hectares of land to Chinese tycoon Chao Wei and his King Romans

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Group. A similar pattern has been at work in Myanmar with China dominating extractive industries and hydropower dam construction,” he said.

Chinese projects under dispute According to the history of Myanmar-China bilateral relations, there has been much give and take. The government that took office after Myanmar gained independence worried about the invasion of China. The military dictatorships after the 1988 uprising, by contrast, totally relied on China, took out loans, and signed agreements.

During the time of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) governments, Myanmar took Chinese assistance and with no concern of transparency surrounding any of the projects involved.

Therefore, every agreement signed with the Chinese has been biased and unfair.

Currently, the Chinese government is mainly emphasizing five megaprojects in Myanmar.

They are the Letpadaungtaung copper mine, the Myitsone dam, the Tarpane hydropower project, the Kyauk Phyu-Kumming oil pipeline and the Takhaung nickel mine.

Among these projects, the Myitsone dam was suspended by President Thein Sein due to strong opposition from the public. The Kyaukphyu-Kunming oil pipeline project is finished, and the Letpadaungtaung project—although opposed by the public—has been allowed to continue.

“Many of these controversial projects clearly offer many benefits to China, but what does Myanmar lose more than it gains from such environmentally destructive dams and toxic mining projects? The benefits appear to be lopsided in China's favour,” said Fawthrop.

“If we are dependent on China, they will use us. It’s like what the doctor will be like if the patient has a stomach pain. We have to do whatever we can to avoid stomach pain if we don’t want the doctor to look at it,” said Dr Aung Ko Ko. Hla Shwe, a student leader from the 1962 generation, said that not enough is known about what kind of agreements have been made between the two countries.

“Some agreements have not been publicly announced, and the people are always the last to know. We have to examine each one of them, on a case-by-case basis, for the benefit of the country. It is the government’s duty to look at them from a national security perspective,” said Hla Shwe.

People who examine the projects from a national security perspective say the KyaukphyuKumming railroad should not be allowed.

Normally, when the government has approved a project after looking only at the economical benefits, subsequent problems have been difficult to anticipate.

“In the midst of the Rakhine State and Muslim conflicts happening in Myanmar, the oil and gas project is finished. Now, we can’t allow the construction of the railroad to be completed while we’re focused on amending the constitution and preparing for the 2015 election. We have to look at all aspects,” said EMG CEO Than Htut Aung.

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Source: http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5414:m yanmar-s-northeast-china-s-version-of-crimea&catid=38:opinion&Itemid=361

Myanmar draws up strategic plan for 2015 election YANGON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Union Election Commission (UEC) has drawn a strategic plan for successfully holding the upcoming general election in 2015 in a free and fair manner, state media reported Wednesday.

Chairman of the UEC U Tin Aye told the commission to prepare well for the election slated for late 2015.

Seeking suggestions from political parties, U Tin Aye said the commission is striving to lay down rules for election campaign.

He disclosed that the commission, in collaboration with the International Foundation for Election System (IFES), will conduct a pilot project on ballot collection in urban and rural areas and "unsafe" places in May. Experts from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) will give more information on the election management system at a forum scheduled for Wednesday to Friday, he added.

The commission has drafted a "12-chapter strategy" for holding the 2015 election, including a chapter calling for cooperation with civil society organizations which are to work as election observers.

Myanmar's last general election was held on Nov. 7, 2010, in which the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won the majority votes with its Chairman U Thein Sein being elected as the country's president to lead the civilian government after five decades' military rule.

In April 2012, a by-election was held, in which the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won 43 out of 45 open parliamentary seats with its chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi occupying a seat of House of Representatives (Lower House).

In the latest development, Myanmar has set up a 31-member constitution amendment implementation committee on Feb. 3 for reviewing a report compiled and submitted by the Parliament's Joint Committee for Review of 2008 Constitution at the end of January.

The joint committee, formed earlier, claimed that it had received over 28,247 letters of suggestions from over 20 political parties, legal experts, government departments including the military and civil societies.

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The call for amendment includes that for an article 59-f in the constitution that was said to have been intentionally drawn by the previous military government to block Aung San Suu Kyi from being eligible to run for presidential election.

The 194-page 15-chapter 2008 Constitution was promulgated by the previous military government in May 2008.

Source: http://english.cntv.cn/20140319/102414.shtml

Laws enforce discrimination in Myanmar

By David I Steinberg A special commission in Myanmar is now drafting legislation that if passed would effectively limit the rights of certain minority groups. At the request of the speaker of the parliament, President Thein Sein earlier this month formed a commission charged with drafting legislation on two laws: one concerning restricting religious conversions and another on controlling population growth.

Although the official notification creating the commission does not mention religion, both laws are directed against the country's minority Muslim community. The first will severely limit the conversion of Buddhist women to Islam and the second will restrict Muslim families to no more than two children.

A wide spectrum of Burmese society will be questioned "in a transparent manner" by the commission, while any proposed legislation should be in conformity with the constitution, diverse beliefs, national unity, and Myanmar culture, according to the notification. Regulations of other countries will also be examined in the process, the notification said.

The commission is the result of an intense anti-Muslim prejudice that has swept many areas of Myanmar. Spurred by some highly nationalistic Buddhist monks, petitions with well over a million signatures have circulated among the population calling for such legislation.

Buddhist boycotts of Muslim-owned shops have also recently proliferated.

Anti-Muslim activities have resulted in riots in central Myanmar. There is a particularly intense feeling against the stateless Rohingya, referred to as "Bengalis" by the government, concentrated in the country's western Rakhine State along the Bangladesh border. The persecuted Rohingya are perhaps the most deprived people in East Asia.

No issue is presently more politically explosive in Myanmar. Politicians of neither the government nor the opposition have specifically stood up for Muslim rights. This anti-Muslim sentiment did not emanate from the Arab uprisings in the Middle East, potential terrorism or other fears that have engulfed much of the West.

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Rather, it is an expression of a deep-seated Burman Buddhist sense of the fragility and inundation of their culture in the wake of the three Anglo-Burmese wars of the 19th century, British colonialism, unrestricted immigration from neighboring India during that period, and the overwhelming nearby populations of China, India, and Bangladesh.

Former national leader General Ne Win in the 1960s prohibited legal abortions without government party approval to bolster the Burman population against overwhelming neighbors. Many foreign observers would dispute the frail nature of the Burman cultural tradition, which they regard as very strong and powerful, but this inchoate fear is pervasive.

The significance of Buddhist monks leading this campaign cannot be underestimated, as few, if any, in the Burman community can publicly dispute a monk's announcement on an ostensibly religious issue. The Christian right wing fundamentalists in the United States pale in US political influence in comparison with the Burmese monkhood. Yet the 2008 constitution theoretically respects the right to practice other religions, subject to the usual caveats about national unity, morality, and public order.

Myanmar has progressed remarkably since the inauguration of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and installation of a quasi-civilian government in March 2011. The space between the state and individual has widened to a degree almost unimaginable in such a short period of time since the end of direct military rule.

Politics is open, censorship basically gone, freedom of assembly allowed, labor unions have been formed, and the beginnings of pluralism are apparent, witnessed in the frequent differences expressed between the executive and legislative branches. Still, problems remain between ethnic minority groups and the dominant Burman Buddhists. Glass ceilings are prevalent and opportunities lacking for both ethnic and religious minorities.

Many in the West are besotted with a romantic and erroneous impression of Buddhism monks quietly meditating and seeking enlightenment in forest or jungle surroundings and an openness that has been lacking in Western religions. The Buddhists, after all, had no crusades and the Buddhist scriptures are indeed models of toleration and humaneness. But to interpret Asian history only on the basis of those documents would be like interpreting the history of Western Europe's wars through the Sermon on the Mount.

