HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

500
Ks.

WWW.MMTIMES.COM

DAILY EDITION

ISSUE 54 | MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015

NEWS 5

Census
results:
the full
picture
FULL COVERAGE NEWS 6

Minister blames emotional

reporters for disputes
U Ye Htut says conflicts between
government and reporters are mostly
due to a lack of professionalism
among journalists, who let emotion
get in the way of the facts.
BUSINESS 8

Central Bank limits US

dollar withdrawals
A cap on withdrawals of US$10,000
a week aims to put a stop to creeping
dollarisation in the country and keep
banks from running out of dollars at
their branches.

BUSINESS 8

Giant Ngwe Saung

project planned
Investors plan a large development
in Ngwe Saung on 20 kilometres of
beachfront land, although a formal
announcement is not expected until
the end of next year.
BUSINESS 9

Quality over timing for

new stock exchange
Deputy finance minister U Maung
Maung Thein says that getting the
fundamentals of the Yangon Stock
Exchange right is more important than
the timing of its launch.

USDP chair to lead campaign

Party confirms Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann as chair and leader of its parliamentary election campaign but no
decision has been reached yet on a presidential candidate, and no discussion held on possible coalitions. NEWS 3

2 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES June 1, 2015

Page 2

Kayleigh Long |
kayleighelong@gmail.com

THE INSIDER: How about them powercuts?

Dont hate, inoculate
The military is not attacking ethnic
people, but fighting against enemies
threatening sovereignty of the country,
illegal trade of natural resources,
and drug traffickers, Commander
in Chief Senior General Min Aung
Hlaing told a high level meeting of the
defence services on May 30, according
to yesterdays Global new Light of
Myanmar.
He noted that the military needs
to posses fighting power to be able
to clear the threats. It also needs to
cultivate fighting spirit and nationalist
spirit, said the article in the new Light.
now, that all sounds well and
good, but the eagle-eyed reader may
perhaps have noticed something of
an inconsistency in the editorial line
the papers Perspectives column
from just the day prior was entitled
nationalism is an infantile disease,
which made reference to Albert
einsteins quip that nationalism is the
measles of mankind.
Presumably Sen Gen Min Aung
Hlaing and the columnist were talking
about two different types of nationalism
the former referring to the healthy,
rousing patriotic kind, and the latter to
the one that has (as the editorial read)
the power to create hell on earth.

In brief:
un continues to unleash its arsenal of
celebrity ambassadors, wont confirm
reports Angelina Jolie may be deployed
again soon: At this stage, we cant rule
it out

Wanted: Scientists to publicly state,

once and for all, that religion cant be
established with a blood or DnA test
and that any claims this is possible are
completely without grounding in reality

The number of minor battles the

Tatmadaw has been embroiled in since
1948. Source: GnLM

Once was
Burma ...

Next week:
Michelle Yeoh steadfastly refuses
to address boat crisis, draws ire of
rights groups

1557
The number of major battles the
Tatmadaw has been embroiled in since
1948. Source: GnLM

Archival material courtesy of

Pansodan Gallery
First floor, 286 Pansodan,
upper block,
Kyauktada township

16,571

Word of the week: Myanmaric

adjective
of or pertaining to the display of inherently
Myanmar cultural values, particularly
where womens clothing is concerned.
example: They forget that as they are
Myanmars, what they do should be
Myanmaric.
(Term coined in letter to the editor
published in the Global new Light of
Myanmar on May 31, 2015, entitled
Trousers Culture.

Cover of Cooperative magazine, 1975

www.mmtimes.com

NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

Thura U Shwe Mann gets party

nod to lead USDP into elections
EI EI TOE
LWIN
eieitoelwin@gmail.com

PARLIAMENT Speaker Thura U Shwe

Mann will remain chair of the Union
Solidarity and Development Party and
lead its election campaign, the party
announced yesterday after a three-day
leadership meeting.
The announcement followed weeks
of speculation that U Shwe Mann
might be replaced as chair, possibly by
President U Thein Sein, who held the
post until 2013 and led the party in the
2010 elections.
The decision followed the partys
fourth central committee meeting,
which began on May 29. In the build-up
to the crucial forum it had been expected that the party would also discuss its
preferred candidate for the presidency
and the selection of would-be MPs for
all constituencies across Myanmar.
However, party spokesperson U
Thein Swe told reporters the meeting
focused on strategy and a review of
party policy and discipline.
The partys leader will not change
for the 2015 elections. The party decided Thura U Shwe Mann will continue
to lead as party chair in the election
period and he will lead the election
campaign team as well, U Thein Swe
said at the USDPs monumental headquarters in the capital.
Observers said it appeared that the
party had tackled the controversial issue of who to choose as its candidate
for president. Myanmars president is
to be selected by newly elected parliamentarians about three months after a
national vote expected in early November.
Thura U Shwe Mann said in his
opening speech to the party meeting
that the USDP was willing to cooperate
with any party for the sake of national
interest. His remarks are likely to fuel

President U Thein Sein (left) shakes hand with Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker
Thura U Shwe Mann in Nay Pyi Taw on October 31, 2014. Photo: EPA

speculation that the Speaker, who is

said to have a good working relationship with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is
open to a coalition government with
her National League for Democracy.

If the president and

Union ministers
want to run in the
elections, we will
follow the law.
U Thein Swe
USDP spokesperson

U Thein Swe said there was no

discussion about forming a coalition
government.
U Thein Sein and Thura U Shwe
Mann were both top generals in the
former military regime that held power
until 2011. There had been reports that
the Speaker, who has signalled his presidential ambitions, was only a temporary party chair and might be replaced
by U Thein Sein.
The partys announcement indicates a desire for continuity and could
be seen as establishing Thura U Shwe
Mann as its candidate for the presidency. U Thein Seins role within the party
is less clear.
U Thein Swe said the president
still has links with the party but that
he does not take part in its activities

because of provisions in the 2008 constitution. However, the law does not
prevent the president from running as
a party candidate in the elections.
According to the constitution, the
president does not take part in party
activities but if the president and Union ministers want to run in the elections, we will follow the law. Now we
are discussing with legal advisers about
the law, U Thein Swe said.
He cautioned that those wanting to
join the party must obey its rules and
regulations. Those remarks could be
aimed at reports that 100 military officers led by Senior General Min Aung
Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the
armed forces, were likely to take up
top posts in the USDP and run in the
elections. U Thein Swe said the number
100 was not correct, but he confirmed
that some military figures would join
the party.
Central committee and military
officials are now discussing the issue.
We hope we will officially announce
our candidate list within two weeks,
he said.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
is reported to be on the point of retirement and about to enter the political fray, possibly with an eye to the
presidency.
We have not received any information that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing wants to join the party. If he wants
to be a politician and can accept our
party rules and regulations, then the
party will accept him as a member, U
Thein Swe said.
He said the party was open to civilians and those from a military background, as long as they were good
public figures. To run as candidates
they would need to be accepted by the
majority of the party, he said.
Central executive committee members said winning the elections was the
first priority, rather than selection of its
presidential candidate.
We have to struggle very hard to
win the elections, said U Zaw Myint Pe,
a central executive committee member.

News 3

UEC
launches
website
TECHNICIANS and electoral
officials are scrambling to complete a website that will eventually allow voters to check that
their names and other details
are correct. The Union Election
Commission (UEC) said the current version of the website was
still provisional, although details
of some voters who live in some
Yangon townships are available
on the site.
U Win Kyi, a member of the
UEC, said the website was a test
version and information would
not yet be complete or correct.
It was launched on May 26,
but a lot still needs to be done, he
told The Myanmar Times. Voters
can type in their name, national
identity card number and township and search for their names,
he said, adding that work was still
proceeding to input all the data
required.
I am not sure how many
names have been uploaded to
the test website, but I think they
will be resident in some of the 10
townships of Yangon that were
the first targeted under a national
program to overhaul electoral
rolls.
Daw Yadanar Tun, a member
of the Myanmar Informationtechnology Development Organisation (MIDO), which has helped
the Yangon Region election subcommission with the project, said
some additional features were
still needed.
The website is user-friendly,
but it would be better if there
were a feature such as a pictographic guide showing how the
numbers of Citizenship Scrutiny
Card or date of birth should be
typed, she said.
She also said only computers
with the Unicode font system
installed would be able to read
the website correctly. The website does not support the English
language. Lun Min Mang

Speaker, parties negotiate on constitutional change

EI EI TOE LWIN
eieitoelwin@gmail.com
DESPITE criticism of a new law authorising a referendum on constitutional change as useless, parliamentary Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann has
met political leaders to negotiate the
submission of a constitutional amendment bill to parliament.
The lower house, or Pyithu Hluttaw, approved the bill on May 28,
even though the prospect of actually
holding a referendum seems slight.
The six-way talks that were supposed
to bring the main players closer on
the contentious issue have effectively
stalled.

We all agreed that we would cooperate in the constitutional amendment

process, said USDP spokesperson U
Thein Swe, adding that the Speaker
also outlined provisions that did not
have to be changed before Novembers
election.
The two most contentious issues
in the constitution concern sections
436 and 59(f), which govern the process for constitutional change and the
qualifications for the presidency.
Most MPs believe that agreement
to amend these sections can only be
reached through the so-called six-way
talks, which involve representatives
of the government, the military, the
opposition, parliament and ethnic

minorities. But with an election scheduled for early November, time is running out for these talks to yield fruit.
U Aye Maung, leader of the Rakhine National Party and also the
designated ethnic minority representative at the six-party talks, told
the media after meeting the Speaker
on May 29, The question is whether
parliament can proceed with this issue even without agreement in the
six-way talks.
It is expected that parliament will
discuss some issues related to the
constitution next week, including the
questions of the sharing of power and
natural resources between the Union
government and the states and regions.

However, U Aye Maung said some

of these proposed changes depended
on an amendment to section 436,
which effectively gives the military a
veto over any constitutional change.
Changing the constitution depends
both on both parliament and the sixway talks, he said.
Though most MPs believe no referendum will be held ahead of the election, U Aye Maung said he believed the
referendum could take place alongside
the elections.
We have enough time to hold the
referendum on section 436 by adding
the question to the ballot paper, he
said. If that is done, it could be approved for the next parliament.

Political commentator U Yan Myo

Thein said that he did not believe the
president and Thura U Shwe Mann
held wildly divergent views on the constitution. They are pretending to be on
different sides. But both do not want to
change the constitution, he said.
However, Thura U Shwe Mann
might push through some changes if
he believes it will further his chances
of becoming president, U Yan Myo
Thein said.
The recent meeting between the
Speaker and 20 political parties was
likely aimed at winning support from
MPs by promising them some minimal amendments to the constitution,
he added.

News 5

www.mmtimes.com

Media conflicts
due to emotion
minister says
MRATT
KYAW THU
mrattkthu@gmail.com
An Elite Express bus slammed into a traffic circle in Tadaoo and flipped over yesterday. Photo: Ministry of Information

Bus crash on deathly highway

kills five, injures fifteen
THAN NAING SOE
thennaingsoe@gmail.com
FIVE passengers were killed and
another fifteen hospitalised as a bus
slammed into a traffic circle and
flipped over early morning yesterday
on the notoriously deadly Yangon-toMandalay expressway.
The Elite Express bus lost control
in a traffic circle in Tadaoo town at
around 3am, according to local officials. The bus was driving at a high
speed in the inside lane and the front
wheel was smashed off as it careened
into the divider around the traffic
circle.

Local officials blamed the accident on the driver not being fully
awake when he took over his shift at
the wheel.
The incident happened because the driver was woken from
his sleep and asked to drive, said U
Kyaw San, minister for transport in
Mandalay Region.
The driver who was at the wheel
at the time of the accident fled the
scene, while the other bus driver was
questioned by investigating police.
When the driver was questioned in police custody and was
asked about the speed, he wrongly identified the speed limit on

the highway as 100 kilometres

per hour instead of 90 kph, the
minister said.
The government has been trying
to upgrade the deadly expressway
where the accident occurred, and is
currently considering bids to make
the road safer.
In an accident on the same roadway in May last year, a bus flipped
over a bridge killing 12 people.
Engineers have admitted the
road was rushed and had imperfections at the time it opened in 2009.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun
and Khant Lin Oo

MINISTER for Information U Ye Htut

has accused reporters of a lack of professionalism, saying they too often let
their emotions colour their reporting.
Speaking at the National Press
Awards ceremony in Yangon yesterday,
U Ye Htut said most of the disputes in
the industry were caused by reporters
failing to remain impartial.
He said many reported negatively on
the government because of their feelings about the previous military regime.
Journalists should focus on ensuring
they are professional and strip the emotion from their reporting, he said, adding that the government is also trying to
resolve disputes without emotion.
In his eight-minute speech, the minister also discussed media access during
this years election and new media laws
that are still yet to come into force.
He promised that the media would
be allowed to report freely during the
election period, but said they should follow a recently drafted code of conduct.
On the News Media Law approved

by parliament in March 2014, U Ye

Htut said that the process of enacting
by-laws was at the final step. He said
one notable feature of the law was that
it would give journalists better access to
government information.
U Kyaw Min Swe, secretary of the
Myanmar Press Council (Interim), responded that the Tatmadaw was to
blame for most of the problems between journalists and the government.
He accused the Tatmadaw of taking
a dictatorial approach to the media,
pointing out that it was normally quick
to file legal action when a dispute arises.
In the most high-profile case to date,
four journalists and the chief executive
officer of weekly journal Unity were
convicted under the State Secrets Act
and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour in June 2014
for an article stating that a factory in
Magwe Region was producing military
weapons.
Yesterdays ceremony was hosted by
the Myanmar Journalists Association
and is the third awards event since 2011.
Four awards were handed out, including best news photography to Soe
Zeyar Tun from Reuters, best cartoon to
Ko Shwe Htoo (Pyay), best broadcaster
to Democratic Voice of Burma and a
lifetime achievement award to U Khin
Maung Lay.

4 News
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THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

Myanmar not a source of boat

people, insists delegation head
LAIGNEE BARRON
laignee@gmail.com
DESPITE agreeing to a plan to address root causes compelling
thousands of refugee seekers and
migrants to cram into smugglers
boats each year, Myanmar continues to reject suggestions it is a
source of the boat people that
have sparked a regional crisis.
Returning from an emergency
meeting in Bangkok on May 29 to
discuss the issue, the Myanmar delegation said it had made sure their
neighbouring countries understood
that the people fleeing to the seas
are not from Myanmar.
Our delegation attended the
meeting as a responsible country,
U Htin Lynn, the head Myanmar
representative and acting director
of the Foreign Ministrys International Organization and Economic
Department, said in a statement
yesterday.
There have been accusations
that those boat people are from Myanmar. The news from Myanmar
cant widely reach the international
community so they believed the accusation. In the meeting, after we explained, they understood that most
boat people drifting in the sea are
not from Myanmar, but from one of
our neighbouring countries, he said.
Myanmar has been keen to depict the 3500 starving and desperate passenger who have swum to
shore or been rescued from smugglers boats this month as well as
the thousands more believed to be
still stranded at sea as mostly economic migrants from Bangladesh.
During US Deputy Secretary of
State Antony Blinkens visit to Myanmar earlier this month, President
U Thein Sein and military chief
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
explained that the Bangladeshis
rescued from the boats often claim
to be Rohingya in order to receive
asylum status.

But at the emergency conference

assembled by Thailand to respond
to the ongoing crisis, Bangladesh
said initial estimates revealed that
just 30 percent of those rescued so
far are Bangladeshis.
Bangladeshs foreign secretary
Shahidul Haque said his citizens
will be repatriated within a month
or so, but the country has also
made it clear it will not be taking
in those who claim to be from Myanmar.
The neighbouring nations have
been locked in a standoff over the
nationality of passengers rescued
by the Myanmar Navy on May 21.
Of the 208 passengers, 200 are believed by the Myanmar government
to be Bangladeshis, but the Bang-

After we explained,
they understood
that most boat
people drifting in
the sea are not from
Myanmar.
U Htin Lynn
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ladesh side has asked for further

proof of their origin.
Adding to the contention, 727
more people were rescued by the
navy from the hold of a boat on May
29. Initially the Ministry of Information recorded them as Bengalis,
but a local official told the AFP they
are Bangladeshis to be deported.
As these people came from
Bangladesh, we will take them back
to Rakhine State because its close
[to the border], said U Myo Win,
the local official.