Elements of the Buddhist sangha (clergy) in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Korea have played political roles and sometimes engaged in politically inspired violence. The present situation of religious persecution in Myanmar is thus not new, but is disturbing because the attitudes undercut the very democratic reforms the government is undertaking.

They would also effectively restrict the rights of women - rights that have historically been one of Myanmar's richest heritages. The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion or culture or anything that promotes feelings of "hatred, enmity, and discord" between racial or religious communities.

In its search for foreign examples, the newly created commission no doubt will explore China's one child per family policy. However, even in China's authoritarian state this policy did not apply to minority groups. There are several disturbing examples of quests for racial and religious purity in history, and none seem to have gone well.

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The issue is further complicated by the forthcoming 2015 elections and the positioning of various leaders to win popular support by essentially condoning anti-Muslim sentiment. The insecurity of this transition period could intensify if the results of the 2014 census shows non-Buddhist populations have markedly expanded since the last national census was held in 1983.

The census results will require deft handling by the government and civil society to avoid further fueling of ethnic and religious tensions. Foreign observers can only hope that wise counsel will prevail and that the nationalism that was so important in securing Burmese independence and preserving its culture will not be corrupted by undemocratic social legislation and activities.

David I Steinberg is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-180314.html

Myanmar Opium Fight Failing; Soldiers Shooting Up NAMPATKA, Myanmar March 17, 2014 (AP)

By ESTHER HTUSAN Associated Press Every morning, more than 100 heroin and opium addicts descend on the graveyard in this northeastern Myanmar village to get high. When authorities show up, it's for their own quick fix: Soldiers and police roll up the sleeves of their dark green uniforms, seemingly oblivious to passers-by.

Nearby, junkies lean on white tombstones, tossing dirty needles and syringes into the dry, golden grass. Others squat on the ground, sucking from crude pipes fashioned from plastic water bottles.

Together with other opium-growing regions of Myanmar, the village of Nampakta has seen an astonishing breakdown of law and order since generals from the formerly military-run country handed power to a nominally civilian government three years ago.

The drug trade — and addiction — is running wild along the jagged frontier. In this village, roughly half the population uses.

"It's all in the open now," Daw Li said at the cemetery, wiping tears from her cheeks. As she stood before the graves of her two oldest sons, both victims of heroin overdoses, she could see addicts using drugs.

"Everyone used to hide in their houses. They'd be secretive," the 58-year-old widow said.

"Now the dealers deal, the junkies shoot up. They couldn't care less if someone is watching.

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"Why isn't anyone trying to stop this?"

——— Myanmar was the world's biggest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin, until 2003. The government spent millions on poppy eradication, and drug syndicates began focusing more on the manufacturing methamphetamines. But within just a few years, poppy production started picking up.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates the country produced 870 tons of opium last year, a 26 percent increase over 2012 and the highest figure recorded in a decade. During the same period, drug eradication efforts plunged. President Thein Sein's spokesman, Ye Htut, indicated the decrease was linked to efforts to forge peace with dozens of ethnic rebel insurgencies that control the vast majority of the poppy growing territory.

Nearly a dozen ceasefire agreements have been signed with various groups, but several insurgencies, including the Shan State Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, continue to hold out. If Thein Sein goes after the rebels' main source of income, the drug trade, he risks alienating them at a delicate time.

But many opium-growing towns and villages, including Nampakta, are under government control. Here, authorities are in a position to crack down but have chosen not to.

"When I first assumed this post, I said to my bosses, 'We need to take action to stop drugs,'" said a senior official in Nampatka who spoke to The Associated Press on condition he not be named because he feared retribution.

"I was told, quite flatly, 'Mind your own business.'"

He said every family in the village is now affected: "Half the population of 8,000 uses. It's not just opium or heroin anymore, but methamphetamines."

Ye Htut said methamphetamines are currently a bigger problem for Myanmar than opium, with the precursor chemicals flooding into the country from neighboring India, but that several recent drug busts show the government is taking law enforcement seriously. Those seizures focused primarily on meth, including the reported seizure of 1 million tablets in Yangon this month.

Though the government eradicated only about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of opium poppies last year, barely half the total of 2012, Ye Htut said he is hopeful future poppy eradication efforts — this time with the help of the U.S. — will be more successful. He said sanctions imposed on the country when it was under military rule made it difficult to finance crop alternatives for poor poppy-growing farmers.

———— The No. 123 Infantry army base and several police posts overlook waves of white and pink poppies in full bloom on both sides of the dusty road leading to Nampakta, blanketing the sloping valleys and jagged peaks as far as the eye can see.

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Farmers living in wooden huts dotting the landscape say the crops are patrolled by government-aligned civil militias known as Pyi Thu Sit, which hold sway over many parts of Shan and Kachin states, the country's biggest producers of opium.

Jason Eligh, country manager of the U.N. drugs and crime office, said pretty much anyone with a gun has a role to play.

The militias force farmers to grow poppies, lend them money for seeds, protect fields from being eradicated and ensure that buyers collect the opium and get it to market, collecting fees every step of the way.

Soldiers and police, in exchange for turning a blind eye, get a piece of the cut, the official in Nampakta said.

Dealers hanging out at the graveyard, on street corners and behind hillside homes pay security forces to leave them alone, he said, adding that some soldiers and police prefer to receive drugs as payment.

Police work is how Naw San, a former narcotics officer, says he became a drug addict.

"Whenever we were trying to get to the drug dealers, we had to pretend we were drug addicts to make sure they didn't recognize us as police," the 32-year-old said from The Light of the World Rehabilitation Center, a Baptist facility where he had checked in three days earlier with his wife, also an addict, and their 2-year-old daughter.

The girl, Tsaw Tsaw, is happy, easygoing and possibly unaware that both her parents are so weak they can't even hold her. A volunteer at the center helps care for the child.

Naw San said he is trying to overcome his addiction for her daughter's sake and that of his parents, who had once hoped he would go to theological school.

"My younger brother died already because of drugs and my other brother barely seems human anymore. I am the only one left for my mother to give her hope," he said. "I hope I will go forward with God and I will serve him. I pray for that." ——— Many residents say they are sick of seeing their community ripped apart by drugs, though growing opium is one of the few ways people can make money in impoverished rural areas such as Nampakta. More than a billion dollars in development aid has poured into Myanmar, but it has been spent mainly in urban centers and other more accessible areas. Now some residents in opium country would prefer to see the crops destroyed.

Daw Li, the woman who lost two sons to drugs, one 32 and the other 28, worries that it's only a matter of time before her youngest, now 25, follows them to the grave.

"I expected my children to be great," she cried.

She said her boys started doing drugs after graduating from high school, but she had no idea at first. They hid it well. But then money started disappearing, and after that, household items such as blankets and dishes that she presumes they sold to buy drugs.

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Later she hid in neighbors' homes, worried that her sons might attack her if she refused to give them money.

"There is nothing I can say except that it makes me so sad, and angry," she says. "At the drug dealers, at their friends, at myself, but also, of course, at authorities who aren't doing a thing to stop it.

"Now whenever I see young addicts on the streets, all I can say is, 'Please, don't use drugs anymore. Look at me, an old lady who lost two sons. Your parents will also feel so sad, just like me.'"

The message is lost on those who loiter in the graveyard in the center of the village, the most popular hangout for addicts. The village tallies deaths almost every week. Days before an Associated Press team visited the area, four men between 18 and 45 died of drug overdoses.

The body of the youngest was found in the graveyard, draped over a tombstone.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/myanmar-opium-fight-failingsoldiers-shooting-22936257

MYANMAR: Counting Problems March 16, 2014: The government is conducting a census March 29-April 10 and some (the Kachin and Ta’ang National Liberation Army) of the 135 ethnic groups to be counted are refusing to cooperate because they disagree with the classifications used and see this as a ploy to extend more control over the tribes. As a result of these disputes several hundred thousand people may not be counted. Many other ethnic groups fear that this census, the first in 30 years, will be used by the government to increase the persecution of minorities, especially the tribals and Moslems. The Rohingya Moslems of the northwest see the census as another effort by the government to discredit Rohingya efforts to assert their claim to citizenship, and not illegal migrants who just happen to have been in Burma for nearly two centuries.