The Presidents Office declined

to comment yesterday.
However, in recent days Myanmar has vocally countered criticism
of its treatment of Muslims in Rakhine State.
After Myanmar claimed it was
being singled out at the May 29
talks and got combative with the
UN over remarks that any solution
would require the full assumption
of responsibility by Myanmar toward all its people, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs also reacted sharply
to remarks from Nobel peace laureates.
In a video message broadcast
at a conference in Norway, the Nobel laureates including Desmond
Tutu said the situation in Myanmar amounted to nothing less
than genocide.
The Foreign Ministry reacted on
May 30 by calling the remarks unbalanced and negative.
Their criticism turned a blind
eye to Myanmars efforts at rebuilding trust among the two communities in Rakhine State [including]
granting citizenship through national verification to the Bengalis,
it said in a statement. The focus
should be more on cooperating
to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the affected countries rather than fingerpointing.
Though the Bangkok meeting
was criticised for not solving the
crisis or producing a binding agenda, the participants did agree on the
need for further talks, with a date
and location yet to be established.
In the statement issued after the
one-day event, the 17 participating
countries, including Myanmar, also
agreed they will be addressing factors in the areas of origin including
enhancing a sense of security and
belonging [and] promoting full respect for human rights.
No specific origin countries
were mentioned, however.

First private
TB treatment
centre opens
SHWE YEE SAW MYINT
MYINT KAY THI
newsroom@mmtimes.com
TOE Linn Aung in Yangons North
Dagon township has become the first
private hospital to open a centre dedicated to treating tuberculosis.
Labs and technicians will be provided by the Myanmar Medical Association TB program with funding from
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Dr That Maung Naing, who manages the associations TB program,
said the MMA had begun urging
private hospitals to open TB care
centres last year. While many were
interested, he said it was very difficult due to a lack of specialised staff
and equipment.
We believe helping the private sector to open TB health centres can reduce the infection rate and encourage
patients to seek early treatment. Most
hospitals dont want to accept TB patients because of the risk of infection,
he said, adding that about 20 state
hospitals accept TB patients.
Dr That Maung Naing said one or
two private hospitals would open TB
care centres next year with the support of the MMA TB program.
The infection rate for tuberculosis
is 373 people per 100,000, according to
the 2013 Global TB report.
Dr Ba Shwe, an executive committee member of Jivitadana Sangaha
Hospital, said introducing TB care
in the private sector was a positive
development.
Currently, patients found to have
TB symptoms are referred to the township health department but not all
patients seek treatment at the government centres.
Though the doctors refer them to
the health department, some patients
dont go, he said. If the TB clinic is
operating in a private hospital, patients can get a check-up immediately,
as well as early treatment.

Rakhine officials collect nearly

400,000 white cards by deadline
LUN MIN MANG
lunmin.lm@gmail.com
RAKHINE State immigration officers
say they have collected nearly 400,000
temporary identity papers by the May
31 deadline set by the government
as part of its citizenship application
program.
U Khin Soe, director of immigration department, told The Myanmar
Times yesterday that office hours had
been extended until 6pm on the last
day for the white cards to be handed
in.
Most of the white-card holders in
Rakhine State are stateless Muslims
who identify as Rohingya, but are officially referred to by the government
as Bengali.
The government decreed in February that all temporary ID holders
in the country said then to number
797,504 should hand in their documents between April 1 and May 31.
From June 1 former white-card
holders will be eligible to apply for
citizenship, which will be granted
if they fulfil the legal criteria. For
Rohingya Muslims this includes renouncing Rohingya as their ethnic
identity.
U Khin Soe said his latest data
showed 392,259 cards had been
handed in across Rakhine State. The

A Muslim resident of an IDP camp in Sittwe township holds a receipt given to

those who have handed in white cards. Photo: Naing Wynn Htoon

government had previously said there

were 666,831 white-card holders in the
state.
Explaining the discrepancy, the

director denied that people were refusing to surrender their cards.

Some of them are dead. Some
have lost their cards or had their cards

burned. Some had their cards torn

apart, he said, referring to the intercommunal violence in 2012 that left
around 200 people dead.
He made no mention of UN estimates that some tens of thousands of
Rohingya have also fled villages and
IDP camps on smuggling routes plied
by human traffickers.
The director said the rate of collection had gradually fallen during May
to a little over 1000 cards a day, compared to more than 20,000 on some
days in April.
Minister for Immigration and Population U Khin Yi told Voice of America on May 29 that more than 415,000
white cards had been submitted across
the country.
Rakhine States immigration department has started processing some
applications for citizenship in a pilot
project since January 1 of this year.
U Khin Soe said 885 Muslims from
Kyaukpyu, Ramree, Thandwe and
Maungdaw applied for citizenship in
January and 395 cases had been completed by the government at different
levels.
UN officials say that many of those
who have been granted citizenship
through the verification process are
still confined to their camps, as the
state government says it is unsafe for
them to leave.

6 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

Final census
results set for
2016 release

The results included

estimates of 1.2 milion
people for areas of

Rakhine, Kachin,
and Kayin states

KACHIN

where full reporting

was not conducted.

Ethnic and religious data held back, as debate

continues over those unable to take part in census

YE MON
yeemontun2013@gmail.com

ETHNIC and religious data excluded from the main results of

the 2014 census on May 29 will be
released early next year, officials
say.
At a ceremony in Nay Pyi Taw
to announce the findings of the
nationwide head-count, Minister
for Immigration and Population
U Khin Yi said further discussions
would have to take place with ethnic leaders before those data were
released.
Provisional results were released last August.
President U Thein Sein told the
ceremony that the figures would
play a crucial role in shaping the
future of our country and our society.
The census, the first for more
than 30 years, covers a population
with 135 recognised ethnic groups
as well as some that are not
recognised.
I think if we discuss with the
ethnic leaders, we can solve these
problems. We need more time to
do that. So we will release the data
on ethnicity, religion, occupation
and industry in early 2016, said
U Khin Yi, without specifying the
problems entailed.
Observers have suggested the
delay is a political rather than administrative decision, as there are
concerns that the release of sensitive data could inflame tensions at
a politically sensitive time.
The International Crisis Group
warned in May 2014 of potential
risks over the publication of the
census results. Disagreements over
how to categorise ethnic identities
and the possibility that the total
number of Muslims in the country

We will release
the data on
ethnicity, religion,
occupation and
industry in
early 2016.
U Khin Yi
Union population minister

may be much higher than expected

could fuel tensions in the run-up to
the November parliamentary elections, it said.
The Muslim population was
officially counted as 4 percent of
the nationwide total in 1983 the
same proportion as in the previous census a decade earlier.
The census has stirred controversy because of the exclusion of
those in Rakhine State who wanted to self-identify as Rohingya.
The ministry said an estimated 1.09 million people were not
counted in Rakhine State, while

enumerators were also denied access to parts of Kachin State and

Kayin State in areas controlled by
armed ethnic groups.
In parts of Rakhine State,
members of some communities
were not counted because they
were not allowed to self-identify
using a name that is not recognised by the government. The
government made this decision
in the interest of security and to
avoid the possibility of violence
occurring due to inter-communal
tensions, the ministry said in the
277-page census report.
The government refuses to recognise Rohingya as an ethnic
identity and describes them as
Bengalis, inferring their roots
are in Bangladesh.
Vijay Nambiar, special adviser
to the UN secretary-general on
Myanmar, acknowledged the census as a monumental achievement but said its shortcomings
should not be overlooked.
In northern Rakhine State, a
considerable segment of the population was left out of the exercise
amid ongoing communal tensions
and the demand of many local
people to self-identify as Rohingya, a demand not conceded by the
authorities, Mr Nambiar said.
The official list of ethnic
groups used in the census was
also a source of disagreement
and misgivings. The government
has wisely decided to convene a
consultative process to revise the
categorization to represent Myanmars ethnic diversity more accurately before it releases ethnic
data, he said.
U Thein Sein said that in the
near future the government would
conduct talks to establish a union
based on federal principles. We
will certainly encounter issues of
categorising and recognising ethnic national races based on political agreements reached. In this
respect, the census data would facilitate addressing [those] issues,
he said.
He said the data would also
enable the government to devise
and implement more appropriate
and effective policies where no
one will be left behind. Every citizen, irrespective of gender, race,
status, or disabilities, will have
equal access to education, healthcare and social services.
Reliable and accurate census
data will provide such information as available human resources
and population-based market
positions on which plans and
projects can be devised for the
effective provision of public services and the development of the
private sector, and would attract
foreign direct investment flows
that would ensure economic development. In the social reform
process, population information
would enable the effective provision of education and healthcare
and the development of the cultures of the ethnic national races,
he said.
U Thein Sein stressed that the
census results, as released so far,
were available to the public in several formats, including online, in
print and through DVDs provided
by the ministry.

SAGAING

Fertility rate:

CHIN

Myanmar women have an

average of 2.3 children

Population

51.5

50%

Million
SHAN

under
age 27

down from 4.7 children

in 1983
Urban areas: 1.8 children
Rural areas: 2.5 children

RAKHINE
KAYAH

BAGO

YANGON
MON

KAYIN

AYEYARWADY

Life expectancy:
Men
Women
Highest
Lowest

: 63.9 years
: 69.9 years
: Mon State (71.7
years) and Yangon
(71.2 years)
: Magwe (60.6 years)
and Ayeyarwady
regions (61.0 years)

TANINTHARYI

Myanmar: A country of differences

GUY DINMORE
guydinmore@gmail.com
MORE people in Myanmar have mobile phones than use electricity to light
their homes, many more rely on bullock carts than possess cars or vans,
and there is still a serious deficit of toilets and potable water. These are these
are some of the striking and useful
findings that emerge in the 2014 census, depicting a country of extreme differences and pronounced rural-urban
variations.
One unique feature of a census is
its ability to provide information down
to the lowest administrative level. Such
information is vital for planning and
evidence-based decision making at
every level, the Ministry of Immigration and Population said in its report
which was published online.
The ministry commended the UN
Population Fund and international donors for their technical expertise and
their financial assistance in the census,
which is estimated to have cost about
US$60 million.
That equates to just over $1 a head
for a country that has determined its
population at 51.5 million people well up from 35.3 million at the time
of the last census in 1983, but fewer
than the 57 million the government
had estimated to exist, partly due to a
declining birth rate. In addition there
are just over 2 million Myanmar living abroad, mostly of working age, of
whom 70 percent are in Thailand.

IN DEPTH
A breakdown of the population
pyramid showed a narrower base in
the 0-9 years age group than in 1983,
highlighting the effect of declining
birth rates since the previous census
was conducted.
On the other hand, the proportion
of young people is growing and the
emerging youth bulge creates favourable conditions for a demographic dividend in Myanmar, the ministry said.
The average fertility rate for women
living from 15 to at least 49 years is 2.3
children, a figure close to the Southeast
Asian average.
Life expectancy is among the lowest
in the region, however. Men live an average of 63.9 years, while women live six
years longer, for a nation average of 66.8
years. There is a stark rural-urban divide,
however, with those in cities living on average nearly seven years longer.
Magwe and Ayeyarwady regions
had the lowest life expectancy of 60.6
and 61 years respectively. Those two
regions also had the highest under-5
mortality rates, at 108 and 105 deaths
per 1000 live births respectively more
than twice the rate in Yangon. The national average is 72.
The national literacy rate compares
well with the wider region, at 89.5pc
of the population, below the rate of
93.5pc in Thailand but well above
62.8pc in India. About 80pc of My-

anmar 10-year-olds attend school a

number considerably higher than previous estimates but this falls to just
over 40pc by the age of 15.
The 277-page report contains a
wealth of valuable detail not just for
economic planners but also the private
sector. Revealing the complexities of
collecting the data, a striking 27.3pc of
people had no form of identification,
yet house ownership stands at 86pc of
the population.
It is revealed that 32.9pc of people
have a mobile telephone, while just
3.5pc have a computer and 6.2pc have
internet at home. A television is available for 49.5pc of the nation, and radio
35.5pc.
For transport only 3.1pc have a car,
van or truck, while 38.7pc have a motorbike, and 21.6pc rely on a cart and
bullock. Only 32.4pc of households use
electricity for lighting but only 12pc in
Rakhine State and Ayeyarwady Region
while 81pc cook with wood or charcoal.
Just over half of all houses are
made with bamboo walls, while 61.5pc
have corrugated sheeting for roofs.
About 74pc of households reported
having improved sanitation facilities
described as either a flush toilet or a
water seal (improved pit latrine). But
19pc of rural households reported having no facilities of any description.
Just over 30pc of the population use
what is defined as unimproved water
sources. The main source of drinking
water for urban households is water
purifiers or bottled water (31.3pc).

News 7

www.mmtimes.com

Views

Rohingya stalemate tests Myanmar

NICHOLAS
FARRELLY
nicholas.farrelly@glenlochadvisory.com

YANMARS brittle international reputation has

taken a pounding the
past month, with countries across Southeast
Asia calling on the leadership to do
much better.
Last week the government was
forced into a regional dialogue that
seeks resolution to the immediate
migration crisis around the Andaman Sea countries. But Myanmars
leadership is dragging its feet, seeking
any excuse to divert attention from
the dire conditions facing Muslims in
northern Rakhine State.
The reason that desperate people
have fallen prey to human traffickers
is that conditions for the Rohingya,
whether in Myanmar or Bangladesh,
are designed to be intolerable. Is it
any wonder that thousands take to
the sea, risking their lives for a small
chance at a better future?

EDITORIAL

Let us count
the ways...
LAST November presidential adviser U
Myint said the governments approach
to statistics would start from scratch.
Decades of disastrous meddling had
long twisted facts to the governments
favour, counting what it wanted to
be true rather than what was true. He
called accurate stats a crucial governance tool vital to democratic transition.
All this comes to mind as results
are released from last years nationwide census. The 2014 count the first
since 1983, the broadest since 1931
cost US$60 million. Why bother?
Because nothing elections aside
stands to affect our future more. Prior
to last Augusts provisional results, most
thought Myanmar contained 5-10 million people too many. Now we can allocate funds properly, giving each a fairer
share. And the new data is already revealing much about what kind of country we live in: for example, that urban
residents live on average seven years
longer than rural residents.
Stats like this galvanise change. Last
week the president said results would
play a crucial role in shaping the future of our country and our society.
Without a bedrock of accurate data, reforms could only leave us back where U
Myint admitted wed been for decades.
The gaps, however, are telling.
Around 1.2 million people in Kachin,
Kayin and Rakhine states, already
disadvantaged, risk further disenfranchisement after going uncounted.
Ethnic, religious, occupation and
industry figures are delayed until
early 2016, pending talks with ethnic
groups. The census has helped reveal
the extent to which disagreement exists over categorization of ethnicity, a
joint government-UN statement said.
Not all these categories need to be
delayed over that issue: It would be
worrying if this signalled a massaging
of results. But if the census brings a rethink of the official list of 135 ethnic
groups dating only to 1989, and criticised as misleading ever since well be
much closer to U Myints goal of seeing
the nation tallied as it is, not as the government wants it to appear.

What we now know is that too

many never finished that journey.
Starved and abused, unknown numbers possibly hundreds -- ended
up in mass graves across southern
Thailand and Malaysia. This evil in
our midst requires a serious response
from the governments of ASEAN, and
the wider community of respectable
international citizens.
In a world of increasing interconnection, information transfer and
cultural enmeshment our responsibilities might start at home but they
cant stop there.
In this case the international
outcry is directly connected to the
internal management of Myanmar affairs. For a generation, diplomats and
officials have relied on the old mantra
that ASEANs preference for noninterference precludes meddling in
domestic political and security affairs.
Yet the scrutiny that Myanmar
faces right now goes well beyond
attention to government policy. Many
are beginning to ask hard questions
about Myanmar social attitudes and
the anti-Muslim views that have
become mainstream.
During the dark decades of military rule it mattered little what the

Myanmar people thought. Resistance

to the generals sparked many times
but never came close to toppling their
dictatorship. The mass of people obviously had their ideas, but there were
few outlets for broadcasting them and
only limited opportunities to get hold
of good information.
Since the liberalisation unleashed
by the government of President U
Thein Sein the entire system has
shifted. Nowadays information comes
in unstoppable waves, much of it
funnelled through the echo chamber
of Facebook. People who grew up
without ready access to any uncensored news now struggle to judge the
authority of a million different voices.
The algorithmic logics of the Web,
combined with the power of popular
endorsement, ultimately determine
the visibility of different ideas.
This changes the equation for
leaders as their every gaffe, grimace or grin can be repackaged for
consumption by thousands, even millions, within a matter of hours. This
multiplication effect is new everywhere, but it has specific implications
as Myanmar seeks to manage the
ongoing fallout of violence and desperation in northern Rakhine State.

We learn online that some Myanmar citizens hold unflinching views

about Rakhine State. They see their
country at risk from illegal migrants
from Bangladesh and have been told
that the Rohingya are Bengali interlopers. They are unwilling to accept
negotiation with such foreigners.
Such sentiments are put aggressively by Rakhine States elected
leaders who have determined that no
compromise is possible. Their State is
officially home to one national race
that professes the Islamic faith, the
Kamein, but there is no space for those
claiming to be Rohingya.
Hate speech is one of the outcomes
and todays internet allows unfiltered
views, no matter how ignorant, to get
plenty of attention. The nationalist
zealotry that has accompanied todays
more open political climate means
that moderate ideas and more tolerant perspectives are quickly elbowed
aside by the most brazen, and often
spiteful, interpretations of events.
Yet none of this fully explains why
Myanmar a multicultural society
premised on the inclusion of dozens
of major ethnic groups with different
traditions, languages and ambitions
is so unwilling to accept a relatively

modest number of people, almost

all of whom live in a distant corner
of the country that most people will
never have the chance to visit.
It is precisely because of a lack
of exposure to conditions for the
Rohingya that the picture of northern
Rakhine State has been popularly
distorted. So much effort is expended
on trivial distaste for the R word
that the requirements of humanitarian
compassion are too often overlooked.
And demands for balance miss the
fact that the keel was broken long ago.
Its fair to assume that Myanmar
still wants to build a reputation as
welcoming and inclusive. Tragically, the Rohingya, and some other
Muslim groups, are dehumanised to
the extent that even horrific crimes
against them fail to generate public or
official sympathy.
It is unclear that such attitudes will
change without leaders in Myanmar
taking big risks to move public sentiment, including online. A solution to
the ongoing humanitarian and citizenship crisis wont come from pandering
to instincts of exclusion and fear.
Nicholas Farrelly is a Fellow at the
Australian National University.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

Business
Central
Bank
moves to
limit US
dollars
JEREMY MULLINS
jeremymullins7@gmail.com
THE Central Bank of Myanmar has
moved to prevent dollarisation by
limiting US dollar withdrawals and
reinforcing rules against paying in
a currency other than the kyat.
The May 29 announcements by
the Central Bank are aimed at preventing more widespread use of the
US dollar, against a backdrop of a
depreciating kyat.
It has placed a limit on dollar
withdrawals, meaning no more
than US$5000 may be withdrawn
from a bank account on two occasions each week though embassies, UN organisations and international NGOs are exempt.
The limit is on the US dollar
cash withdrawals only, a senior
Central Bank official said.
There is no restriction on foreign currency payments for both
domestic and international. There
is no restriction on local currency
payments. There is no restriction
on foreign currency exchange.
The Central Bank also issued a
notice stating that transactions inside the country must be conducted
in kyat, a rule that is already on the
books but unevenly enforced.
The moves come as the kyat has
tumbled about 6 percent against
the dollar so far this year, according to the Central Banks official
reference rate, but closer to 11pc if
market rates are used. On May 29
the Central Banks rate was K1090 a
dollar, while the markets rate was
closer to K1135.
Myanmar Oriental Bank chair U
Mya Than said the decision to limit withdrawals to $10,000 a week
from domestic bank branches followed a high-ranking meeting in
Nay Pyi Taw in May.
The move came in response to
concerns on dollarisation, or the
increased use of the dollar instead
of the local currency. Other ASEAN
countries, such as Cambodia, predominantly use the dollar rather
than the local currency, resulting in
less control over its own monetary
policy.
U Mya Than said there are also
practical difficulties in Myanmar,
as local banks often do not have
enough dollars on hand to meet demand. This creates problems when
people are not able to withdraw
any money from their US dollar accounts.
We do not print US dollars
here, he said.
Adding to the complications,
most US dollar inflows come in
forms of electronic payments
through methods such as SWIFT
transfers, though when people
withdrawal money in Myanmar
they want cash, rather than electronic currency.
We need to prevent dollarisation, said U Mya Than.
Turning to the restrictions on
dollars is a way of promoting local
currency use inside the country.

Inflation fears
prompted by
K10,000 notes
AYE
THIDAR
KYAW
ayethidarkyaw@gmail.com

AN announcement in state media

that a new version of the K10,000
note will be released has led to fears
of inflation, particularly as the government has yet to state the number
of bills to be circulated.
The Central Bank of Myanmar will
issue K10,000 notes with a new type
of shiny emerald number, a new watermark image of a white lotus and
a protective layer of varnish on both
sides of the bank note, according to
the notice on May 29.
The new notes are more durable
and will be more difficult to counterfeit, according to the announcement, which also said that their introduction will not affect the legal
tender status of the old notes. They
will be released into circulation on
July 1 according to the Ministry of
Information.
The central bank issued the K5000
note in 2009, the K10,000 note in
2012 and a new version of the K5000
note in 2014.
The most frequently forged note
is the K5000, according to bank staff.
They said that since the flow of capital is mostly dependent on cash, notes
in bad condition and counterfeit
notes can cause problems.
Every year there is news that

HTIN
LYNN
AUNG
htynlynnaung@gmail.com

people are forging bigger and more

notes, said economist U Hla Maung.
Because of this, the government will
issue new notes for security reasons,
he said.
People suspect that news has
been fabricated by the government.
The government should announce
the exact amount they will issue, to
make it clear it will not lead to inflation, as people dont know the reality,
he said.
Suspicions have been raised, as
the government hasnt confirmed the
amount to be injected into current
circulation, or how it compares to the
countrys GDP.
The timing of the new note coincides with growing concerns about
the budget deficit. Myanmar will run
a budget deficit equivalent to 5.22
percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) in fiscal year 2016, according
to state media. The forecast exceeds
the 5pc target recommended by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
earlier this year.
People worry about rising tax rates
or fines as the government tries to increase its revenue to lower the deficit,
said U Hla Maung.
If the government prints too
much money, the people will suffer,

The new K10,000 notes. Photo: Facebook/ Ministry of Information

particularly those in the middle and

lower income brackets, according
to economic advisor U Zaw Win Pe.
If the government chooses to print
money, the budget deficit becomes
worse, he said.
Myanmar has had long periods of
hyperinflation, due largely to a government tendency to print money
to fund projects or plug deficits. Between 2001 and 2010, inflation averaged 23pc, according to IMF statistics.

PERCENT

8.5

Forecast for the inflation rate in the

fiscal year 2016

Ministry of Commerce advisor U

Maung Aung said that while the public will still be able to use their existing K10,000 notes, the government
and banks will dispose of some of the
old-style bills.
So it could possibly indicate an
inflationary pressure, but peoples
worries are due more to rumour than
to fact, he said.
As the interest rates offered by
banks are less than inflation, there
is little incentive for people to keep
their money in the banks, he said.
The inflation rate is forecast at
around 8.5pc in fiscal year 2016,
while the interest rate offered by
commercial banks is 8.25pc. Stateowned banks offer 8pc.
The authority to print new bills
has been in the hands of the Central
Bank of Myanmar since it became autonomous in 2013. However, the process remains opaque and the Central
Bank does not publicly declare how
much money it prints.

Luxury project planned in Ngwe Saung

CLARE HAMMOND
clarehammo@gmail.com
A HONG Kong-Myanmar joint venture plans to build a luxury mixed use
development aimed at high net worth
individuals, to the south of Ngwe
Saung village in Ayeyarwady Region.
The project will include hotels, residential units, 20 kilometres of white
sand beach, a jetty and a golf course.
Hong Kong based H&Co Real Estate Holdings and Myanmars Mya
Bay Development Company will work
together on the project through a
joint venture called Karaweik Coast.
A karaweik is a mythical bird with
a beautiful voice the word comes
from the Pali word karavika.
The project will be wholly privately owned and the developer has
already completed preliminary master plans for two large adjacent sites.
The first site, known as Mya Bay,
comprises 1265 acres including 8km
of beach. Its development will include
villas, hotels and a spa, according to
advertising agency MultiVerse Asia,
which is responsible for marketing
the project.
The second and larger development will be called Karaweik Kove.
The 3000-acre site is located to the
south of Mya Bay. It has around 12km
of beach, and will be aimed at high-

net-worth individuals, according to

MultiVerse Asia.
We will make a formal announcement at the end of next year. We plan
to build a mini city, with a jetty, a golf
course, hotels, restaurants, a private
hospital and a playground, said U
Myo Min Win, the projects director.
He did not want to discuss the plan in
further detail at this stage.
Ngwe Saung is one of seven officially recognised beach resorts in
Myanmar, and is the second-mostvisited by tourists, after Ngapali
beach in Rakhine State. In 2000, Asia
World Group built a road connecting
Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady
Region, to Ngwe Saung. Since then,
many local companies have developed hotels and resorts along the
beach. Ngwe Saung had 23 hotels

KILOMETRES

20

Beach frontage of the planned

development in Ngwe Saung

with a total of 1264 rooms by the

end of 2014, according to data from
the Minsitry of Hotels and Tourism
(MoHT). However, the road is bumpy
and the 270km journey from Yangon
takes around six hours. If the Chaungtha to Yangon road was upgraded to
an all-weather dual carriageway, it
would reduce driving time to around
three hours, and catalyse considerable additional tourism growth and
investment, according to the Myanmar Tourism Master Plan 2013-2020.
Due to the high potential for
domestic and international tourism
in Pathein, Chaungtha, and Ngwe
Saung, improvements to the roads
that link these destinations with
Yangon is a priority, says the report,
which was developed by the MoHT.
Chaungtha is located immediately to
the north of Ngwe Saung.
As the number of international
tourists to Myanmar rises, developers are increasingly looking beyond
the major tourist destinations Bagan
and Inle Lake for opportunities. The
number of international tourists to
Myanmar rose from 319 million in
2011 to 1.79 billion in 2014, according
to MoHT data.
However, large-scale tourism development often has a negative impact on local communities. In Ngwe
Saung, 16,000 villagers have seen 65

percent of their agricultural lands

and 80pc of their palm plantations
confiscated by the authorities, according to a report by French nonprofit
association Info Birmanie.
Seine [dragnet] fishing, one of the
most important sources of income for
the local population, was also outlawed. The economic losses have been
considerable for the communities living in Ngwe Saung, said the report.
However, according to H&Cos
website, the company is a responsible
investor in the communities in which
it operates. It lists local capacity building and training, cultural integration
and community outreach programs
among its core values.
H&Co has several other projects
planned for Myanmar, including a
US$200 million luxury housing project called Platinum Pathein Condominium, which will include 26 villas,
three condominiums, with a total of
410 units, a shopping centre, a cinema
and a three-star hotel. It will be located in Pathein. The company is also
developing an industrial site in central Yangon and a residential project
in Mandalay. H&Co was founded by
Scott Hall and Jonathan Nichols. Local
partner Mya Bay Development is affiliated with Khine Property Company,
K Strong International Company and
AsiaTOURS Myanmar Company.

BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com

Foreign insurers bide

time as market opens
a crack

Solar Impulse 2 takes off

on its most dangerous
journey yet

BUSINESS 10

BUSINESS 12

Exchange Rates (May 31 close)

Currency
Euro
Malaysia Ringitt
Singapore Dollar
Thai Baht
US Dollar

Buying
K1185
K300
K802
K32
K1097

Selling
K1205
K310
K816
K34
K1099

Quality the
priority
over timing
for Yangon
Exchange
JEREMY MULLINS
jeremymullins7@gmail.com
THE Yangon Stock Exchange may
not arrive in October, as preparations are focused on providing a
quality market rather than solely on
timing, according to deputy finance
minister Dr Maung Maung Thein.
The target we have set is October
this year, but its just a target. Our
intention is just to deliver the quality
goods, not [only] the timing. It might
be earlier than October, it might be
later than October no problem,
he told The Myanmar Times on the
sidelines of an insurance press event
on May 30.
There is still much to do before
the Yangon Stock Exchange, Myanmars first modern bourse, opens.
While KBZ has been selected as the
settlement bank and Japan Exchange
Group, Daiwa Securities information-gathering arm and state-owned
Myanma Economic Bank have signed
a joint venture agreement to establish the exchange, some critics say
the pace of progress has been slow.
The underwriters, brokers, dealers and advisers for the exchange
have not yet been selected. A total
of 57 applications were received in
April, though the winners will not be
announced until June.
The winners will be required to
meet a number of conditions, including a paid-up capital requirement of
K15 billion (US$13.7 million) for underwriters, K10 billion for brokers,
K7 billion for dealers and K30 million for advisers.
Dr Maung Maung Thein, who is
also chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar,
said the full list of 57 companies will
not be disclosed. Only [the names
of those] who pass the exam will be
released, he said.
Dr Maung Maung Thein also said
he is hopeful that the criteria that
companies must meet to list will
be released as early as this week.
He said the criteria is finished and
is now being finalised, after careful
consideration from experts on ensuring it strikes the right balance between encouraging companies to list
and maintaining strong corporate
standards.
If it is too rigid, there will be
no listed companies. If it is too lax,
there will be a lot of listing companies and it might confuse the public,
he said.
While Myanmar can take some international best-practices, it cannot
simply copy another countrys standards, as it has a difference culture
and economic situation.
We cannot make a carbon copy
of the foreign model. So we have to
think about foreign models in our
context. We have to be very careful
about this thing and repeatedly review it again and again.
So far, First Myanmar Investment, Myanmar Agribusiness Public
Company and Asia Green Development Bank have declared their intention to list, though not all of them
are likely to be ready this year.

The Sheraton Yangon Hotel remains under construction as of May 29. Photo: Aung Khant

Stays at Yangons first Sheraton

Hotel are two years away
CATHERINE
TRAUTWEIN
newsroom@mmtimes.com

STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts

Worldwide, the corporation behind
the Sheraton brand, has announced
its first Myanmar outpost will open
in 2017.
The Sheraton Yangon Hotel will
be the countrys first of its kind, as
US sanctions had previously deterred Starwood from doing business in Myanmar.
The hotels construction including the price of land on U
Htun Myat Road near Kandawgyi
Lake will come to about US$50 million, funded in full by the propertys owner, Family Business Group
Hotel Limited. Meanwhile, Starwoods Asia Pacific branch signed
an agreement in January with the
local Myanmar firm to build and
run the hotel, according to the
company.
Family Business Group Hotel
Limited first laid the foundation on
the U Htun Myat Road property in
2011, according to U Ko Ko Latt.
However, the company struggled to find the right operator for
the future hotel. It hoped to partner with Starwood, but the USbased company could not enter
Myanmar under sanctions, according to U Ko Ko Latt. The situation
changed as restrictions eased, and

Starwood became more comfortable with the partnership after it

completed due diligence.
Starwood inquires about the
directors biography. Who is ... an
ex-government officer or what?
he said. They check backgrounds
and then they support our project.
This past January, Starwood Asia
Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd and
Family Business Group Hotel Limited signed an agreement in Singapore which established Starwood as
the hotels manager. It will receive
operator fees but has no equity
stake in the hotel.

LAUNCH DATE

2017

Starwood will supply the employees

needed to run the establishment.
The companys announcement
comes as Myanmar gears up for banner years in its burgeoning tourism
sector. Four million people have visited the country in 2015, according to
a Starwood press release.
The firm views Myanmar as an
untapped market, which could offer avenues for expansion. Starwoods current footprint in the
Asia-Pacific region includes 73 hotels and 37 resorts, according to a
press release.
Touted as Asias final frontier,
Myanmar presents immense potential for rapid growth, said Lothar
Pehl, a Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Asia Pacific senior vice president,
in a statement.

Family Business Group Hotel

Limited is also exploring its options for expansion. The company
has bought more than 8 acres of
land in Chaungtha beach resort
and has considered moving into
Mandalay as well, with both areas
offering prospective sites for more
Sheraton hotels.
Looking ahead, U Ko Ko Latt
predicts that the American brands
arrival on the scene could increase
wider confidence in the Myanmar
market and drive further investment.
Other investors will also have
trust because Starwood is already
in Yangon, he said. Theyll say,
Sheraton is here, why arent we
going there? So this is one thing
that is also very good for the
country.

Myanmars first Sheraton-brand hotel

is slated to open in two years time

Construction is under way on

the property and due to wrap in
January of 2017. The hotel will open
its doors six months later on July 1,
according to its website.
The 5-star, 16-storey hotel will offer guests often European business
travellers, according to U Ko Ko Latt
375 rooms, plus two restaurants
and a lounge bar, the website said.