The census is part of a larger government effort to work out a long-term peace deal with the northern tribes. This has been elusive as the tribes were never part of Burma until the British colonial government came along and simply made the tribal territories and the ethnic Burmese lands to the south one entity. When the British left in 1947 the new nation of Burma found itself in possession of northern territories full of tribes that wanted nothing to do with Burma. But over the last 60 years government efforts to pacify the tribal areas has brought a lot of ethnic Burmese and modern technology north and many of the tribal people like the new tech and ideas. Making peace with the Burmese is a goal for more and more tribal people, but making it happen has proved difficult. The southerners are seen as corrupt and dishonest and there’s a certain amount of truth to that when it comes to how the Burmese deal with the northerners. But with nearly half a century of military government gone and Burmese talking about fighting corruption and cleaning up government there’s a

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new hope in the north. Government officials are telling tribal people with grievances (especially stolen land) that these problems will be fixed, and soon. At the moment it is mostly hope because the fighting is still going on and the distrust of southerners is still common. The tribals want to see some results.

The government is accused of trying to drive foreign aid group MSF (Doctors Without Borders) out of the country. The process began in February when officials increased restrictions on MSF operations along the northwestern coastal area where the foreign aid group provides the only medical care for over half a million people, most of them Moslems.

The government is facing considerable international diplomatic and media pressure to back off here. What the government is really angry about is the fact that MSF, because of its numerous clinics in Moslem villages and refugee camps has become a prime source of data for foreign journalists on violence against Burmese Moslems. The government believes MSF gives out exaggerated and one-sided information, which is very common with foreign aid groups everywhere. These groups depend on donations to operate and their most effective pitch for donations is via international media. The media is more likely to do stories on extreme events than something that has become ordinary and routine. The government also finds that the MSF version of events is considered more reliable than what the government puts out and tends to ignore the casualties suffered by non-Moslem Burmese.

Of course that is the result of the Buddhist mobs and officials destroying or shutting down most medical facilities treating Moslems over the last two years. Non-Moslems have plenty of medical facilities that will treat them but will turn away Moslems. What the government really wants MSF to do is shut up but MSF won’t do that. MSF staffers are idealists and many are volunteers who feel a duty to report what they see or, as the government believes what they think or simply believe they want to see.

Since the violence began in 2012 Moslem nations have energetically and more frequently protested attacks on Moslems in Burma. Burmese Moslems, mostly Rohingyas are Bengalis, or people from Bengal (now Bangladesh) who began migrating to Burma during the 19th century. At that time the British colonial government ran Bangladesh and Burma, and allowed this movement, even though the Buddhist Burmese opposed it. Britain recognized the problem too late, and the Bengali Moslems were still in Burma when Britain gave up its South Asian colonies after World War II (1939-45). The current violence began in 2012 and has caused over 200,000 Rohingya (mostly, along with a growing number of non- Rohingya Moslems) to flee their homes, many of them seeking refuge in Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia. The Rohingya say the government is starving those in refugee camps and not punishing local Buddhists who attack Moslems. The anti-Moslem violence soon spread to other parts of the country, where Moslems are a smaller minority. About three million of 60 million Burmese are Moslem. Despite government orders to crack down on the Buddhist mobs the local police are Buddhist and reluctant to go after fellow Buddhists on this issue.

Years of news about Islamic terrorist violence around the world has left many Burmese believing that radical Buddhist clerics preaching for more violence against Moslems in Burma is a national security issue, not an outburst of paranoid fear.

All this bad publicity is lost on most non-Moslem Burmese. That’s because throughout the region Islam tended to arrive in the form of a conquering army that would be less abusive to new subjects who converted. Most of the people in south Asia resisted this demand to convert and suffered generations of Moslem violence because of their intransigence. NonMoslems in the region also note that most of the religious violence in the world is caused by Moslems. Hindus, Jews, Christians and Buddhists are all frequent targets, as are many Moslems believed to be heretics (like Shia and many smaller groups). Foreign observers rarely pick up on these ancient grievances but the locals take it for granted and react

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violently to real or imagined Moslem threats. Foreign aid groups on the west coast (Arakan and Rakhine states), where most of the anti-Moslem violence occurs, make most of the complaints about local Buddhists attacking Moslems or interfering with efforts to get aid to displaced Moslems. Some of the accusations are true, but the Buddhists note that the Moslems are quick to complain yet say or do little about the more numerous Moslem attacks on non-Moslems worldwide. Buddhist religious leaders insist they are encouraging violence against Moslems in order to prevent violence against Buddhists and other non-Moslems in Burma. This strikes a chord with most Burmese, be they the Buddhist majority in the south or the largely Christian tribes in the north.

The government doesn’t mind the foreign media getting distracted by the MSF “expulsion” story. The official line is that Burma is not trying to expel MSF, but the reality is that government officials and security forces are making it increasingly difficult for MSF to operate in Burma. The government says it will replace the MSF medical teams and has sent some Burmese medical personnel in to do that. But there are not enough medical resources in Burma to replace what MSF is providing.

Fighting continues in the north and the cause is hostility towards government corruption and efforts to suppress the drug trade. The largest state in the north (Shan state) has illegal drugs as the mainstay of the economy. In 2013 there were 1,228 drug related criminal cases up there, compared to 276 in 2012. These cases involved the arrest of over 2,300 people, nearly twice as many as in 2012. The Burmese methamphetamine is a regional problem and in each of the last few years over a billion dollars in meth (usually in pill form) was seized. In 2012 some 227 million doses of methamphetamine, worth about $1.3 billion were seized in the region. That was a seven fold increase from 2008. Methamphetamine is the most popular drug in Southeast Asia. Most (nearly half) of the seized pills are taken in China, followed by Thailand and most of it is coming from meth labs in northern Burma. It’s believed that Burmese meth labs produce about 1-2 billion doses (in pill form) of methamphetamines each year, which have a street value of over $8-16 billion. At least a quarter of that stays in the Burmese tribal territories where that kind of money has become a key component of the local economy and allows the rebels to equip, uniform and sustain private armies. The Burmese meth has become hugely popular in China and throughout East Asia. China is pressuring the Burmese government to do more about the meth production in the tribal territories and that has resulted in more police activity up there, but not enough to put a dent in the drug business.

March 5, 2014: The United States released a report that accused Burma of continuing to buy weapons from North Korea and allow North Korea to use Burma as a transit point for illegal North Korean weapons exports. For over a year now the U.S. has been trying to convince Burma to cut its military ties with North Korea. In exchange for that the U.S. offers to provide military and economic aid. Apparently the biggest problem here is that North Korea bribes key Burmese officials to allow the illegal arms shipments to move through Burma and to encourage Burma to buy more North Korean weapons. The Americans won’t pay bribes. However, there would be opportunities to plunder the American aid, but this is not something U.S. diplomats can mention during their negotiations. For the moment there are plenty of Burmese officials who want to keep taking the North Korean money but will keep listening to the Americans.

February 28, 2014: In the north the army captured two Shan rebel camps after two days of fighting. This was the first army clash with the SSA-S rebels this year. Despite ceasefires signed or those offered fighting continues in Shan state which contains thousands of armed

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rebels belonging to several different groups. The army tries to assert control in a variety of ways and that tends to cause more fighting.

February 27, 2014: The government ordered MSF to cease operations in Burma. The government soon backtracked in the face of international outrage and pressure.

February 25, 2014: The government declared that the 37 ton slab of rock called the “jade bolder� found in Kachin state is not jade at all but just a large rock. If it were jade it would be worth several billion dollars. The 37 ton bolder was found on February 9th by a prospector and within a week troops were sent in to guard the rock and the guy who found it. Not everyone believes the announcement about the rock not being jade and see it as another government ploy to steal jade. In response to that the government said it would put the rock on display to dispel suspicions. Burma is the main source of jade on the planet and exports about $4 billion worth each year. Yet only about one percent of that is taxed and half of it is found by illegal mining operations and is quietly sold to Chinese traders.

Most of the illegal jade trade is controlled by generals who have connections inside China.

The military men are not giving up all their illegal businesses and the government, despite being elected, is reluctant to force the issue, at least not yet. Most of the jade is in the northern tribal territories and the army is constantly trying to force tribal rebels out of jade producing areas.

February 20, 2014: Two Burmese Buddhist politicians visiting Malaysia were shot at by men on a motorcycle. The Burmese were not hurt and police believed this was an assassination attempt by Islamic radicals angry at Buddhist violence against Moslems in Burma.

Source: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/myanmar/articles/20140316.aspx

The Lady speaks out Manoj Tripathi

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Aung San Suu Kyi discusses Buddhist and democratic values at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival (Photo - Manoj Tripathi) There is little the world doesn't already known about her private life but Daw Aung San Suu Kyi nonetheless lifted the lid on her privacy to reflect her attachment to Buddhist and democratic values during her recent appearance at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival in Mandalay.

Suu Kyi was at the festival as both its patron and as a speaker, joining two sessions at which the fans were so numerous that a gigantic video screen had to be mounted on the outside for those who couldn't squeeze their way into the conference room.

However, her presence disappointed some media members because the Lady stopped short of alluding to hot issues in her own country. Perhaps, though, that was predictable given her stance on certain subjects.

For the most part though, Suu Kyi came across as first and foremost a politician with a strong sense of duty, an erudite orator, a practising Buddhist, a voracious reader (she picked Elizabeth Bennett as her literary heroine) and a good cook.

Arriving in her traditional outfit amid tight security for the "In Conversation" session chaired

by Dame Joan Bakewell, Suu Kyi was all smiles. The questions from Bakewell covered Suu Kyi's family life, upbringing, her education in Burma, India and England and her political aspirations.

Suu Kyi regarded her mother Khin Kyi as the family's breadwinner following the death of her father, who was assassinated in 1947 when she was a toddler. She grew up reading Myanmar poetry and, as a youngster, political books left behind by her father and hearing stories about how much he loved his country.

She said people of her father's generation were characterised by their liberal views towards the world.

"I don't think one can inherit views, but I was influenced by his views. My father's generation was very open-minded, wide open to new ideas. And that lives on in certain people, especially among the older generation," she said.

And politics has always been a subject dear to her heart. When her mother was ambassador to India, Suu Kyi studied politics at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in New Delhi. By the time she went to Oxford, she was already familiar with British democratic tradition.

"If you read PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford, then you have to read political books about the British democratic life," she said.

Her time at Oxford enforced her democratic values, which she has tried her best to spread to her own country. As for growing democracy in Myanmar, Suu Kyi doesn't see it as her political destiny, but more of an individual's duty and responsibility.

"A sense of duty means you think of people, not about yourself, not only you. In fact, with a sense of duty, you understand you do not live alone in this world. There are others in this

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world and you have to think of those others and see what you owe to them, what you can share with them.

"I've tried to explain to my people what the democratic values are. They are about being open to new ideas. In the 2012 elections, I explained why they have responsibility to vote, as part of their democratic rights. Rights entail responsibility. Discovering the concept of voting is part of individuals' responsibility," she said.

Her comments turned the remainder session into a lengthy debate about democracy.

Bakewell pointed out how Myanmar's quest for democracy had parallels in South Africa, which also the emergence of a key figure from private to public life.

"Those parallels are exaggerated. To begin with, perhaps our struggle for democracy would have been a lot easier if all those who wanted democracy were a different colour from those who didn't want democracy. Then it would be a case of colour discrimination. But that makes life a lot easier. Because we are the same colour, it means there is confusion with regard to values, commitments and support," she said.

Asked to define democracy, Suu Kyi didn't hesitate.

"The simplest definition is the rule of the people, the government of the people by the people for the people. Put this way, it's respect for the people at large, the general public.

That means basically respect for human beings and human rights," she said.

With prompting from Bakewell, the topic then turned to religion.

"I've learned to understand Buddhism is a peaceful and serene religion. But how does Buddhism play out politically?" she asked.

"I don't think Christians are quite Christian in their political lives," Suu Kyi relied with a smile. "So Buddhists are not necessarily Buddhist in their political life, or even in social life.

People ask me, 'are you a Buddhist?' My answer would be I'm studying to be one, to be a better Buddhist. I'd like to say I'm a good Buddhist, but I'm not in a position to say I'm a good Buddhist as I'm trying to learn to be one."

Buddhism was what she turned to while under house arrest, and even today she tries to include meditation in her everyday life.

To her, meditation is central to her awareness both of her own mood and those of other people.

"Meditation has taught me tremendous awareness of getting annoyed, getting tired and feeling better. I meditate unless I'm lazy or tired, mostly once a week," she said.

"I was born into a Buddhist family. Buddhism is rooted in a practical cause. It's about the discovery of what the human mind and human beings are like. The more I meditated, the more I learned of how true to life Buddhist teachings were.

"For example, I'm very fond of the teaching that explains how to distinguish a good man from a bad man. A bad man always exaggerates his good points and minimises the good

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points of others. A good man does it the other way around. And a bad man will always exaggerate everything people say to him in gratitude. It's a very simple bit of teaching. I've found that very human. And believe me, I can tell a good man from a bad man.

As the session moved on to the topic of development, Suu Kyi noted that she sees many of the good men working in her country. Poverty could be an enemy of democracy.

"I'm not unaware of some mega-rich individuals who have done a lot to try to make the situation of the very poor better. So I don't think we can forget that.

"I hope development in Myanmar will be an inclusive kind, not the kind that some people get richer and richer and those at the lowest level stay exactly the same," she said.

Source: http://elevenmyanmar.com

Myanmar navy starts searching operation for missing Malaysian jet Xinhua | 2014-3-16 13:55:58

By Agencies Three Myanmar naval vessels started search and rescue operations within Myanmar waters Saturday for the missing aircraft of the Malaysian Airlines, official sources said Sunday.

In cooperation with Indian and Malaysian navies, the three Myanmar naval vessels are carrying out the search in Myanmar's exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mottama and the Bay of Bengal.

Myanmar's decision for the search came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the end of the more than a week's search in the South China Sea on Saturday.

According to the prime minister, the Malaysian authorities have uncovered new data on the possible flight path of MH370 that point to two new corridors, including a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand as well as a southern one stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on board, disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on early March 8 en route to Beijing.

The plane was carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese.

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/848757.shtml

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BUSINESS Jaguar Land Rover rolls into growing Myanmar market More drivers seek luxury rides as economy starts to take off.

Published: 17 Mar 2014 at 00.39 Myanmar is witnessing something that few people could have imagined just two or three years ago: New, high-end automobiles are starting to hit the roads as the economy of the once-shunned country gains momentum.

The Land Rover has long been a favourite in Myanmar for very practical reasons: Good roads are few and an allwheel- drive vehicle is a must in many parts of the country.

Most of the vehicles on the streets of Yangon and other major cities are still either secondhand imports or ancient cars that have been in service for one or two decades. But a showroom for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands will open a showroom in Insein township outside Yangon in May. UK-based Jaguar Land Rover said it was expanding its regional market presence by adding Myanmar. Owned by India’s Tata Motors, the company has appointed Capital Automotive Ltd, which is also the authorised dealer for Ford Motor Co, as its representative in Myanmar.