Workers build the Sheraton Yangon Hotel. Photo: Aung Khant

10 Business
IN BRIEF
DICA permits 7 companies in May

A total of seven large companies

received Directorate of Investment and
Company Administration blessing in
May to set up, according to officials.
The companies include two foreign
companies, two local firms and three
joint ventures, and were granted
permission following a meeting earlier
in May.
The projects include a large-scale
project for Capital Diamond Star
Group at Thilawa Port, as well as
Lotus Wood Industrys plans for a
joint venture in Mandalay Regions
Ngazun township to manufacture and
market wood products. Great Lucky
Star garment manufacturing received
permission for a joint venture to make
gloves in Shwe Pyi Thar township,
Yangon, and Grand Mart Holding, another joint venture, was given approval
to manufacture materials in Nay Pyi
Taws Dekkhina Thiri township.
Foreign-owned Fulltex will be
permitted to manufacture sweaters and knitted items in Hpa-an
township, Kayin State, while Reeblue

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

Myanmar has permission to manufacture garments in Yangons Shwe

Pyi Thar industrial zone.
Htin Lynn Aung and Ko Ko Aung

Hospital Institute provides services

Yangon-based hospital training firm

Hospitality Institute of Asia made their
pitch at an event on May 27 at Myanmar International School Yangon.
The booming tourism industry is
short of skilled labour, according to the
firms business development director
Ko Htet Myat Oo.
The hotel industry has difficulty
finding skilled labour, so we want to
provide quality staff who can serve in
a management capacity, he said. The
firm has been operating as a local
training school since 2013. It currently provides training at international
standards in front office skills, housekeeping, food and beverage, culinary
services and restaurant management,
said Ko Htet Myat Oo.
Summit Palace hotel manager U
Win Maw said when sending staff to
participate on these courses, businesspeople hope they come back with skills
that their peers can also pick up.
Ei Ei Thu

PATENT CAUTION
NOTICE is hereby given that LES LABORATOIRES SERVIER
and VERNALIS (R&D) LIMITED at 35 rue de Verdun 92284
Suresnes Cedex (France) and 100 Berkshire Place Wharfedale
Road, Winnersh, Berkshire RG41 5RD (UK) is the Owner and Sole
Proprietor of the patents entitled:

NEW INDOLE AND PYRROLE COMPOUNDS,

A PROCESS FOR THEIR PREPARATION
AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS
CONTAINING THEM
(Registered as Document No.13056 of 2014 in Book IV, Volume
3792 at page 92/95)

NEW ISOINDOLINE OR ISOQUINOLINE

COMPOUNDS, A PROCESS FOR THEIR
PREPARATION AND PHARMACEUTICAL
COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING THEM
(Registered as Document No.13057 of 2014 in Book IV, Volume
3804 at page 5/7)

IN PICTURES A man walks by the 1908 Central Post Office building on Strand
Road. It received a heritage marker fom the Yangon Heritage Trust
on May 29. The blue plaque says, This building was built as the
offices of the Scottish rice company Bulloch Bros & Co. It became
the General Post Office after the original Post Office was badly
damaged during the 1930 earthquake. Photo: Aung Khant

Foreign insurers eager

as market opens a crack

NEW PYRROLE COMPOUNDS, A PROCESS FOR

THEIR PREPARATION AND PHARMACEUTICAL
COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING THEM
(Registered as Document No.13058 of 2014 in Book IV, Volume
3803 at page 39/42)

NEW PHOSPHATE COMPOUNDS, A

PROCESS FOR THEIR PREPARATION AND
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS
CONTAINING THEM
(Registered as Document No.13059 of 2014 in Book IV, Volume
3802 at page 49/51)

NEW INDOLIZINE COMPOUNDS, A

PROCESS FOR THEIR PREPARATION AND
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS
CONTAINING THEM
(Registered as Document No.14763 of 2014 in Book IV, Volume
3825 at page 90/92)
That the Company holds FRANCE Patent Application /
Registration No. 13/57277, 13/57276, 13/57258, 13/57259 &
13/57265 dated 23rd July, 2013.
This patent invention relates to field of pharmaceutical composition.
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said patents
will be dealt with according to law.
U Kyi Win Associates
for LES LABORATOIRES SERVIER
and VERNALIS (R&D) LIMITED
P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.
Phone: 372416

Dated: 1st June, 2015

SHWE GU THITSAR JEREMY MULLINS

AMERICAN giant MetLife is the

latest insurance company to ramp
up its local presence, as regulators
begin the first steps of allowing foreign insurers into the market.
The domestic insurance market
is expected to eventually be opened
to foreign companies to some extent. The first tentative steps have
already been taken with the awarding of temporary licences to three
foreign insurers to operate at Thilawa special economic zone, and industry insiders expect further deregulation in the years ahead.
Deputy finance minister U
Maung Maung Thein said that
while only three licences have been
given out so far to operate on the
SEZ, officials will consider giving
more.
We had made a set of criteria,
and only those who meet the criteria can be granted a licence, he said
on the sidelines of a Metlife press
event on May 30. He added that the
criteria, which includes having a
Myanmar representative office for
three years and operations in two
other ASEAN countries, is a minimum standard meaning it is not
guaranteed a firm will receive a licence if it meets the criteria.
Keiji Okada, chief representative for Sompo Japan Nipponkoa,
the first of the three to receive an

SEZ licence, told The Myanmar

Times last week that its initial
coverage will be in construction,
though its products will gradually
shift to other areas like fire, marine
cargo, liability and accident.
U Maung Maung Thein said that
the SEZ licences are the first step to
gradually opening up the market to
more foreign involvement, though
he declined to set a timeline.

LICENCES

Number of temporary licences given to

foreign insurers to work on the SEZs.
More licences may be given, if foreign
insurers can meet the requirements

There are currently 16 repesentative officers of foreign insurers, but

they are not allowed to do business
without a further licence. Many
of them have a presence here to
wait for the door to be eventually
opened across the country.
MetLife Asias Myanmar chief
representative U Moe Thauk said
his firm is building relationships,
improving local knowledge and
connections, and conducting advocacy work with the government
by assisting with the development
of the industry. MetLife received

permission to open a Yangon representative office in 2013, and is one

of the worlds largest life and health
insurance providers.
It is not unusual for the insurance industry to take a patient
stance, said U Moe Thauk. People
are giving us money, and theyre
trusting us that were going to be
there in 20 or 30 years to pay. Its a
long term promise.
MetLife had similarly opened a
China representative office in the
1990s and waited for seven years
before beginning business in the
country. Company officials declined
to estimate a date when the Myanmar market will open to insurance,
as it is not for them to decide, but
said they aim to be ready.
If and when it opens, we
should be there to participate
in this market and help people, said Nurul Islam, MetLife
regional senior vice president.
The most important things is that
we are ready, we prepare ourselves,
he said.
Although part of the work is to
make connections on the ground,
MetLife also aims to study and
learn more about the market.
An official pointed out that in
some mature markets like Japan and
South Korea, even though people understand insurance, there is a preference for face-to-face interaction,
while in other markets like China,
many people take to their mobiles to
research insurance online.
We want to gain market insights and figure out how best to
channel preferences into the country, said Mr Islam.

International Business 11

www.mmtimes.com
NEW DELHI

Indian growth overtakes China

INDIA posted annual growth of 7.3
percent on May 29, overtaking China
in the first three months of 2015, but
analysts warned further measures
were needed to boost the economy.
The growth rate for the financial
year that ended March 31 came in
slightly lower than the 7.4pc that the
statistics ministry had predicted back
in February.
But the news that Asias thirdlargest economy grew by 7.5pc in the
fourth quarter, overtaking China, is a
major boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi a year after he was elected.
Indias giant neighbour posted
growth of 7.0pc for the first three
months of 2015.
Indias Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the latest figures suggested
the economy was in recovery mode.
Manufacturing and services indicate that we have a potential to grow
at 8 to 9pc and beyond, the Press
Trust of India news agency quoted Mr
Jaitley as saying.
It is absolutely clear that the economy is in a recovery mode.
May 29s figures were the first
Gross Domestic Product data to be
released since the government introduced a revised formula for calculating GDP that has baffled analysts.
The real economic momentum is
not encouraging, said Shubhada Rao,

HONG KONG

Cathay
Pacific
strike
averted
A SUMMER strike threatened by flight
attendants at Hong Kongs flag carrier
Cathay Pacific has been called off after
an agreement with management following two days of negotiations.
The Cathay Pacific Airways Flight
Attendants Union announced the twoweek strike for August after a two-day
sit-in last week at the citys Chek Lap
Kok airport failed to win concessions.
Workers kicked off their action after
Cathay cut wages and changed working
conditions.
The new moves meant that crew
who joined after April 16 saw their pay
rise to HK$159.40 (US$20.56) an hour
after their first three years, down from
HK$176.80.
The airline also cut lunch allowances for attendants flying through Melbourne, while the union said it had also
removed a legal protection clause from
its operational manual.
However, Cathay said in a statement
last week that discussions this week
were constructive and produced a
memorandum of understanding between the two parties.
The memorandum that has been
signed today was made possible because all parties entered into these discussions in good faith, the statement
added.
Details of the agreement have not
yet been made public.
News footage from Now Television
News showed representatives from
both sides shaking hands to the sound
of applause.
We will put our [strike] preparation
on hold, Dora Lai, head of the union,
told reporters.
The result is a big improvement,
added MS Lai, who had said last week
that 6400 union members could be mobilised for the summer strike if the company did not listen to their demands.
AFP

An Indian vendor attends to a customer at his roadside fruit stall in Mumbai.

Photo: AFP

chief economist at YES Bank, indicating the Reserve Bank of India was almost certain to reduce interest rates
tomorrow for a third time this year.
Key sectors like agriculture and
construction are slowing down. The
GDP number is really being supported largely on the basis of strong tax
collections.
The government now should
move to arrest the slide in economic

momentum and support growth. A 25basis-point cut from the RBI is very
much on the cards, she added.
Indias central bank has already cut
interest rates twice this year by a total
of 50 basis points to 7.50pc.
Mr Modis right-wing government,
which swept to power in general elections last May on pledges to boost a
flagging economy, wants RBI governor
Raghuram Rajan to slice more points

off the benchmark repo rate, the level

at which it lends to commercial banks.
The governor has made controlling inflation a priority and has it well
within the RBIs target of 6pc.
With inflation staying soft, the
case for the central bank lowering
rates by a quarter percentage point is
very much the policy prognosis, said
Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist
with rating agency Crisil.
Mr Joshi added that the economic
activity on the ground wasnt matching the rate of growth, suggesting
that analysts remained unconvinced
about the new way of calculating the
GDP numbers.
Indias government changed the
way it calculates GDP back in January,
with officials saying the new method
was closer to international standards.
The main change is that India now
measures its economic growth at market prices to incorporate gross value
addition in goods and services as well
as indirect taxes.
The base year to calculate Indias
GDP has also been advanced to 201112 from 2004-05.
But analysts say that the new data
does not correlate with some other
economic indicators, including last
years industrial production figures
and corporate profits.
AFP

Cambodian
Exchange to
receive third listing
Cambodias second-largest
port, Phnom Penh Autonomous
Port, is aiming to be listed
on the Cambodia Securities
Exchange by this November,
which would help raise funds
for the development of a new
terminal, a senior port official
said.
Hei Bavy, director general at
Phnom Penh Autonomous Port
(PPAP), said the port has come
a long way in improving internal
working systems and changing its accounting practices
to comply with international
standards.
It has taken us some
time for these preparations.
We have made good progress
since starting this project more
than a year ago, Mr Bavy said.
With the money we get from
the listing, we are planning to
expand the second phase of
development at a new terminal
in Kandal and the project is
expected to be worth around
US$10 million.
The public offering, which
is being managed by Yong Yang
Securities, will help increase the
terminals capacity to 300,000
containers, from the 150,000 developed during the first phase.
The Phnom Penh Post

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Continental Barum s.r.o. a company
organized under the laws of Czech Republic and having its principal
office at Objzdn 1628 765 02 Otrokovice Czech Republic is the
Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following trademark:-

12 International Business

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

NANJING

(Reg: Nos. IV/96/1997 & IV/5672/2015)

in respect of: Class 12: Vehicle tires.
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademark
or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.
U Kyi Win Associates
for Continental Barum s.r.o.
P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.
Phone: 372416

Dated: 1st June, 2015

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that THE MENTHOLATUM
COMPANY, a Corporation of the State of Delaware of 707
Sterling Drive, Orchard Park, New York 14127, USA do solemnly
and sincerely declare that we are the Owner and Sole Proprietor
of the following trade marks in Myanmar.

The said mark is used in respect of Bleaching preparations and

other substances for laundry use; cleaning, polishing, scouring
and abrasive preparations; skin care products, skin cleansers and
scrubs, soaps for skin care, non-medicated toilet preparations and
personal care products, skin creams, and skin lotions; hair lotions
[class 3]; Herbal medicine; eye drops, pharmaceutical preparations
for the prevention and treatment of acne, medicated skin care
preparations and medicated toiletries; sanitary preparations for
medical purposes; dietetic substances adapted for medical use,
food for babies; plasters, materials for dressings; disinfectants;
preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides, herbicides
[class 5].

The said mark is used in respect of Bleaching preparations and

other substances for laundry use; cleaning, polishing, scouring and
abrasive preparations; soaps; perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics,
hair lotions; dentifrices [class 3]; Herbal medicine; eye drops,
pharmaceutical and veterinary preparations; sanitary preparations
for medical purposes; dietetic substances adapted for medical
use, food for babies; plasters, materials for dressings; material
for stopping teeth, dental wax; disinfectants; preparations for
destroying vermin; fungicides, herbicides [class 5].
The said trade marks are the subject of Declarations of Ownership
recorded with the Registrar of Deeds and Assurances, Yangon,
Myanmar, in Book under Nos. IV/2818/2012 & IV/2817/2012
Dated 16th March, 2012.
Any infringement or colourable imitation thereof or other
infringement of the rights of the said corporation will be dealt
with according to law.
U Kyi Win Associates
For THE MENTHOLATUM COMPANY
Remfry & Sagar
Attorneys-at-Law
CHENNAI
376-B (Old No. 202)
Avvai Shanmugam Salai, Gopalapuram
Chennai n 600 086,
India
GURGAON
Remfry House at the Millennium Plaza
Sector-27, Gurgaon-122 009
New Delhi National Capital Region,
India
Dated: 1st June, 2015

A Chinese security staff member stands guard shortly before the Swiss-made solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 takes
off from Nanjings Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, in Chinas eastern Jiangsu province, early yesterday. Photo: AFP

Solar plane takes on

most ambitious leg yet
THE revolutionary Solar Impulse 2
aircraft took off early yesterday for
a six-day, six-night flight over the
Pacific Ocean, the most ambitious
leg of its quest to circumnavigate
the globe powered only by the sun.
Pilot Andre Borschberg, 62, left
the ground in Nanjing, in eastern
China, heading for the US island
of Hawaii, at about 2:40am (1840
GMT), after extended delays awaiting a suitable weather window over
safety concerns.
Lit by white lights on its wings,
the plane rolled down the runway
before climbing into a misty sky
with its four whirling propellers
nearly silent.
Ground crew members cheered
as it took off.
The 8500 kilometre (5270 mile)
flight could set a record for duration by a single pilot, organisers
said.
I cross my fingers and I hope
to cross the Pacific, Mr Borschberg
told reporters before the take-off.
We have a good weather window, which means we have a stable
corridor to reach Hawaii, he said,
shortly before climbing into the
cockpit to test the instruments.
The current flight plan saw no
threat from typhoons, a typical weather threat in Asia. Im really confident
we should be able to get through and
find the right way, he said.
It is the seventh and longest section of the maiden solar-powered
global circumnavigation, an at-

tempt to promote green energy.