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“This is the first time that the two brands will be selling brand-new Jaguar and Land Rover cars in Myanmar, though we continue to see the two brands’ used cars being sold throughout the country,” said Capital Automotive managing director Khin Tun. “The aim is to bring in more models of Jaguar and Land Rover into Myanmar.”

Khin Tun said there was a niche market of the wealthy drivers in the country and his company was not worried about sales as it would not be in competition with sellers of Japanese new or used vehicles.

“There are a lot of rich men in Myanmar, so if a customer tells us what he wants to have, any type of car from Jaguar Land Rover, we can provide it,” he said.

“Here there are no competitors for Range Rover in the local market.”

Capital Automotive is supported by Automotive Service Ltd, which is a branch of Diamond Star Company. Capital has been the sole dealer of Ford cars in Myanmar since last year.

“As for the Ford car market in Myanmar, we’ve received customers’ trust and we can say the cars are reasonably priced, so the vehicles are seeing good demand here,” he added.

The local Jaguar Land Rover dealership will offer integrated sales, service and spare parts, making it a one-stop service for customers.

Steve Martin, the regional dealer principal for Jaguar Land Rover, said enthusiasts in Myanmar would be able to purchase new models including the Jaguar XF, Land Rover Defender, Range Rover (all new), Range Rover Sport, Evoque and Land Rover Discovery 4.

“The used-car market for these vehicles already exists in Myanmar. We have new cars so the difference is that all new cars have guarantees and the dealership also has the technicians,” he said.

New technology means that drivers of the newer models will see lower the fuel consumption and have better and more environmental friendly cars.

Used imported Range Rovers have been in increasing demand because Myanmar’s infrastructure remains poor and good off-road vehicles are needed when travelling outside main cities or townships. The imports cost about half that of new vehicles, which range between $80,000 and $100,000.

Models show off a new Jaguar at the opening of the showroom in Yangon.

Land Rovers have a long history on the roads of Myanmar and but hundreds of Land Rover luxury utility vehicles have been imported since 2012 as the country opened up.

Jaguar Land Rover executives say the company has seen strong growth in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, and strong sales in Vietnam as well.

Although Jaguar and Land Rover are owned by Tata Motors, the Indian automaker’s own brand is facing an uphill struggle to win customers in Myanmar. For the same money, these customers say, they can get a second-hand Japanese car.

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“The people of Myanmar don’t like Indian cars because if they compare them to Japanese used cars, there is no attraction for them, even the prices. Tata’s small car costs almost 9 million kyats (about US$9,200), which is similar to a used Japanese car, so people like to buy second-hand cars that they are more familiar with,” said one Yangon-based dealer.

Since Myanmar relaxed its import policies, many of the world’s biggest automakers have been looking to invest in the domestic market. In addition to Ford, Chevrolet, MercedesBenz and Nissan are already opening showrooms in Yangon.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/marketing/400222/jaguar-land-rover-rollsinto-growing-myanmar-market

ENTERTAINMENT First K-pop Concert To Hit Myanmar

There are k-pop fans all over the world, and Myanmar is no exception. Finally, local fans there can look forward to their first k-pop concert.

Groups like Girl's Day, Dal Shabet, and TINT will be performing at what's titled the "First Korea-Myanmar Friendship K-Pop Concert", taking place at the Thuwana National Stadium on April 30th.

The girl groups were invited by Myanmar's MWD TV station, along with other popular Myanmar celebrities.

Proceeds from the concert will go to a good cause, helping out underprivileged children. http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_musicnews_detail.htm?No=23798

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DRUG Myanmar opium fight failing

In this Jan 28 photo, an addict leans on a tombstone as he shoots up heroin at a cemetery in Nampatka village, Myanmar. More than 100 heroin and opium addicts descend on the graveyard every morning, rolling up their sleeves for quick fixes or drawing at pipes with no fear of reprisals. Photo by: AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

The Associated Press March 18, 2014 10:16:59 AM NAMPATKA, Myanmar - Every morning, more than 100 heroin and opium addicts descend on the graveyard in this northeastern Myanmar village to get high. When authorities show up, it is for their own quick fix: Soldiers and police roll up the sleeves of their dark green uniforms, seemingly oblivious to passers-by.

Nearby, junkies lean on white tombstones, tossing dirty needles and syringes into the dry, golden grass. Others squat on the ground, sucking from crude pipes fashioned from plastic water bottles.

Together with other opium-growing regions of Myanmar, the village of Nampakta has seen an astonishing breakdown of law and order since generals from the former military-run country handed power to a nominally civilian government three years ago.

The drug trade - and addiction - is running wild along the jagged frontier. In this village, roughly half the population uses.

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"It's all in the open now," Daw Li said at the cemetery, wiping tears from her cheeks. As she stood before the graves of her two oldest sons, both victims of heroin overdoses, she could see addicts using drugs.

"Everyone used to hide in their houses. They'd be secretive," the 58-year-old widow said.

"Now the dealers deal, the junkies shoot up. They couldn't care less if someone is watching.

"Why isn't anyone trying to stop this?"

Myanmar was the world's biggest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin, until 2003. The government spent millions on poppy eradication, and drug syndicates began focusing more on the manufacturing methamphetamines. But within just a few years, poppy production started picking up.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates the country produced 870 tonnes of opium last year, a 26% increase over 2012 and the highest figure recorded in a decade.

During the same period, drug eradication efforts plunged. President Thein Sein's spokesman, Ye Htut, indicated the decrease was linked to efforts to forge peace with dozens of ethnic rebel insurgencies that control the vast majority of the poppy growing territory.

Nearly a dozen ceasefire agreements have been signed with various groups, but several insurgencies, including the Shan State Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, continue to hold out. If Thein Sein goes after the rebels' main source of income, the drug trade, he risks alienating them at a delicate time.

But many opium-growing towns and villages, including Nampakta, are under government control. Here, authorities are in a position to crack down but have chosen not to.

"When I first assumed this post, I said to my bosses, 'We need to take action to stop drugs,'" said a senior official in Nampatka who spoke to The Associated Press on condition he not be named because he feared retribution.

"I was told, quite flatly, 'Mind your own business'."

He said every family in the village is now affected: "Half the population of 8,000 uses. It's not just opium or heroin anymore, but methamphetamines."

Ye Htut said methamphetamines are currently a bigger problem for Myanmar than opium, with the precursor chemicals flooding into the country from neighbouring India, but that several recent drug busts show the government is taking law enforcement seriously. Those seizures focused primarily on meth, including the reported seizure of 1 million tablets in Yangon this month.

Though the government eradicated only about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of opium poppies last year, barely half the total of 2012, Ye Htut said he is hopeful future poppy eradication efforts — this time with the help of the United States - will be more successful.

He said sanctions imposed on the country when it was under military rule made it difficult to finance crop alternatives for poor poppy-growing farmers.

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The No 123 Infantry army base and several police posts overlook waves of white and pink poppies in full bloom on both sides of the dusty road leading to Nampakta, blanketing the sloping valleys and jagged peaks as far as the eye can see.

In this Jan 28 2014 photo, Hpatau Ma Hkang, a volunteer who was addicted to heroin for 30 years before his rehabilitation in 2013, carries two-year-old boy Tsaw Tsaw. (AP Photo) Farmers living in wooden huts dotting the landscape say the crops are patrolled by government-aligned civil militias known as Pyi Thu Sit, which hold sway over many parts of Shan and Kachin states, the country's biggest producers of opium.

Jason Eligh, country manager of the UN drugs and crime office, said pretty much anyone with a gun has a role to play.

The militias force farmers to grow poppies, lend them money for seeds, protect fields from being eradicated and ensure that buyers collect the opium and get it to market, collecting fees every step of the way.

Soldiers and police, in exchange for turning a blind eye, get a piece of the cut, the official in Nampakta said.

Dealers hanging out at the graveyard, on street corners and behind hillside homes pay security forces to leave them alone, he said, adding that some soldiers and police prefer to receive drugs as payment.

Police work is how Naw San, a former narcotics officer, says he became a drug addict.

"Whenever we were trying to get to the drug dealers, we had to pretend we were drug addicts to make sure they didn't recognise us as police," the 32-year-old said from The Light of the World Rehabilitation Center, a Baptist facility where he had checked in three days earlier with his wife, also an addict, and their 2-year-old daughter.

The girl, Tsaw Tsaw, is happy, easygoing and possibly unaware that both her parents are so weak they can't even hold her. A volunteer at the centre helps care for the child.

Naw San said he is trying to overcome his addiction for her daughter's sake and that of his parents, who had once hoped he would go to theological school.

"My younger brother died already because of drugs and my other brother barely seems human anymore. I am the only one left for my mother to give her hope," he said. "I hope I will go forward with God and I will serve him. I pray for that."

Many residents say they are sick of seeing their community ripped apart by drugs, though growing opium is one of the few ways people can make money in impoverished rural areas such as Nampakta. More than a billion dollars in development aid has poured into Myanmar, but it has been spent mainly in urban centres and other more accessible areas. Now some residents in opium country would prefer to see the crops destroyed.

Daw Li, the woman who lost two sons to drugs, one 32 and the other 28, worries that it is only a matter of time before her youngest, now 25, follows them to the grave.

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"I expected my children to be great," she cried.

She said her boys started doing drugs after graduating from high school, but she had no idea at first. They hid it well. But then money started disappearing, and after that, household items such as blankets and dishes that she presumes they sold to buy drugs.

Later she hid in neighbors' homes, worried that her sons might attack her if she refused to give them money.

"There is nothing I can say except that it makes me so sad, and angry," she says. "At the drug dealers, at their friends, at myself, but also, of course, at authorities who aren't doing a thing to stop it.

"Now whenever I see young addicts on the streets, all I can say is, 'Please, don't use drugs anymore. Look at me, an old lady who lost two sons. Your parents will also feel so sad, just like me'."

The message is lost on those who loiter in the graveyard in the centre of the village, the most popular hangout for addicts. The village tallies deaths almost every week. Days before an Associated Press team visited the area, four men between 18 and 45 died of drug overdoses.

The body of the youngest was found in the graveyard, draped over a tombstone. http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=31940

TOURISM Photos: Discovering Myanmar’s lost island Isolated for decades by the country’s former military regime and piracy, the Mergui archipelago is thought by scientists to harbor some of the world’s most important marine biodiversity and looms as a lodestone for those eager to experience one of Asia’s last tourism frontiers before, as many fear, it succumbs to the ravages that have befallen many of the continent’s once pristine seascapes. A long jetty and two helicopter pads have been built and nine bungalows are under construction on the stunning but rather unfortunately named Mosquito Bite Island.

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A tourist walks in to swim in sparkling clear water in Chin Kite Kyunn, or Mosquito Bite Island, in Mergui Archipelago, Myanmar.

Photograph by: Altaf Qadri, AP

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Gallery+Discovering+Myanmar+lost+island/9645873 /story.html

Myanmar hotel sector to soar

By Shine Zaw Aung, Tan Kok Keong Published: March 21, 4:13 AM MYANMAR — The hotel sector in rapidly-emerging Myanmar will continue to be supported by strong growth in the number of visitors to Yangon as a result of accelerated foreign investment, the boom in leisure tourism, as well as a lack of quality apartments.

Myanmar is similar to Thailand 30 years ago in terms of tourism development, and even if it achieves only a fraction of the latter’s success, it is still set to experience explosive growth.

Hotel room rates will remain very high because new projects being announced will take several years to hit the market.

The most anticipated new hotel opening this year is the Novotel along Pyay Road, a joint venture between Max Myanmar and Accor.

Although there are several large, mixed-use projects that have commenced construction, they will not be completed until 2016 to 2017 and the expected strong growth in the number of visitors to Yangon will easily soak up all of the new completions.

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A successful completion of the much-anticipated elections next year could herald a sharp acceleration of foreign direct investment, and a surge of foreign professionals and business visitors is expected as more projects become established.

Meanwhile, leisure tourism is expected to maintain its strong upward momentum. Leisure tourism increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 34 per cent since Myanmar opened up in 2010. As tourism infrastructure improves amid co-ordinated efforts by the government and private sector, tourist arrivals are expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent from 2013 to 2020 as a base case.

Thanks to this heavy demand, hotel room rates will remain high in the near-to-medium term. A lack of quality apartments for rent also supports high hotel room rates. Business visitors are likely to stay longer as their exploratory trips evolve into material business development and this will provide an added boost to hotel demand.

In addition, the setting of an official room rate ceiling of US$150 (S$190)has failed to dent rates, with a standard room in a four-to-five-star hotel averaging about US$200 a night.

Little effort has been made to enforce these rules, which are in any case almost unenforceable. Should the government push towards heavily regulating the industry, the hotels will simply drive their costs underground and visitors may be charged indirectly via payments for ancillary services.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Mr Shine Zaw Aung is Head of Research at Singapore-based corporate finance firm New Crossroads Asia while Mr Tan Kok Keong is Chief Executive of Singapore-based property consultancy REMS Advisors.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/business/myanmar-hotel-sector-soar

Tourism in the ‘new’ Myanmar One of the world’s hottest new destinations is just starting to learn how to cope with success and now needs to focus on sustainability.

Published: 17 Mar 2014 at 00.47 Pictures of pagodas, Buddhist temples, palaces, parks, historical and cultural sites, friendly faces and innocent smiles of local people are flourishing on social media sites all over the world. They hold the promise of a new paradise for photographers and those with an adventurous spirit looking to discover the hidden charms of an undiscovered land.

The images of the “new” Myanmar are quickly crowding out memories of a country that just a few years ago was known as xenophobic and restrictive. For many travellers, especially in Western countries, visiting Myanmar was the height of political incorrectness. But the same place that limited visas and travel for decades is rebranding itself as the soul of hospitality.

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Statistics from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism showed that in 2013, the number of foreign visitors who arrived in Myanmar reached 2.04 million, almost double the 1.06 million who came the year before. Skyrocketing hotel prices illustrate the still severe shortcomings as the country’s hospitality industry tries to cope with its status as one of the planet’s hottest new destinations.

Moreover, growing problems of land grabbing and speculation pose a big threat to the industry. Tourism experts say the country needs to take a crash course in how to develop and market its tourism products.

“The main problem here is the high rents. Everyone who is keen to invest and operate a business in the country is strongly affected,” said Suphachok Hongpu, the director of Nemita Spa, who has expanded his business to more than 10 branches throughout the country.

“Therefore the prices of the services offered to customers or tourists would be unavoidably expensive. This presents a great challenge for small and medium tourism-related businesses to start up and become profitable.”

Mr Suphachok told Asia Focus that pricing plays a big role in Myanmar’s tourism and hospitality business, especially for regional visitors.

“Because of the fact that it is very near to everywhere in Asia, people within the region will not be willing to pay as much. Many perceive it to be unreasonably expensive and would rather wait for the prices to adjust before coming here.”

Over the past few years, many hotels have raised their prices to be double or triple the original rates in response to the ever-increasing demand. Nevertheless, in many cases the standard of the services is still not up to the mark, compared to the premium prices being paid out of customers’ pockets.

Infrastructure development, particularly domestic aviation, is something that Mr Suphachok says Myanmar also needs to accelerate. Delays can be a big hindrance for travellers who have already planned their travel itineraries ahead of time.

His view is supported by Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, a Phuket-based asset management and hospitality company serving the entire Asia Pacific region. He said there had been a lot of speculation on land in Myanmar, which is definitely not healthy for the market.