The journey began in Abu Dhabi in March and is scheduled for
12 legs, with a total flight time of
around 25 days. Nonetheless Solar Impulse 2 spent two months in
China after arriving at Chongqing
airport from Myanmar on March
31, where it had been due to make
only a brief stop before continuing to Nanjing but was held up by
weather issues.
After more than eight hours in
the air, the plane was over the East
China sea and Mr Borschberg could
be heard discussing light turbulence along the upcoming journey
with the Solar Impulse team.
For the Pacific, I need to be
ready for the unknown, Mr Borschberg tweeted before takeoff.
Im not sure how Si2 will behave over so many days and nights,
he added, referring to an abbreviation for the plane, Solar Impulse 2.
Each day on the Pacific voyage, Mr
Borschberg will experience altitudes
of 28,000 feet, akin to the worlds
highest peak, and temperature
changes of 55 degrees Celsius (almost
100 Fahrenheit) in the unpressurised,
unheated Solar Impulse 2 cockpit.
At the same time he will only be
able to catch the shortest of naps
his seat doubles as a bed given the
need to check the autopilot.
But failure could mean a parachute descent into the ocean hundreds of kilometres from rescue.
No ship will trail the plane as it

travels far too fast for a maritime

vessel to keep up with, even though
its maximum speed of 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour is much slower than conventional jet aircraft.
Even so, with an engineers detachment, Mr Borschberg has declined to contemplate his own mortality.
I dont see it [as] risky, in the
sense that we worked a long time
on all these different questions, he
said previously.
In the worst case, we have a
parachute, we have a life raft and
we know how to use it. Of course,
hoping that we will not need to do
that.
Planners had identified airports
in Japan should the plane need to
make a stop because of technical
problems, but the open ocean offers
no such possibility, he said.
As soon as we leave this part of
the world, then afterward we are
in the open sea. There is no way to
come back, Mr Borschberg said.
Solar Impulse 2 is powered by
more than 17,000 solar cells built
into wings that, at 72 metres, are
longer than those of a Boeing 747
and approaching those of an Airbus
A380 superjumbo.
In advance of the Pacific flight,
the crew stripped off two side
wheels and internal brakes from
the propellers to make the fragilelooking craft already just 2.3
tonnes, the weight of a large SUV
as light as possible. AFP

KUALA LUMPUR

AirAsia profits rise on low fuel costs

MALAYSIA-BASED AirAsia, the regions biggest low-cost carrier by
fleet size, said its first-quarter net
profit climbed 7 percent year-on-year
due mainly to lower fuel and operating costs.
Net profit for the quarter ending
March 31 was 149.3 million (US$40.8
million) the company said in a statement late last week, while revenue
dipped 0.4pc to 1.30 billion ringgit.
As seen in the first quarter of
2015, we are beneficiary of the low
fuel price, Tony Fernandes, group
CEO said in a statement.

AirAsia recorded a net profit of

139.7 million ringgit in the same
period last year while it posted its
first net loss since 2008 of 429.4
million ringgit in the previous
fourth quarter.
AirAsia said total passengers carried during the period rose 3.0pc to
5.5 million people year-on-year while
average fuel price was 20pc lower at
$88 per barrel.
It is the carriers first results following the crash of one of its planes
in the Indonesian archipelago last
December, with the loss of 162 lives.

Flight QZ8501, operated by AirAsias Jakarta-based affiliate, went

down in the Java Sea en route to Singapore from the Indonesian city of
Surabaya.
Indonesia AirAsia was on a
good turnaround track in the last
two quarters of 2014 but unfortunately was faced with a tragedy that
impacted its turnaround timeline,
Mr Fernandes said. Meanwhile, AirAsia said that its Indonesian unit
recorded a 26pc fall in passenger
volume.
AFP

14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

15

World

WORLD EDITOR: Kayleigh Long

BANGKOK

Cluster bomb allegations

as Saudi-led coalition
pounds Yemen

Barrel bombs
kill 71 civilians in
Aleppo

WORLD 17

WORLD 16

HONG KONG

KATHMANDU

Koh Tao defence team still

waiting to view evidence

Back to school: Nepal begins

to rebuild after earthquakes

LAWYERS for two Myanmar nationals

accused of murdering a pair of British
holidaymakers in Thailand said yesterday they have deep concerns that
they will be unable to independently
review forensic evidence before the
trial starts.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun have
pleaded not guilty to the murder of
24-year-old David Miller and the rape
and murder of Hannah Witheridge,
23, on the Thai island of Koh Tao in
September.
The pairs defence team have long
voiced concerns over the quality of the
Thai police investigation, claiming the
crime scene was contaminated and
that their clients were tortured into
confessing.
In April a court on the nearby island of Koh Samui approved the defences request to independently analyse the evidence against their clients,
including DNA and physical evidence
at the crime scene such as blood stains
and a shirt.
But the lead lawyer on the defence

THOUSANDS of children, many still

traumatised from losing homes and
loved ones, returned to class yesterday as Nepals schools formally
reopened following a devastating
earthquake that claimed more than
8600 lives.
Many children attended lessons
in temporary classrooms made of
bamboo or in tents on playing fields
after their schools were destroyed
or badly damaged in the quake that
struck on April 25.
Eight-year-old Sahaj Shrestha
clung to his father as they walked together through the gates of state-run
Madan Smarak School in the Kathmandu valley.
Sahajs mother Mina Shrestha
said their son has been too terrified to leave their side, even to go to
the toilet, since the quake destroyed
their home and forced them to live
in a tent.
Aftershocks are still continuing. It is difficult not to be nervous
about sending the children to school
again, Shrestha told AFP.
But the teachers have assured
us that it is safe here, and at least
his mind will be fresh if he meets his
friends and studies, she said.
Classrooms made of bamboo have
been built on the schools football
field, while some lessons were held
in buildings marked safe since the
quake by engineers.
Teachers sat with the younger
children as they drew or played,
some relieved to return to some semblance of normality.
Weve been staying home for so
long, it is nice to play here and meet
my friends again, said nine-year-old
Muskan Bajracharya.
In senior classes, students were
encouraged to talk about the quake
or share stories about what happened to their families.
We are not holding any formal
classes and have trained the teachers to help the children overcome
the trauma of the quake and adjust
to [being back at] school, said principal Govinda Poudel.
The 7.8-magnitude quake damaged nearly 8,000 schools, while
some 90 per cent of them are estimated to be have been destroyed
in the worst-hit rural districts of
Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot.
The quake struck on a Saturday
afternoon when schools were closed.
Many had been preparing to open
the following week for the new semester.
I dont even want to imagine
what would have happened if it was
a school day, said Sakuntala Bhlon,
37, whose two children study in
classes five and eight.
The reopening had been declared
for May 17, but was delayed after a
second major 7.4-magnitude quake
rattled the country on May 12.
For some schools, however, reopening so soon after the quake has
proved impossible, with temporary
classrooms still being built, and continuing concerns about safety and
space.
It is impossible for me to reopen right now. The school ground
is filled with debris and we dont
have an open space, said Lila Nanda
Upadhyay, principal of Rupak Memorial International School in the

side said his team had been told by the

court that they would only find out
whether they can access the evidence
on July 8 the first day of the trial.
The defence lawyers urgently
need both crucial information gained
from the re-examination of forensics
evidence in this case and also adequate time to consider this information prior to the trial beginning. I am
now deeply concerned at this developing situation, Nakhon Chomphuchat
said in a statement released yesterday.
Forensic evidence is central to this
case. Without re-examination of this
evidence ... the ability of the two defendants to defend themselves against the
serious crimes they are charged [with]
will be seriously impeded, he added.
The court was unreachable over
the weekend.
The defendants, both aged 22, confessed to the crimes after their arrest
in October but later retracted the admission of guilt, alleging it had been
extracted under duress.
Rights groups have accused Thai

authorities of using the men as

scapegoats.
However both police and prosecutors have defended their investigation
and insist that the forensic evidence is
solid.
The victims families have also said
they have seen strong evidence against
the suspects and expressed confidence
in the case after British detectives
travelled to Thailand to observe the
investigation.
Mr Miller and Ms Witheridges
corpses were discovered on a Koh Tao
beach on September 15. Police said
both had been bludgeoned to death,
while Ms Witheridges body showed
signs of sexual abuse.
The accused, who have been in
custody on Koh Samui since October,
face several charges including murder,
rape and robbery.
The murders further damaged
Thailands image as a tourist haven
after months of political protests followed by last Mays army coup.
AFP

SINGAPORE

China to forge ahead on

reclamations, raising US ire
CHINA yesterday rejected US demands
to stop reclamation works in the South
China Sea, saying it was exercising
its sovereignty and using the controversial outposts to fulfil international
responsibilities.
Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief
of the general staff department in the
Peoples Liberation Army, told a security
summit in Singapore, The situation
in the South China Sea is on the whole
peaceful and stable, and there has never
been an issue with the freedom of navigation.
China has carried out construction on some islands and reefs in the
South China Sea mainly for the purpose
of improving the functions of the relevant islands and reefs, and the working and living conditions of personnel
stationed there.
Apart from meeting the necessary defence needs, it is more geared
to better perform Chinas international
responsibilities and obligations regarding maritime search and rescue,
disaster prevention and relief, maritime scientific research, meteorological observation, environmental protection, safety of navigation, fishery
production, services, he added.
China insists it has sovereignty
over nearly all of the South China Sea,
a major global shipping route believed
to be home to oil and gas reserves, but
rival claimants accuse it of expansionism.
When dealing with maritime
disputes with relevant neighbouring countries, China has always kept
in mind the larger interest of maritime security, Mr Sun told the annual
meeting known as the Shangri-La
Dialogue.
In spite of the sufficient historical
and legal evidence and its indisputable
claims, rights and interests, China has
exercised enormous restraint, making positive contributions to peace and

stability of the region and the world at

large.
Adm Sun was speaking a day after
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter
demanded an immediate end to all reclamation works by claimants and said
Beijing was out of step with international norms with its behaviour in disputed waters.
Mr Carter said, There should be an
immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants, adding, We
also oppose any further militarisation of
disputed features.
He acknowledged that other claimants have developed outposts of differing scope and degree, including Viet-

China has
reclaimed over
2000 acres ... And
China did so in only
the last 18 months.
Ashton Carter
US defence secretary

nam with 48, the Philippines with eight,

Malaysia with five and Taiwan with one.
Yet, one country has gone much
farther and much faster than any other.
China has reclaimed over 2000
acres, more than all other claimants
combined and more than in the entire
history of the region. And China did so
in only the last 18 months, Mr Carter
said.
Beijing has accused Washington of
carrying out provocative moves in the
South China Sea.
The Chinese military this month ordered a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveil-

lance aircraft to leave an area above the

heavily disputed Spratly Islands. But the
American plane ignored the demand.
Mr Carter said on May 30 that US
planes and warships will continue patrolling what Washington considers
international navigation zones in the
South China Sea.
Australias Defence Minister Kevin
Andrews told the Wall Street Journal
in an interview on the sidelines of the
meeting that Canberra would also do
the same.
Weve been doing it for decades,
were doing it currently ... and well continue to do it into the future, he said.
Representatives from claimant countries as well others from Southeast Asia
and Europe urged restraint on all parties in handling the dispute.
Other
delegates,
including
Singapores defence chief Ng Eng
Hen, his British counterpart Michael
Fallon and the European Unions
foreign relations chief Federica
Mogherini, repeated calls by Mr Carter
for China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to adopt a code of conduct in the
disputed waters as soon as possible.
The Singapore summit, which
ended yesterday afternoon, was
earlier in the day marred by a brief
security lockdown after police shot
dead a local motorist who tried to flee a
checkpoint near the event venue in a car
later found to contain drugs.
After
the
shooting,
police
officers initially told people attending the summit that the hotel was on
complete lockdown, with no entry
allowed. Roads and pathways leading
up to the hotel, located in Singapores
leafy diplomatic quarter, were shut off
with barricade tape.
But access to the venue was
gradually eased yesterday morning. The
conference proceeded normally until it
ended at midday. AFP

Pro-democracy protesters take turns to speak as they stand behind a huge banner in Hong Kong on May 31, before a rally to commemorate the 1989 crackdown
at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, prior to the incidents 26th anniversary on June 4. Thousands are expected on June 4 for the annual remembrance ceremony. Photo: AFP

No end to Hong Kong woes

as last-ditch meeting fails
HONG Kong pro-democracy lawmakers said yesterday they would
definitely veto the governments
planned political reforms after a
last-ditch meeting with Chinese
officials failed to reach any agreement.
The package unveiled in April
for the semi-autonomous Chinese
city would for the first time allow
all voters to elect Hong Kongs next
chief executive in 2017.
But critics deride the proposal
as fake democracy because it
sticks to a ruling by China that
candidates must first be approved
by a loyalist committee.
Beijings
restrictions,
announced last August, sparked
more than two months of mass
rallies that brought main roads in
parts of the city to a standstill late
last year.
Democratic lawmakers said yesterday they had made no progress
after meeting top Beijing officials in
the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The meeting was widely seen
as the last chance for compromise
before Hong Kong lawmakers vote
on the political reform package in
June.

It needs a two-thirds majority to

pass and pro-democracy lawmakers
make up more than a third of the
legislature.
We came here ... trying to find a
way out of the impasse, Civic Party
leader Alan Leong told reporters after the four-hour meeting,
which was attended by 14 out of 27
pro-democracy lawmakers as well
as 40 pro-Beijing legislators and the
citys current leader Leung Chunying.
We are left with an unequivocal
conclusion that the Central Peoples
Government is not going to yield,
Mr Leong said.
We are therefore left with no
choice but to definitely veto the
government proposal.
Wang Guangya, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau
Affairs Office of the Chinese State
Council or cabinet, said it was unfortunate that the democrats were
uniting to stop the plan.
The other side behaved like a
bloc, holding on to their strict position ... I dont think its constructive or healthy, he said after the
meeting.
MrWang said lawmakers have
a historic responsibility to cast

their vote with conscience.

Before the meeting Mr Wang
had said that any election plan
would have to stick to Beijings ruling.

We are left with

an unequivocal
conclusion that
the Central Peoples
Government is not
going to yield.
We are therefore
left with no
choice but to
definitely veto
the government
proposal.
Alan Leong
Civic Party leader

Another Beijing official, Li Fei,

said the vote would test whether
democrats are loyal to the principle of one country, two systems
under which Hong Kong is ruled,
local media reported.
Hong Kong was handed back
to China by Britain in 1997 but
is largely self-governing and enjoys freedoms not seen on the
mainland.
Mr Li also warned during the
meeting that lawmakers could be
punished by voters for vetoing the
plan, the South China Morning Post
reported on its website.
Yesterday afternoon around
1000 protesters marched through
central Hong Kong to commemorate Chinas bloody crackdown
on pro-democracy protesters in
Beijings
Tiananmen
Square,
ahead of the 26th anniversary on
June 4.
Some wore yellow ribbons and
carried yellow umbrellas, symbols of Hong Kongs democracy
movement.
We hope to have democracy in
China so Hong Kong can get it too,
said retiree Chow Ka-kong, 76.
A number of vigils will be held
in Hong Kong on June 4. AFP

Schoolgirl Ankita Kapali, 11, looks on as she has her hair done before leaving for
school in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 31. Photo: AFP

Kathmandu valley.
Dilli Ram Rimal, director general
of the education department, said he
hoped more would reopen in coming
weeks.
We understand that not all

schools have the resources to reopen, he said.

But education is an important
part of the recovery and we need to
begin the process.
AFP

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that SHANDONG FUFENG
FERMENTATION CO., LTD a company organized under
the laws of China, Manufacturer and Merchants and having its
principal office at Longshan Road, Junan County, Shandong
Province, China is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following
two trademarks: -

(Reg: Nos. IV/6161/2012 & IV/2329/2015)

(Reg: Nos. IV/6160/2012 & IV/2330/2015)

The above two trademarks are in respect of: Glucose for food; dietetic capsules not for medical use; cereal
preparations; thickening agents for cooking foodstuffs; binding
agents for ice cream (edible ice); salt; soy sauce; seasonings;
chicken essence used as a flavor enhancer for food; gourmet
powder, monosodium glutamate Class: 30
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said
trademarks or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with
according to law.
U Kyi Win Associate
for SHANDONG FUFENG FERMENTATION CO., LTD
P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.
Phone: 372416
Dated: 1st June, 2015

16 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

ALEPPO

Barrel bombs kill 71 civilians

ISLAMIC State group jihadists demolished a notorious government prison
in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra
on May 30, as barrel bombs dropped by
regime helicopters killed more than 70
civilians in Aleppo.
In neighbouring Iraq, government
forces retook an area west of the city
of Ramadi, which IS overran earlier in
May.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS planted explosives
that largely destroyed the Palmyra
jail, which was for decades a symbol of abuses meted out on regime
opponents.
Opponents of President Bashar alAssad welcomed on social media the
destruction of the long-feared prison at
Palmyra, which IS seized 10 days ago after government forces pulled out.
In rebel-held areas of Aleppo prov-

ince including the city itself, at least 71

civilians were killed, and dozens wounded when regime helicopters dropped
barrel bombs, the Observatory said.
In the worst carnage, 59 civilians,
all male, were killed at a market in the
jihadist-controlled town of Al-Bab, the
Britain-based monitoring groups director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
People often gather on Saturday
mornings at the Al-Hail market in AlBab, which is why the number of dead
was so high, explained Abdel Rahman.
He said 12 people were also killed in
barrel bomb attacks on Aleppos rebelheld Al-Shaar neighbourhood, including
eight members of a single family.
Victims bodies were laid out on the
streets of the neighbourhood, the limp
blood-covered hand of one of them protruding from under a blanket, said an
AFP correspondent at the scene.