“The case of land value is a big thing. When you have expensive land, it is hard to invest a lot more,” he said. “A lack of capital is being seen. Investors need to attract venture capital and you can see that many of the projects offer mixed uses, where you have residential, hotel, retail and everything else in order to stay profitable.”

Mr Barnett called the fast-growing tourist arrivals to Myanmar a response to pent-up demand, adding that people want to come to the country to see what it is really like after years of hesitation. However, the challenge is how Myanmar can develop a tourism sector that is sustainable in the long run.

Singapore is an excellent case study in his view, since it manages to draw big numbers of visitors year after year, despite not having many natural attractions. Events such as

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Formula 1, big concerts or other festive activities are good marketing tools. Understanding international tourists’ behaviour and knowing how to create more demand for second-time visitors are crucial.

“It is like a book, where you always want to see the last page. People want to have an authentic experience,” said Mr Barnett. “However, going forward Myanmar needs to create demand generators. They need to develop arts, culture, big events and festivals, so people will keep coming back. Destination marketing is very important.”

Martin Craigs, the CEO of the Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) expressed his concern that any businesses that grow at the rate of Myanmar’s tourism industry face the risk of not being sustainable. The result can be damage to the country’s culture, history, natural attractions and charm. It should not get stuck in the mode of bringing the vast majority of tourism traffic through Yangon, but instead should distribute the development to other areas at the same pace.

“Myanmar should develop airport infrastructure in Mandalay and Bagan so that Asian tourists can come directly to those destinations. Having Yangon as the centre of tourism would create unbalanced development for the industry,” Mr Craigs said.

In his view, Bagan is one of the most interesting destinations with great potential to develop further, with similar characteristics as the famous Unesco World Heritage sites such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Luang Prabang in Laos.

However, people in Myanmar’s tourism and travel business need to be aware that it will take quite some time for the country to be mature and build up all the amenities and resources.

“Taking Thailand as an example, now it is the leader in large-scale tourism and it is considered to be highly complicated market,” he explained. “You need to have good airline infrastructure, good ground services, great hotels, well-trained tour guides and everything.

They have been doing it for 20 years but if Myanmar wants to achieve the same goal in within five years, it will not be easy.”

Training people is essential for the hospitality sector, especially at the present time when tourism development is still at its early stage and the demand for personnel is on the rise.

Pata is pioneering a human capital development programme, focusing on getting local “rising stars” who have at least five years of experience from all parts of the travel chain, bringing them to Bangkok to be trained by professionals.

“A 360-degree view of how the industry is so interdependent and interconnected is very important and the next generation in the travel industry should be more aware of this,” he added. “There are a lot of people in the business who still have a silo mentality.”

He explained that airlines, hotels, bus services, tour guides and everyone in the chain needs to understand how they should beach should be concerned about the other. Because of the interconnectedness, if some mistakes occur anywhere in the chain, everybody will be affected and tourists will not come back again.

“Creating demand for repeat travellers is significant,” said Mr Craigs. “In Singapore, typical second-time visitors spend 35% more per day than first-time visitors because they enjoyed

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the first-time experience and now they know how to do it and decide to come back.

Myanmar, as well, needs to work on this.”

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism/400215/tourism-in-the-newmyanmar

ETHNIC GROUPS Muslims rebuild homes as communal tensions ease in central Myanmar town Photo: Nyan Lynn/IRIN

Photo: Nyan Lynn/IRIN Phoe Ti wants to rebuild his home

MEIKTILA, 20 March 2014 (IRIN) - Thousands of residents displaced by inter-communal violence a year ago in this central town in Myanmar are being allowed to rebuild their homes.

“We want to finish them as soon as possible,” Phoe Ti, a 35-year-old Muslim bricklayer whose home was burnt to the ground in the violence, told IRIN. New brick homes are under construction nearby in the Chan Aye quarter of Meiktila where Buddhists and Muslims once lived peacefully side by side.

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According to the Meiktila local authorities, the initiative is part of a government-approved plan allowing more than 400 families with ownership documents to return and rebuild their homes with help from private donors and local NGOs. Launched in January, the project is expected to be completed in April 2014, just before the rainy season. “There is still a lot of work and construction to be completed, but we are pleased to see that the process is moving in the right direction,â€? Pierre PĂŠron, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said from Yangon.

More than 40 people were killed and over 12,000 displaced, after a heated argument in a Meiktila gold shop on 20 March 2013 between its Muslim owner and Buddhist customers quickly degenerated into violence, with crowds setting fire to businesses, religious buildings and homes. This was the worst sectarian violence in Myanmar since the 2012 unrest in western Rakhine State, where more than 120,000 Muslim Rohingyas remain displaced.

More than 800 homes were destroyed and another 35 buildings damaged in Meiktila (Mandalay Region) from 20 to 22 March, Human Rights Watch reported.

Over 4,000 still displaced One year on, more than 4,000 people remain displaced, mostly Muslims, who are living in five overcrowded camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Meiktila and Yin Daw, say district authorities.

Under the government plan, those with land deeds will be resettled in homes being built in Chan Aye. Those without will be resettled in 20 three-storey blocks to be built by the government and private donors in or near the town (either in Chan Aye or Thiri Mingalar).

However, some disapprove of the scheme.

Photo: Nyan Lynn/IRIN

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Aye Sint believes outside instigators were behind the violence

“It’s not fair,” said Phoe Thar, a 43-year-old Buddhist resident, now living in an IDP camp.

“There are many people who lost their title deeds and related documents to fire.”

Some IDPs complain they need more assistance from the government to get back on their feet and find employment, while others decry camp conditions.

“In the camps, we often face lack of food,” said Soe Thandar Aung, a 13-year-old Muslim girl, who works with her mother to carry bricks in Chan Aye for the equivalent of US$2.5 a day.

While government and international organizations are providing assistance to the IDPs, an OCHA mission to Meiktila in October 2013 found assistance had been scaled back due to budget limitations.

The mission also found shortages in camp clinics, reduced drinking water supplies, as well as the need for hygiene interventions in the camps.

Tensions abating?

Whatever complaints the IDPs may have, relations between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Meiktila remain calm, with most residents still convinced the 2013 violence was the work of others.

“We still believe it was outsiders involved in the killing, looting and burning houses,” Aye Sint, a 49-year-old Buddhist noodles seller, whose customers include Muslims, insisted. “We never had such problems between us [Buddhists and Muslims] in our town before.”

However, many residents are cautious: To safeguard their communities, some have established neighbourhood watch groups - comprised of Buddhists and Muslims - to patrol their communities at night, said Aye Lwin, chief of Aung Zaya quarter. “We are doing our best not to let the same kind of violence happen in our area [again].”

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99815/muslims-rebuild-homes-as-communaltensions-ease-in-central-myanmar-town

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Kaman Muslims oppose Rohingya replacing Bengali titles (Narinjara, 20 March 2014)

The statement of KNDP.

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Now a Muslim political party of Burma has come out with their reservation towards the word Rohingya replacing Bengali titles in the forthcoming national census.

Kaman (Muslim) National Development Party (KNDP) has made their stand clear regarding the term (Rohingya) through a statement issued to the media on March 18 last.

U Thein Pe, a central committee member of the party disclosed that his party opposes the name of Rohingya to be used in the census as it (Rohingya) is not included in the list of ethnic nationalities of Burma.

The southeast Asian country recognizes 135 ethnic nationalities as its indigenous residents.

Kaman Muslim is also a recognized ethnic nationality of Burma.

“It would be unfair and injustice if the name of Rohingya is used in the census. Because Rohingya is not recognized as a community or nationality in our country,” asserted U Thein Pe. The KNDP statement added that there is no mention about the term of Rohingya in the Arakanese history. The Burma President U Thein Sein has already declared that the Rohingya is not included in the list of 135 ethnic nationalities of the country.