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Shatec Institutes Pte Ltd a company
organized under the laws of Singapore and having its principal
office at 21 Bukit Batok Street 22, Singapore 659589 is the owner
and sole proprietor of the following trademarks:-

SHATEC
(Reg: No. IV/16925/2014)

(Reg: No. IV/16926/2014)

The above two trademarks are in respect of:Adult training; advisory services relating to training; business
training consultancy services; business training services; career
advisory services (education or training advice); career counselling
(education or training advice); career counselling (training and
education advice); industrial relations training; industrial training;
language training; mentoring (education and training); mentoring
(training); organisation of training courses; organisation of youth
training schemes; personal development training; providing
courses of training; provision of training; provision of training
courses; provision of training facilities; staff training services;
teacher training services; technical training; training; training
consultancy; vocational guidance (education or training advice);
vocational training services. - Class: 41
Services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation;
accommodation bureaux (hotels, boarding houses); accommodation
reservation services; arrangement of accommodation for travellers;
rental of temporary accommodation; tourist agency services
(provision of temporary accommodation); hospitality services
(accommodation); hospitality services (food and drink); banqueting
services; bar services; bistro services; cafe services; catering services;
consultancy and advisory services relating to the provision of
temporary accommodation; consultancy, advisory and information
services in relation to the provision of food and drink; contract
catering services; country club services (provision of food, drink and
temporary accommodation); hospitality services (accommodation);
hospitality services (food and drink); providing information, including
online, about services for providing food and drink, and temporary
accommodation; restaurant services; social clubs (Provision of
accommodation); social clubs (Provision of food); theatre restaurants
(Provision of food and drink). Class: 43
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said
trademarks or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with
according to law.
U Kyi Win Associates
for Shatec Institutes Pte Ltd
P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.
Phone: 372416

Dated: 1st June, 2015

Barrel bombs crude weapons

made of containers packed with explosives have often struck schools,
hospitals, and markets in Syria.
But the May 30 death toll was among
the highest.
This is one of the biggest massacres that regime planes have committed
since the beginning of 2015, said the
Syrian Revolution General Commission
activist group.
The Observatory said regime forces
also dropped barrel bombs May 29 in
Idlib province, now under the de facto
control of rebels after regime forces
withdrew, leaving al-Qaeda and its allies to capture the city of Ariha and surrounding villages.
The tactic of carrying out air attacks
on built-up areas after battleground
losses has become common practise for
Syrias regime, which ceded swathes of
territory in May.
Following defeats in Idlibs provincial capital and at a massive military
base nearby, government forces also lost
the ancient city of Palmyra to IS jihadists on May 21.
In northeast Syria on May 30, IS
launched an assault on Hasakeh city,
which has a large Kurdish population.
The Observatory said at least 10 progovernment forces and 10 jihadists were
killed.
In a provincial town to the north,
Kurdish militia executed at least 20 civilians on May 29, including two children, after accusing them of being IS
supporters, the Observatory reported.
In Iraq on May 30, government
troops and allied paramilitary forces re-

People gather at the scene after government forces allegedly dropped barrel
bombs on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on May 30. Photo: AFP

took an area west of Ramadi, captured

by IS two weeks ago.
The Iraqi army and the Hashed alShaabi liberated the Anbar traffic police
building in the 5K area west of Ramadi
after a fierce fight, an army officer said.
Hashed al-Shaabi is an umbrella
term for mostly Shiite militia and volunteers, and it has played a key role in
Iraqs anti-IS fight.
But Human Rights Watch accused
Iraqi authorities of blocking thousands
of families from escaping violence in the
mainly Sunni province of Anbar.
Since April 2015, the government
has imposed restrictions on entry
into Baghdad and Babylon provinces
affecting just under 200,000 people
fleeing fighting in Ramadi, the group
said.

It said the restrictions effectively discriminated against Sunni Arabs.

Prime Minister [Haider al-]Abadi
should immediately order these restrictions lifted so that all Iraqis can seek refuge in Baghdad, regardless of origin or
religious affiliation, said HRW.
And in Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described as an election ploy the release of images allegedly
showing Turkish intelligence trucks delivering weapons into Syria last year.
The release [of the video footage]
right now is an effort aimed at affecting
the [June 7] elections, he told AFP.
In January 2014, security forces
searched trucks near the Turkish-Syrian
border on suspicion of smuggling arms
into Syria and found Turkish national
intelligence personnel on board. AFP

WASHINGTON

Cuba taken off US blacklist

THE United States dropped Cuba from

its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism on May 29, removing yet another
hurdle as the two countries seek to
restore diplomatic ties frozen for five
decades.
Cuba has vehemently protested its
1982 inclusion on the blacklist which
hampered its access to global markets
and tarred it as an international pariah
and had demanded that the decision
be rescinded.
Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that effective May 29 a final
decision had been taken to remove
Cuba from the list, after President
Barack Obama in April gave Congress
45 days to object.
Only Iran, Sudan and Syria still remain on the terror blacklist.
The move has deep political
significance as the Cold War foes grapple for a rapprochement, but it may
also afford Cuba better access to US
banking facilities and American aid,
and lift some restrictions on exports
and arms sales.
However, a tight economic
embargo slapped on the communistrun Caribbean island in 1962 remains
in place, meaning there may be little
immediate effect from the historic decision.
The lifting of the state sponsor
of terrorism designation does not lift
the embargo, just to put that kind of
bluntly, State Department press office
director Jeff Rathke told reporters.
He also highlighted that there still
remained a web of restrictions and
sanctions that have been applied over
the years, and some of them are unrelated to the state sponsor of terrorism
designation.
Mr Obama and Cuban President
Raul Castro agreed in December to
restore relations, and the two leaders held ground-breaking talks on
the sidelines of an April summit in
Panama.

Delegations from the two nations

have met four times since January
seeking to carve out a path toward
re-opening embassies, a first step toward normalising diplomatic relations
snapped in 1961.
But US officials admitted on May
29 there was still no timetable for that
to happen, amid Cuban objections to
US democracy programs and demands
that American diplomats be allowed to
meet freely with dissidents.
We still have significant disagreements with Cuba and we have
concerns about a number of Cubas
policies and actions. Those concerns
remain, but they fall outside the criteria for designation as a state sponsor of
terror, Mr Rathke said.
We still have some gaps that we
have to close with no new date set for
further talks, he said.
The White House sees better relations with Cuba as correcting an out

A man in a US flag T-shirt with a Che

Guevara tattoo walks along a street in
Havana on February 16. Photo: AFP

of date policy and as a likely signature foreign policy achievement of Mr

Obamas presidency.
But Republican leader John
Boehner slammed the administration for handing the Castro regime a
significant political win in return for
nothing.
Relations with the Castro regime
should not be revisited, let alone normalised, until the Cuban people enjoy
freedom and not one second sooner.
While ties are warming, generations of mistrust and legislation
remain.
Mr Obama has already made it
easier for 12 categories of Americans to
visit the Communist island, no longer
requiring them to apply for a licence
before travelling.
But regular tourism remains
off-limits. Trips are limited to specific
visits including education, sports, culture or journalism.
Those allowed to visit Cuba can
bring back home US$100 worth of
cigars or rum, and pay for purchases
on the islands with credit cards.
US companies are now allowed
to invest in Cubas tiny but growing
private sector, which emerged under
modest economic reforms launched by
Mr Castro.
In March, the two countries
re-established a direct telephone link
and the US Treasury Department removed sanctions on some 60 individuals, shipping companies and trading
firms.
US banks may gain more comfort now that Cuba has been removed
from the list and begin handling those
transactions using debit and credit
cards, said international business expert Lawrence Ward.
While a host of other prohibitions
remain in place, the move may pave
the way for more monumental changes in those sanctions and restrictions,
he said. AFP

World 17

www.mmtimes.com
SANAA

Calls for talks

as coalition
pounds rebel
positions
THE UN envoy for Yemen has
launched a mission to discuss stalled
Geneva peace talks as Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded rebel positions across the war-ravaged country.
In the southern province of Abyan,
a car bomb blast killed 12 rebels and
wounded eight others, a local official
said.
Coalition warplanes launched
deadly air strikes against rebel positions in the southern city of Aden, a
military official said, without giving
figures.
But 48 hours of fighting there and
rebel shelling with mortar rounds and
Katyusha rockets killed nine people
and wounded 132 others, a health official and a spokesperson of anti-rebel
forces in the port city said.
UN special envoy Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed, who flew in to Sanaa
on May 29, said, All Yemeni parties
must return to dialogue, quoted by
the rebel-held sabanews.net.
A member of ousted president Ali
Abdullah Mr Salehs General Peoples
Congress told AFP the Mauritanian
diplomat met on May 30 with senior
leaders of the party for talks on the
Geneva conference.
But the source said the envoy did
not meet with Mr Saleh himself, who
lashed out at Saudi Arabia in an interview with a Beirut-based television

channel broadcast the day prior.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an
air war since March 26 targeting Iranbacked Huthi Shiite rebels in Yemen
and allied forces loyal to Mr Saleh.
Clashes have also raged on the
ground between the rebels and local
militia fighting their advance, especially in southern Yemen.
The Geneva conference had been
due to take place on May 28 but has
been postponed, in a fresh blow to UN
efforts to end a conflict estimated to
have killed almost 2000 people.
Speaking from Sanaa, Mr Saleh
said in the interview that he had rejected a Saudi offer of millions of
dollars to drop his alliance with the
Huthis.
Coalition warplanes struck a house
of the ousted president in his home
town of Sanhan, south of the capital,
shortly after the interview was broadcast.
The former strongman no longer
resides in his Sanhan home which has
also been targeted in previous raids,
and he is believed to be staying at a
hotel in Sanaa.
Other raids on Friday night hit the
rebel-held air force headquarters in
Sanaa, arms depots in Sanhan, and
Dailami air base, also in the capital,
witnesses said.
Mr Saleh was forced to resign in

DUBAI

Coalition using
cluster bombs: HRW
HUMAN Rights Watch yesterday
published new evidence alleging a
Saudi-led coalition is using internationally banned cluster bombs in
Yemen, urging it to stop such attacks
that were harming civilians.
The New York-based watchdog
said it documented the use of three
types of cluster munitions in Yemen,
where Saudi-led warplanes have
pounded positions of Shiite rebels
and allies loyal to former president
Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26.
The Saudi-led coalition and
other warring parties in Yemen need to recognise that using
banned cluster munitions is very
likely to harm civilians, said
HRWs senior emergencies researcher Ole Solvang.
These weapons cant distinguish

These weapons
cant
distinguish
military targets
from civilians.
Ole Solvang
Human Rights Watch

military targets from civilians, and

their unexploded submunitions
threaten civilians, especially children, even long after the fighting,
she added in a statement.
The organisation said the banned
munitions had wounded civilians including a child in attacks on northern stronghold of the Huthi rebels,
pointing out that a HRW team had
visited Saada province this month.
Two of three people wounded in
one attack from the air were likely to
have been civilians, while the source
of ground-fired cluster bombs that
wounded four other civilians, including a child, was not determined,
HRW said.
Both cases took place in an area
under attack by the coalition, it added.
Saudi Arabia and the nine Arab
members of the coalition are not
signatories of the 2008 Convention
on Cluster Munitions that prohibits
their use.
Cluster bombs can be fired by
rockets, mortars, and artillery or
dropped by aircraft.
Typically they break up in the air
into many bomblets, but they can
become de facto landmines on the
ground if they fail to explode.
According to the World Health
Organisation, the Yemen conflict has
since March killed almost 2,000 people and wounded 8,000, with hundreds of women and children among
the casualties. AFP

A Huthi militant poses next to a house said to belong to a Huthi leader, which was destroyed in an air strike by the Saudiled coalition in the capital Sanaa on May 29. Photo: AFP

early 2012 after waging a bloody crackdown on a year of protests calling for
an end to his three decades of ironfisted rule.
His forces have been backing the
Huthi rebels who seized Sanaa in September before fanning out across the
country.
In his interview, Mr Saleh renewed
calls for talks in Geneva between Yemeni parties as well as Yemen and Saudi
Arabia which he accused of seeking
to sow sedition in the war-torn country.
But sooner or later we will hold
talks with Saudi Arabia, said the former president who belongs to the Huthis Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Mr Saleh said talks in Geneva, which

he himself had first proposed, should
focus on a power transfer, choosing a
new authority and elections, as well as
condemning the Saudi aggression.
Yemens government says it will
only take part once rebels withdrew
from at least part of the territory they
have seized, in line with a UN Security
Council resolution.
Riyadh, which has given refuge to
Yemens President Abedrabbo Mansour al-Hadi, hosted talks on May 17
that were boycotted by the Huthis but
attended by figures from Mr Salehs
party.
Other talks are reportedly being held in Oman where a Huthi

delegation travelled on May 28, two

days after a visit by Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.
Mr Saleh said in his interview that
the United States has also been holding talks in Oman.
Yemens neighbour has good ties
with both Tehran and Riyadh, and
Muscat has often played the role of
mediator.
It is the only member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council not to
have joined the Saudi-led air war.
Sabanews.net quoted a Huthi
spokesperson as saying that an exchange of views and proposals with international and regional parties were
being aired in the sultanate. AFP

18 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 1, 2015

GENEVA

WASHINGTON

Iran talks hit stumbling block

US police killing
two people per
day so far in 2015

TEHRAN rejected a key Western demand for site inspections on May 30

and differences remained after US
Secretary of State John Kerry and his
Iranian counterpart held talks to secure a nuclear deal.
With a deadline a month away,
a senior Iranian negotiator said the
Geneva talks between Mr Kerry and
Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif failed to bridge the differences between Tehran and world
powers.
The differences are still there, Abbas Araghchi, deputy head of Irans negotiating team, said at the end of the
meeting.
Mr Araghchi, quoted by state televisions website, said the negotiations
would resume next week at the level
of deputies and experts, rather than
have the Kerry-Zarif talks go into a
second day as expected.
The latest talks in the run-up to a
June 30 deadline came amid heightened diplomatic moves to try to end
a 12-year standoff and put a nuclear
bomb beyond Irans reach.
Mr Kerry and Mr Zarif huddled for
six hours in a leading hotel with their
delegations and top European Union
official Helga Schmid.
Secretary Mr Kerry and Foreign
Minister Zarif, along with their teams,
had a thorough and comprehensive
discussion of all of the issues today, a
senior State Department official said.
We are committed to working to
close the remaining gaps and to staying on the schedule weve set forth to

get this done, the official said.

But just before the Geneva talks got
under way, Mr Araghchi said it would
be out of the question for UN inspectors to question Iranian scientists and
inspect military site inspections as
part of a final deal with world powers.
After an interim accord struck in
Geneva in November 2013, Washington
and Tehran are trying to nail the final
details of a ground-breaking agreement that would see Iran curtail its nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of
crippling international sanctions.
After three decades of enmity, an
accord would pave the way to bringing
Iran back into the international fold
and create fresh impetus to resolve a
host of conflicts in the Middle East.
The Geneva meeting came as the
United States and its partners Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia seek to finalise the complex pact
On April 2, Iran and the P5+1 -as the US and its partners are known
-- agreed after eight days of tough
talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne to
the main outlines of a nuclear deal,
with Tehran agreeing to rein in and
mothball large sections of its nuclear
program.
But the differences remain, with
both the United States and Iran under
immense pressure from hardliners not
to make major concessions.
Since the April 2 accord, technical
experts have been meeting behind the
scenes to overcome the remaining issues. But many of the decisions now
need to be made at a political level.

The US official said that the accord

would have multiple annexes perhaps as many as three or more, which
are already being drafted.
And despite rumblings from both
Iranian and French officials that the
talks may drag on beyond June 30, US
officials insisted that was not on the
table.
Weve been very clear that we are
not contemplating an extension at this
point. June 30 is a real date, the State
Department official said.
Several sticking points remain, including the possible military dimensions of the Iranian program and the
demands by the P5+1 group for UN
inspections of Iranian military bases.
Iran also is demanding an accelerated lifting of US, EU and UN sanctions, while the P5+1 wants a snapback mechanism to be put in place,
enabling the measures to be quickly
reimposed if Tehran breaks the deal.
Mr Kerry will stress to Mr Zarif
the importance of granting access for
inspections, a Western diplomat said
before the meeting.
Yukiya Amano, head of the UNs
atomic watchdog, told AFP this week
that Iran had agreed to implementing
the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that
allows for snap inspections.
When we find inconsistency or
when we have doubts, we can request
access to the undeclared location for
example, and this could include military sites, he said.
AFP

US POLICE have killed people at

a rate of more than two a day this
year, a level far higher than typical federal counts, The Washington
Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper is tracking such
killings across America because local police departments are not required to file reports to the federal
government, meaning that nationwide statistics are incomplete or
unavailable.
The Post found that so far this
year, at least 385 people have been
shot and killed by police across the
United States a rate of more than
two a day.
The rate is far higher than that
tallied over the past decade by the
federal government, which must
rely on partial data because of the
voluntary reporting requirements.
The Post found that many of the
killings stemmed from minor interactions between police and community members that escalated
into sudden violence.
In one case, for instance, police
in the Florida city of Miami Gardens killed a schizophrenic man
who was waving a broomstick. His
mother had called police because
she couldnt persuade him to come

in from the cold.

Still, The Post noted, most of
those killed this year were armed
with potentially lethal objects
mainly guns, but also knives and
other items.
Sixteen percent were carrying a
toy or were unarmed.
The tally comes as a national
debate is taking place about the
level at which police use deadly
violence, especially in black and
Latino communities.
One of the most prominent
recent cases to fuel the debate is
that of Michael Brown, an 18-yearold who was fatally shot last year in
Ferguson, Missouri.
The death and subsequent lack
of legal action against the police
officer who shot him prompted
widespread riots in the St Louis
suburb.
In Baltimore last month, riots
broke out following protests over
the death of Freddie Gray, 25, who
died from injuries sustained in the
back of a police van.
The Post found that, overall,
blacks were killed at three times
the rate of whites or other minorities in the police killings it
analysed this year.
AFP

HYDERABAD

NEW YORK

Death toll from

heatwave climbs

Online drug marketplace Silk

Road founder gets life sentence

INDIAS brutal weeks-long heatwave has killed more than 2000

people, authorities announced
over the weekend, as the government launched a mass education
campaign to help people cope
with scorching temperatures.
Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer
every year in India, but this years
toll is the second-highest in Indias history and fifth-most in
recorded history globally, according to EM-DAT, an international
disaster database.
The southern states of Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana which
have so far borne the brunt of the
heatwave accounted for 1979
deaths. A further 17 people were
killed in Orissa, eastern India,
while nine people were reported
dead elsewhere in the country,
taking the death toll to 2005.
A total of 2541 people died in
1998 due to extreme temperatures, the highest figure in Indias
history, according to EM-DAT.
Officials in Andhra Pradesh
and
Telangana,
meanwhile,
launched public education campaigns to inform the most vulnerable on how to withstand the
heat.
In Telangana, the authorities
were using pamphlets and local
media to inform people to avoid
going outdoors and to drink
plenty of water, the states disaster management chief BR Meena
said.
The death toll stands at 489.
There has been some relief in the
heatwave also but we are out on
the roads telling people how to
stay safe, he told AFP, adding
that there had been no deaths
in the state as a result of the hot
weather since late last week.
His counterpart in neighbour-

THE American man convicted of

masterminding
the
criminal
website Silk Road was sentenced
in court on May 29 to life in prison
over the online enterprise that sold
$200 million in drugs to customers
worldwide.
It was the maximum possible punishment for Ross Ulbricht, who was
convicted in February by a jury on
seven
counts
of
narcotics
trafficking, criminal enterprise,
computer hacking and money laundering.
The 31-year-old Texan with a
graduate degree displayed no
emotion as he stood in dark prison
scrubs to hear his fate read by Federal Judge Katherine Forrest, as his
devoted parents sat in the packed
gallery.
Mr Ulbricht, who ran Silk
Road under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts and was accused of
commissioning five murders at a
cost of $650,000, was sentenced
to two life sentences for narcotics distribution and criminal
enterprise.
He also received the maximum
sentence of five, 15 and 20 years
for hacking, trafficking in false
documents and money laundering
convictions.
In the gallery, his mother put her
head in her hand.
It was a stunning fall from
privilege for Mr Ulbricht, who the
government said amassed $13
million in commissions by making
the purchase of heroin, cocaine and
crystal meth as easy as shopping
online at eBay or Amazon.
Prosecutors said the narcoticstrafficking enterprise resulted in at
least six drug-related deaths.
You should serve your life in
prison, Ms Forrest told Mr Ulbricht,
saying there was no parole in the
federal system.
What you did was unprecedent-

ing Andhra Pradesh, where 1490

people have died since mid-May,
said officials there had launched
a publicity campaign outlining
how to deal with the heatwave.
The deaths have definitely
come down in the last few days,
state disaster management chief
P Tulsi Rani told AFP.
Health officials in Andhra
Pradeshs Prakasam district,
where 305 people have died due
to the heatwave, said the situation has improved in the last few
days with few people arriving in
hospitals with symptoms of heat
stroke.
There is no alarming situation at present. The heat has
come down, and were seeing
fewer new patients come in with
heat stroke, JV Subbarao, a top
official at Rajiv Gandhi Institute
of Medical Sciences, told AFP.
On
May
29,
maximum
temperatures across India hovered around 45 degrees Celsius
(113 Fahrenheit), with forecasters
in New Delhi warning that searing temperatures would continue
next week across several states.
Hundreds of people mainly
from the poorest sections of society die at the height of summer
every year across India, while
tens of thousands suffer power
cuts from an overburdened electricity grid.
India declares a heatwave
when the maximum temperature hits 45 Celsius, or 5 degrees
higher than the average for the
area in previous years.
The annual monsoon is forecast to hit the southern state of
Kerala this week before sweeping
across the country, but it will be
weeks before the cooling rains
reach Indias arid plains.
AFP

ed, she said. You have to pay the

consequences of this.
Ms Forrest said the court also
sought the forfeiture of more than
$183.9 million in Silk Road drug
profits.
The parents of a 25-year-old
Boston man and a 16-year-old
Australian schoolboy, who both
died after ingesting drugs obtained
from Silk Road, spoke of their
devastating loss.
I strongly believe my son would
be here today if Ross Ulbricht had
never created Silk Road, said one
of the parents, identified only as
Richard.
But Mr Ulbricht made little
mention of their anguish, sniffing and sobbing his way through a
self-pitying statement before the
court.
He told Ms Forrest that he
wanted to tell you about myself
from my perspective, and denied
that he was greedy and vain.
He also promised that he now
respected the law and would never
break it again if released.
Im not a self-centred, sociopathic person ... I just made some very
serious mistakes.
His four-week trial had been
considered a landmark case in the
murky world of online crime and
government surveillance.
Given the significant public
interest in the case, Ms Forrest
said his sentence had to serve
as a deterrent to anyone looking
to step into his shoes, and must
reflect the severity of his crimes
and protect society.
The defence had requested the
mandatory minimum sentence of
20 years and Mr Ulbricht has the
right to appeal.
The sentence was the maximum possible under federal law on
each count tougher even than
the lengthy sentence sought by gov-

ernment prosecutors.
Ms Forrest read from chilling
online messages and journal entries
that she said showed Mr Ulbricht
had displayed arrogance, knew
exactly what he was doing and had
an escape plan to flee the country.
Im
running
a
goddamn
multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise, she read out.
His own writings proved that he
was callous as to the consequences
and the harm and suffering it may
cause others, she said.
The government said Silk Road
conducted 50,000 sales of heroin,
80,000 sales of cocaine and 30,000
of methamphetamine highly addictive and dangerous drugs.
Forrest said Mr Ulbricht was no
better than a common drug dealer
and blind to the collateral damage to society caused by expanding
the drugs market. His central philosophy was that the US War on
Drugs was inherently flawed, and
that legalisation and a free market
is the best way toward moderating
societys drug use and abuse.
I dont know you feel a lot of
remorse for the people you hurt. I
dont know you know you hurt a lot
of people.
She said she found profoundly moving the nearly 100 letters
written from family and friends
testifying to a kind, intelligent and
loved friend, saying that he was a
very complex person.
Mr Ulbricht created the Silk Road
in January 2011, and owned and
operated the underground site until
it was shut down by the FBI in October
2013, when he was arrested in a San
Francisco library.
The US government has called it
the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the
internet used by vendors in more
than 10 countries in North America
and Europe. AFP

World 19

www.mmtimes.com
BRUSSELS

EU speaks
out on Russia
blacklist
THE European Union hit out May 30
at a travel ban imposed by Russia on
89 European citizens many of whom
are outspoken Kremlin critics calling
it totally arbitrary and unjustified.
The formerly undisclosed list was
revealed to European diplomats late
last week, and includes past and serving parliamentarians and ministers
who have openly criticised President Vladimir Putin and the war in
Ukraine.
Military figures and secret service
chiefs are also thought to be on the
list.
European politicians who discovered they had been banned from travelling to Russia wore the badge proudly, as Brussels took aim at Moscow for
the decision.
Beyond releasing the names of the
blacklisted individuals to diplomats,
Moscow has failed to provide any
other information on legal basis, criteria and process of this decision, the
EUs foreign service said.
We consider this measure as totally arbitrary and unjustified, especially
in the absence of any further clarification and transparency, it added.
Blacklisted politicians were nevertheless proud about being banned by
Russia.
Those who try to censor us and
make us scared for standing up for values deserve even more criticism. For
me its about being very committed to

standing up for peace and freedom in

Ukraine, one of those banned, Swedish MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt,
told AFP.
Im more proud than scared and
this gives me more determination to
continue ... If the Kremlin takes me
and my colleagues seriously it means
were doing a good job, the centreright politician, married to Swedens
former foreign minister Carl Bildt,
added.
She was among eight Swedes and
several MEPs confirmed on the list,
which was drawn up in response to
the EUs own sanctions and travel
bans on Russia citizens over Moscows
annexation of Crimea in Ukraine last
year.
Former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg, a staunch critic of
Russias policy toward Ukraine, also
confirmed he was on the list and welcomed it.
When I saw the other names [on
the list], I found out I was in a very decent club. I consider this a reward, he
was quoted as saying by news agency
CTK.
Other names have since been made
public including Guy Verhofstadt,
head of the Liberal group in the European Parliament and a former Belgian PM, and Swedens former centreright culture minister Lena Adelsohn
Liljeroth.
Nine Britons are thought to be on

A Ukrainian serviceman fires a grenade launcher on positions on the front line of fighting against pro-Russian separatists
near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on May 30. Photo: AFP

the list, including the head of the MI5

domestic intelligence agency, Andrew
Parker, the head of the armed forces
Nick Houghton, former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind and former
deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.
I have read the reports in the media but not a word from the Russians!
Mr Rifkind told AFP via email as the
Foreign Office said there was absolutely no justification for this list.
According to German daily Bild
seven German nationals have been
targeted including Michael Fuchs,
vice-president of the national parliaments conservative CDU-CSU group
and Franco-German former MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit.
The German government also com-

plained about the secrecy surrounding

the measures and said it expected Russia to publish the list along with an explanation of how to contest it legally.
At a time when we are trying to
defuse a bitter and dangerous conflict
in the heart of Europe, this does not
help, German Foreign Minister FrankWalter Steinmeier said in a statement
during a visit to Ukraine.
Mr Borusewicz is a key Communistera dissident who was denied entry to
Russia in March to attend the funeral
of outspoken opposition activist Boris
Nemtsov who was shot dead in central
Moscow.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
was the first to reveal that a list of
blacklisted figures had been shared

with European diplomats.

He said that he would let Moscow
know ... in no uncertain terms that
the Netherlands rejected it as the bans
were not based on international law.
Finlands new Foreign Minister
Timo Soini commented in a blog post
on the inclusion of Finlands only
known name on the list Green Party
MEP Hiedi Hautala and said it was
not a big surprise.
This is an expected reaction to the
[EU] travel ban against Russian citizens.
Western governments have suspected the existence of a list for some time
and several prominent politicians and
officials have been stopped from entering Russia in recent months. AFP

MAIDUGURI

Suicide bombing kills 26 as new president takes office

A SUICIDE bombing killed 26 people
inside a mosque in northeast Nigerias
city of Maiduguri on May 30, hours after Boko Haram launched a separate
attack, on the first full day of President
Muhammadu Buharis term.
Mr Buhari, who took the oath of office on May 29, vowed in his inaugural
address to crush the Islamist insurgents whom he described as mindless and godless.
The mosque bombing in the Borno

state capital was carried out by an

assailant who pretended to be a worshipper joining afternoon prayers, police and witnesses said.
Earlier, the military repelled an
overnight attack launched by insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades into homes in a bombardment
that lasted several hours.
Mr Buhari in his inaugural speech
announced plans to reinforce Maiduguri with a new command and

control centre to better coordinate the

counter-insurgency effort, a move analysts said signalled his commitment
to intensifying the fight.
It was not clear if the fresh violence in the strategically crucial city
was timed to come the day after the
inauguration.
But the new president will likely be
tested repeatedly in the coming months
by a militant group that has proved resilient over its six-year uprising.

The bomber blew up himself inside the Alhaji Haruna mosque next to
Maiduguris Monday Market just after
afternoon prayers began at roughly
3:30pm (1430 GMT), Borno police
chief Aderemi Opadokun and witnesses said.
The roof was blown off and fire
destroyed the mats and a few Korans,
market trader Nura Khalid told AFP.
Mr Opadokun said 26 were killed
and 28 others injured, describing the

assailant as a suicide bomber with an

improvised explosive device strapped
to his body.
While there was no immediate
claim of responsibility, the Monday
Market has over the past year been hit
by several suicide bombings blamed
on Boko Haram.
A death toll for the overnight attack was not immediately available,
but residents reported corpses being
taken from homes. AFP

THE MYANMAR TIMES june 1, 2015

it

ge
t

Green oasis
rises in heart of

Rio slum

the pulse 21

www.mmtimes.com

yo

gers o
n
i
f
n

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

People visit Sitie Ecological Park at Vidigal Hill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The community-built park received the SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development from the UN last month. Photos: AFP/Tasso Marcelo

ClAIRE DE OlIvEIRA NETO

HE stench of rotting dog corpses used to waft

through Mauro Quintanilhas Rio slum home.
Outside stood a towering mound of detritus
of every size and shape.
It took a decade and lots of help from
volunteers, but Quintanilha moved that stinking
mountain. Now, where all the rot once piled up is a park
with birds, butterflies and even monkeys.
For his trouble, he has won a top international prize
for urban renewal.
At the start, people thought I was crazy. They
made fun of me, said Quintanilha, a 55-year-old
percussionist.
I had to clear 16 tonnes of trash which people had
piled up above Vidigal, he said, referring to the slum
that is home to some 25,000 people.
The garbage stretched as far as Avenue Niemeyer,
an elegant thoroughfare just a stones throw from the
beach.
Although locals enjoy an unrivalled view over some
of Rios most plush districts, their favela, like most
slums, lacks basic public services including waste
disposal.
I was the resident living closest to the trash tip.
There was everything mattresses, refrigerators, tires
even the corpses of dogs. It stank and was really
depressing so I decided to act, said Quintanilha.
The ecological park a green oasis for those
behind its creation is today a little corner of Rio
where one can enjoy bird watching and go jogging.
The site includes a small garden that has already
produced some 700 kilograms (1500 pounds) of
vegetables, aromatic plants and fruit which is shared
out among residents.
To begin with, people kept on dumping their trash
at nightfall. Little by little, we educated them by giving
them plants from the garden. We transformed more
than the site. We transformed the residents, says a
delighted Quintanilha.
Armed with cuttings provided by Rios Botanical
Garden, he explains how he and his team were able
to produce their award-winning creation, recycling
everything they could along the way.
Even toilet bowls proved useful: They are converted
into large vases. Quintanilha also fashioned a table out
of bicycle wheels and made bedsprings from plastic
bottles, all for small change.
Access to the green oasis is via a narrow staircase

made of old tires filled with gravel leading up from the

favelas main winding street filled with motorbike taxis.
What once served as a getaway route for drug
traffickers until police moved in to pacify Vidigal in
2011 is now a tranquil spot with a jaw-dropping view
over well-heeled beaches like those of Ipanema.
Rio police began their slum pacification program in
2008, taking over dozens in the build-up to last years
World Cup as well as next years Olympics.
Few locals know about Quintanilhas initiative, which
started to gain prominence in 2012 at the Rio+20 UN
summit on sustainable development. Foreign officials
have since visited the site.
But it was the arrival in the favela of 32-year-old
Brazilian architect Pedro Henrique de Cristo, who
had just finished his studies at Harvard, which really
brought the area to wider attention.
I saw the residents here had pulled off a revolution.
The favela dwellers are incredible but the space in
which they live is inhuman and must be improved, says
Cristo, now director of the site.
When we arrived, the park stretched over 1100
square metres and in two-and-a-half years we increased
it to 8500 square metres, says Cristo, who is married to
fellow Harvard architecture graduate Caroline Shannon.
Cristo, Shannon and Quintanilha are hoping to
create an environmental, arts and technology institute
here next year a million-dollar undertaking approved
by the city but funded privately.
If they can raise the capital, the centre will include
a technical innovation centre, a library, rooms for art
and music instruction, and even a restaurant which will
serve dishes containing produce from the garden. The
scheme will also include waste treatment and measures
to control landslides.
The important thing is to create public spaces
through education, democracy and leisure, especially
for children, as an antidote to violence, says Cristo.
The park and the project last month earned a
prestigious SEED Award for urban architecture and
design in Detroit, which Quintanilha and Cristo
received in the United States.
Others are now following their example.
We have just found out that we are off to Cape Town
in South Africa to come up with the design for an urban
park there, says Cristo.
If everyone did what Quintanilha has done in
other favelas turn a dump into a park it would be
marvellous, says Ivonete Tavares, a 50-year-old Vidigal
resident. AFP