There is a wild rumor across Arakan that the authority has created a code number 914 advocating the title Rohingya instead of Bengali names in the census.

The Arakanese ethnic nationalities have already opposed the term (Rohingya) for using it instead of Bengali titles in the census and they had also demonstrated their angers through various rallies on March 16, 2014.

Some senior Arakanese leaders have recently sent a letter to the census department urging its good office to avoid the Rohingya name in the nationwide census.

Source: http://narinjara.com/index.php/kaman-muslims-oppose-rohingya-replacingbengali-titles/

A Census Too Soon?

March 16, 2014 •

Author: Karen News

Fortify Rights, an international human rights organization based in South East Asia, raised concerns regarding Burma’s upcoming national census, citizenship law and national ID card scheme, arguing that in their current form they entrenched ethnic rifts and threatened peace.

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The Burma Government’s census, National ID card scheme and citizenship law are adding to ethnic discrimination, Matthew Smith, executive director and a founder of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization based in South East Asia, said in an interview with Karen News.

Burma’s pink-coloured national ID cards are important documents, which allow relative freedom of travel, access to government schools and voting in elections.

Yet Mr. Smith noted that while “ID cards are an important part of being a member of Myanmar’s [Burma’s] population,” in their current form, they intensified ethnic divisions.

“The government should stop printing ethnicity and religion on national identification cards.

It contributes to discrimination in the country and there is no good reason to include that information on the cards,” Mr. Smith added.

According to Ministry of Immigration and Population (MIP) figures listed in The Irrawaddy, an estimated “487,000 household registration certificates and approximately 3.5 million National Registration Cards were issued through to May of last year, under the ‘Moe Pwint’ Project.”

Mr. Smith expressed serious concerns over Burma’s 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law, which he said endangered the current peace process.

“The citizenship law should be amended so that all ethnic nationalities in the country have equal access to full citizenship status. As written, the law effectively excludes the Rohingya and contributes to their statelessness, which in turn creates instability in Rakhine State. In our view, Rohingya statelessness has been a principal root cause of violence in Rakhine State.”

Introduced in 1982, Burma’s citizenship law does not recognize 850,000 people in the country – mainly Rohingya Muslims – leaving them stateless, according to UNHCR estimations.

The Burma government was failing to engage in effective dialogue because the discriminatory laws were still in place, Mr. Smith said.

“Interfaith and inter-ethnic dialogue will only be effective when each party stands on equal ground, and right now we’re no where near seeing that… This issue threatens to derail the entire reform process.”

Other international rights groups have echoed the concerns of Mr. Smith. Human Rights Watch condemned the law as being “draconian” in their 2014 world report.

Burma’s government has rejected calls to reform the citizenship law and a spokesperson for President Thein Sein said that Burma’s citizenship law was a “sovereign right” to be determined by the government alone: “Any person ineligible under the law can’t be citizen, no matter who is pressuring [the government]”, he said in an interview with The Irrawaddy in November 2013.

Human rights groups also raised deep concerns regarding Burma’s upcoming census – the first of its kind since 1983 – contending that it is being rushed through and could be used to whitewash “genocide.”

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Fortify Rights director, Mr Smith stressed that now is not the time to push through a national census.

“The timing and process for the census are inadvisable on many levels. Civil society throughout the country has voiced its concerns and it appears their voices aren’t being heard. At this point the census should be temporarily postponed to ensure it won’t contribute to ethnic disunity. The donor governments and UNFPA have the ability to improve the process.”

The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) announced this month that KIO controlled territory would not participated in the census – perhaps 80,000 people in Kachin State alone would therefore not be included in the census.

The KIO and the organisation’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, have been at war with Burma’s Government since 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire was shattered.

“A national census is very important for any country’s development, and a proper census in Myanmar would be very useful for development. There is a risk that the census will somehow be used to undermine ethnic unity, and that’s a major concern given the tenuous state of so-called ceasefire agreements.”

In a February interview with Karen News, Steven Kiersons a Burma researcher from the Sentinel Project, a group that monitors the risk of genocide in areas of conflict, went so far as to accuse Burma’s government of using the upcoming census to whitewash “genocide.”

“This census is not so much about classification, but about denial,” Mr Kiersons said. “Those intent on genocide in Burma intend also to deny it ever happened. By classifying the Rohingya as Bengali they intend to claim they did not exterminate the Rohingya, but foreign elements of Bangladesh.”

Mr. Kiersons said, “The Burmese government’s policy of nation-building has discriminated against Karen, Shan, Rohingya, and Chinese minorities, among others.”

Burma’s census is scheduled to take place from March 30 to April 10, with preliminary results expected to be available in the end of July and final results available in 2015.

Source: http://karennews.org/2014/03/a-census-too-soon.html/

Arakan bans unregistered NGOs Narinjara, 16 March 2014 The lawmaking body of Arakan has passed a bill on Tuesday to ban the activities of all unregistered NGOs in the western Burma State.

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The bill was passed in the State Parliament unanimously after a lawmaker named U Aung Win proposed the draft insisting on banning both the national and International unregistered NGOs in Arakan, said U Aung Mra Kyaw, a lawmaker from Sittwe township.

“There are around 68 NGOs working in Arakan, but out of them only 15 NGOs are registered with the authority. We all agreed to ban the unregistered NGOs in our State,” added U Aung Mra Kyaw.

The Arakan government has already decided to take strict actions against the unregistered NGOs with the support from the Burma Union government.

“Our State is facing a different problem from these unregistered NGOs. In some occasions, the presence of many unrecognized NGOs has fueled troubles in Arakan. Hence we prefer these unregistered NGOs to leave our State,” asserted the lawmaker.

The passing of the bill came at a time, when the Arakanese community are angrily opposing many NGOs in Arakan accusing them with biasness towards the ‘Bengali’ people.

The Burma government has recently restricted the Medicines Sans Frontiers from working in Arakan after thousands of Arakanese staged demonstrations against the non-government organization for its doubtful activities in the border State.

Source: http://narinjara.com/index.php/arakan-bans-unregistered-ngos/

Myanmar government excludes Rohingya from census

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The 800,000 or so members of the Muslim minority will be included in the "Other" category.

For the director general of the Department on Population, the Rohingya will not be able to identify themselves as such. The country's first census in 30 years will run from 30 March to 10 April.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Muslim Rohingya minority living in the western state of Rakhine will not be considered as a separate ethnic group in the first population census in over 30 years. For Myanmar authorities, they are not one of the country's constitutive ethnic groups, which puts to a stop rumours that they were about to be granted legal recognition.

Rohingya can still take part in the census because there is a box for "Other" with space for anyone living in Myanmar, said Myint Kyaing, director general of the Department of Population in the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

His statement comes as lawmakers in Rakhine state endorsed a proposal to shut down unregistered NGOs in the state following a row between the Myanmar government and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) over attacks against the Muslim minority, which resulted in the MSF's expulsion from the state.

In the state, Rohingya Muslims have been the victims of deadly sectarian violence involving local Buddhists. And contrary to media reports, they will not be considered as a separate ethnic group in the census set for 30 March-10 April. In fact, "We don't have any code number [on the census] for the Rohingya ethnicity in our country," Myint Kyaing said.

Nevertheless, activists and international organisations have long called for them to be added to the Union of Myanmar's list of 135 ethnic groups.

Since June 2012, Rakhine has seen violent clashes between Burmese Buddhists and Rohingya, with at least 200 people killed and 250,000 displaced.

According to United Nations, some 800,000 Rohingya still live in the country. However, for the Myanmar government, they are illegal immigrants. For this reason, they have had to endure abuse and persecution.

Source: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Myanmar-government-excludes-Rohingya-fromcensus-30562.html

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CARTOON OF THE WEEK

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