22 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES June 1, 2015

PARiS

Paris set to break hearts with

removal of a million love locks

OO much love can be a bad

thing: Paris city officials,
exasperated with lovers
sealing their passion by
clipping padlocks all over
the city, are set to remove 45 tonnes
of the locks next week.
Starry-eyed tourists from all over the
world flock to the Pont des Arts bridge
spanning the Seine River to attach a
lock representing their eternal love, and
throw the key into the river.
But the now-iconic bridge
is buckling under the weight of
such devotion, and authorities are
desperate to stop the craze.
Last year police hurriedly ushered
tourists off the Pont des Arts when
a section of the footbridge collapsed
under the weight of the locks covering
the 155-metre-long (509-foot) bridge.
Plastic panels were put up
in places to deter lovebirds and
authorities launched a drive to get
tourists to upload selfies instead of
attaching a lock.
But nothing stands in the way
of true love, and tourists have kept
piling the locks on the bridge and
elsewhere.
The Pont de lArcheveche bridge
in front of the Notre Dame cathedral
is now as inundated with locks,
while stray locks can often be spotted
around the city.
Deploring destruction of heritage
and a security risk for tourists on
the overloaded Pont des Arts, Paris
officials have decided enough is
enough and will remove all locks
starting today.
We will remove nearly 1 million
padlocks, or 45 tonnes, said city
official Bruno Julliard, criticising the
ugliness of the locks on some of
Pariss most beautiful bridges.
The metal grills of the bridge will
be replaced with works of art over the
summer, and will later be replaced
with clear panels.
We want Paris to remain the
capital of love and romance, Julliard
said, adding a campaign encouraging
lovers to express their love in
different ways such as the selfie
initiative would get under way soon.
Jean, 57, a tourist from the south
of France who was walking arm in

A woman looks at padlocks hanging on the Pont des Arts in Paris, France. Photos: AFP/Charly Triballeau

arm with Marion, 42, his mistress,

said the citys plans were stupid and
a pity.
It is symbolic to seal your love by
attaching a lock to this bridge, here in
Paris, the city of love, he said.
Guillermo, 33, from Argentina,
who was about to clamp his lock on
the bridge to show his feelings for
his new girlfriend he hopes to marry
one day, suggests collecting all the
locks to make a sort of statue or
monument.
The citys move has also annoyed
tour guide Vincent Jouaneau, who
had accompanied two Philippine
couples to the bridge.
It is out of question to stop
groups from coming to attach locks
to the bridge, he said, adding he

would just take future tourists one

bridge up to the Pont Neuf.
But the municipality is one step
ahead, and is also planning to remove
the metal grills from the other
targeted bridges.
While the trend of attaching locks
to the Pont des Arts began in 2008,
the problem is not unique to Paris.
The tradition of love locks
supposedly dates back 100 years to a
story of heartbreak during World War I
in Serbia. A resurgence of the trend was
reignited in Rome following Federico
Moccias 2006 novel I Want You.
The padlocks bearing lovers
initials have spread from European
capitals to as far as Marrakech,
Melbourne, and Mount Huang, China.
AFP/The Myanmar Times

A woman locks a padlock on the Pont Notre Dame.

2015 K-pop concert Live in Yangon to feature special fan opportunities

Chit Su
suwai.chit@gmail.com

BTS/The Bangtan Boys will be performing at the 2015 K-pop concert in Yangon on June 16. Photo: BTS/Facebook

THEYRE back. South Korean bands

featuring K-pop artists will play
at the 2015 K-pop concert Live in
Yangon on June 16 at the Myanmar
Event Park (MEP), Myaynigone
township.
The bash will mark the 40th
anniversary of Korea-Myanmar
diplomatic relations.
We are currently organising
special services for K-pop fans such
as fan signing or taking photos
with artists, said a spokesperson
for Hanbaek ITC company, which is
staging the concert.
Last year, with K-pop sweeping
Myanmar, leading South Korean
girl group 2NE1 staged a successful
concert in Yangon that attracted
more than 10,000 people.
Hanbaek ITC organised three
K-pop concerts in Yangon, and made
a splash hosting a pool party for fans
featuring K-pop artists MIB.

The line-up for Live in Yangon

includes BTS, Ailee, N-Sonic, Halo
and AKor.
There are three kinds of tickets:
Gold, Silver and Bronze, selling for
K200,000 (US$182), K100,000 ($91)
and K50,000 ($45) respectively. Gold
ticket-holders can attend the press
conference with the singers and will
receive shirts and key holders. Silver
ticket-holders can attend a press
conference with the singers, while, for
a limited time, bronze tickets are going
for only K30,000 ($27) until June 4.
The tickets can be had from
Lotteria and YKKO braches in
Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi
Taw, from BBQ restaurants, Bulgogi
Brothers and Moon Bakery.
In recent years, more local fans
have been travelling to neighbouring
countries to attend K-pop
concerts and other international
performances, noting that prices
there are often cheaper than here.
Last year, 2NE1s concert VVIP
tickets cost K900,000 ($823) each.

24 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES May 28, 2015

DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

Yangon to MandalaY

MandalaY to Yangon

Yangon to HeHo

HeHo to Yangon

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Y5 775

Daily

6:00

7:10

Y5 233

Daily

7:50

9:00

YH 917

Daily

6:10

9:15

YH 918

Daily

9:15

10:25

W9 515

6:00

7:25

W9 201

Daily

8:40

10:35

7Y 131

2,4,6,7

6:30

9:20

W9 201

Daily

9:25

10:35

YJ 211

5, 7

6:00

8:05

YJ 891

1,2

8:40

10:35

K7 222

1,3,5

6:30

9:30

7Y 132

2,4,6,7

9:35

10:45

YH 917

Daily

6:10

8:30

7Y 132

2,4,6,7

8:50

10:45

7Y 131

Daily

7:15

10:05

K7 223

1,3,5

9:45

11:00

YJ 891

1,2

6:20

8:25

K7 223

1,3,5

8:55

11:00

Y5 649

Daily

10:30

12:45

YJ 761

Daily

12:25

17:00

7Y 131

2,4,6,7

6:30

8:35

YH 918

Daily

9:15

10:25

YJ 751

12:10

7Y 242

1,3,5

15:55

18:45

K7 222

1,3,5

6:30

8:40

6T 806

2,4,6

10:30

11:40

K7 224

2,4,6,7

14:30

15:45

K7 225

2,4,6,7

16:00

19:00

6T 805

2,4,6

6:30

7:40

YJ 212

5,7

10:40

12:35

7Y 241

1,3,5

14:30

15:40

W9 129

1,3,6

16:55

19:10

W9 129

1,3,6

15:30

16:40

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

7:00

8:55

YJ 202

1,2,3,4

12:00

13:25

W9 201

Daily

7:00

8:25

YJ 761

1,2,4

13:10

17:00

W9201

7:00

8:25

YJ 602

15:40

17:35

8M 6603

9:00

10:10

7Y 242

1,3,5

16:40

18:45

YJ 601

11:00

12:25

K7 225

2,4,6,7

16:50

19:00

YJ 761

1,2,4

11:00

12:55

YH 728

17:00

18:25

YH 729

2,4,6

11:00

14:00

W9 152/W97152

17:05

18:30

YH 737

3,5

11:00

13:10

Y5 776

Daily

17:10

18:20

YH 727

11:30

13:40

W9 211

17:10

19:15

YH 737

11:30

13:40

YH 738

3,5

17:10

18:35

W9 251

2,5

11:30

12:55

8M 6604

17:20

18:30

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

MYeik to Yangon

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

8:15

6T 706

1,3,5

8:25

9:35

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)

9:05

Y5 326

1,5

8:35

10:05

Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020

6T 705

1,3,5

7:00

8:10

7Y 532

2,4,6

15:35

17:40

7Y 531

2,4,6

11:15

13:20

K7 320

1,3,5,7

11:30

13:35

Y5 325

15:30

17:00

Y5 326

17:15

18:45

SO 201

Daily

8:20

10:40

SO 202

Daily

13:20

15:40

Yangon to sittwe

8M 903

1,2,4,5,7

17:20

18:30

16:35

YH 738

17:40

19:05

K7 422

2,4,6

8:00

9:55

K7 423

2,4,6

10:10

11:30

Y5 234

Daily

15:20

16:30

YH 730

2,4,6

17:45

19:10

7Y 413

1,3,5,7

10:30

12:20

7Y 414

1,3,5,7

12:35

13:55

W9 211

15:30

16:55

W9 252

2,5

18:15

19:40

W9 309

1,3,6

11:30

12:55

W9 309

1,3,6

13:10

14:55

6T 611

Daily

11:45

12:55

6T 612

Daily

13:15

14:20

Dep

Arr

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Yangon to tHandwe

Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264

Fax: 652 533

Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545

16:25

Days

Yangon Airways (YH)

FMI Air Charter

sittwe to Yangon

14:30

Flight

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999

Fax: 8604051

7:00

14:30

Arr

Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640

Fax: 532333, 516654

6:45

1,3,5

Dep

Asian Wings (YJ)

1,5

2,4,6,7

Days

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

(hotline). Fax: 372983

1,3,5,7

7Y 241

Flight

Air KBZ (K7)

Y5 325

K7 224

naY pYi taw to Yangon

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

K7 319

Flight

Yangon to naY pYi taw

Air Bagan (W9)

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Yangon to MYeik
Flight

Domestic Airlines

tHandwe to Yangon

APEX Airlines (SO)

Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311
Fax : 95 (1) 533312

Air Mandalay (6T)

Tel: (+95-1) 501520, 525488,
Fax: (+95-1) 532275

Airline Codes

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

7:00

7:55

SO 101

Daily

7:00

8:00

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

ND 910

1,2,3,4,5

7:15

8:15

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

8:10

13:25

K7 422

2,4,6

8:00

8:55

K7 422

2,4,6

9:10

11:30

ND 105

1,2,3,4,5

10:45

11:40

ND 9102

1,2,3,4,5

8:35

9:35

7Y 413

1,3,5

10:30

11:20

7Y 413

1,3,5

11:35

13:55

SO = APEX Airlines

ND 107

11:25

12:20

ND 104

1,2,3,4,5

9:20

10:15

ND 109

1,2,3,4,5

14:55

15:40

ND 106

10:00

10:55

W9 309

1,3,6

11:30

13:50

7Y 413

12:05

14:20

7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines

ND 9109

1,2,3,4,5

17:00

18:00

ND 108

1,2,3,4,5

13:30

14:25

7Y 413

11:00

11:50

W9 309

1,3,6

14:05

14:55

Y5 421

1,3,4,6

15:45

16:40

Y5 422

1,3,4,6

16:55

17:50

K7 = Air KBZ

ND 111

18:25

19:20

ND 110

17:00

17:55

SO 102

Daily

18:00

19:00

ND 9110

1,2,3,4,5

18:20

19:20

Yangon to nYaung u
Flight
YJ 211
YH 917
YJ 891
K7 222
7Y 131
K7 224
7Y 241
W9 129
W9 211
W9 129

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

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

nYaung u to Yangon
Arr
7:20
7:45
7:40
7:50
7:50
17:25
17:10
17:35
17:40
17:35

Yangon to MYitkYina
Flight

Days

Dep

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

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

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

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

MYitkYina to Yangon
Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Yangon to dawei

dawei to Yangon

W9 = Air Bagan
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

K7 319

1,3,5,7

7:00

8:10

YH 634

2,4,6

12:15

13:25

YH 633

2,4,6

7:00

8:25

K7 320

1,3,5,7

12:25

13:35

SO 201

Daily

8:20

9:40

6T 708

3,5,7

14:15

15:15

6T = AirMandalay

6T 707

3,5,7

10:30

11:30

SO 202

Daily

14:20

15:40

FMI = FMI Air Charter

7Y 531

2,4,6

11:15

12:20

7Y 532

2,4,6

16:35

17:40

Yangon to lasHio

lasHio to Yangon

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

YH 729

2,4,6

11:00

13:00

YJ 752

3,5,7

16:10

17:55

YJ 751

3,5,7

11:00

13:15

YH 730

2,4,6

16:45

19:10

Yangon to putao

Flight

Days

putao to Yangon

6T 805

2,4,6

6:30

8:55

6T 806

2,4,6

9:10

11:40

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YH 826

1,3.5

7:00

9:40

YJ 202

1,2,3,4

10:35

13:25

YH 826

1,3,5

7:00

10:35

YH 634

10:35

13:55

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

7:00

10:20

YH 827

1,3,5

11:30

13:55

YJ 233

11:00

15:10

YJ 234

15:25

18:15

YH 633

7:00

10:35

YH 827

1,3,5

10:35

13:55

W9 251

2,5

11:30

14:25

W9 252

2,5

16:45

19:40

W9 251

2,5

11:30

15:25

W9 252

2,5

15:45

19:40

YH = Yangon Airways
YJ = Asian Wings

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

the pulse 25

www.mmtimes.com
NEW DELHI

InternAtIonAl FlIGHt SCHeDUleS

Flights

YANGON TO BANGKOK
Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

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

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

8M 231
Daily
8:25
Y5 2233
Daily
9:45
TR 2823
Daily
9:45
SQ 997
Daily
10:35
3K 582
Daily
11:15
MI 533
2,4,6
13:45
MI 519
Daily
17:30
3K 584
2,3,5
19:15
YANGON TO KUALA LUMPUR

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

8M 501
AK 505
MH 741
8M 9506
8M 9508
MH 743
AK 503

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

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

1,2,3,5,6
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

7:50
8:30
12:15
12:15
15:45
15:45
19:30

YANGON TO BEIJING

Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

BANGKOK TO YANGON
Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

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

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

TR 2822
Daily
7:20
Y5 2234
Daily
7:20
SQ 998
Daily
7:55
3K 581
Daily
8:55
MI 533
2,4,6
11:35
8M 232
Daily
13:50
MI 518
Daily
15:15
3K 583
2,3,5
17:05
KUALA LUMPUR TO YANGON

8:45
8:50
9:20
10:25
15:00
15:15
16:40
18:35

AK 504
8M 9505
MH 740
8M 502
8M 9507
MH 742
AK 502
AI 227

8:00
11:15
11:15
13:50
14:50
14:50
19:00
13:20

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Daily
6:55
Daily
10:05
Daily
10:05
1,2,3,5,6
12:50
Daily
13:40
Daily
13:40
Daily
17:50
1
10:35
BEIJING TO YANGON
Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

22:50

8M 711
CZ 3056
CZ 3056

CZ 3055
CZ 3055
8M 712

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

10:25
16:30
15:50

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

9:55

Flights

Flights

CI 7916
Flights

Arr

Flights

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

13:15
16:15
22:15

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

16:15

CI 7915

Arr

Flights

Days

CA 416
MU 2012
MU 2032
Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

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

15:55
18:45
18:40

Dep

Arr

Flights

Days

MU 2011
CA 415
MU 2031
Flights

Days

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

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

11:50
11:15
14:30

Dep

Arr

International Airlines
All Nippon Airways (NH)
Tel: 255412, 413

Air Asia (FD)

Tel: 09254049991~3

Air Bagan Ltd.(W9)

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air China (CA)

Tel: 666112, 655882

Air India

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

Bangkok Airways (PG)

Tel: 255122, 255265. Fax: 255119

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG)

Tel: 371867~68. Fax: 371869

Condor (DE)

Tel: 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Dragonair (KA)

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

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Malaysia Airlines (MH)

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

Fax: 241124

Myanmar Airways International (8M)

Tel: 255260. Fax: 255305

Tel: 255050, 255021. Fax: 255051

Qatar Airways (QR)

Tel: 379845, 379843, 379831. Fax: 379730

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

Singapore Airlines (SQ) / Silk Air (MI)

VN 942
Flights

AI 701
QR 919
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

2,4,7
14:25
YANGON TO DOHA

17:15

VN 943

1,5
14:05
1,4,6
8:00
YANGON TO SEOUL

Arr

19:50
11:10

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

AI 401
QR 918
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

13:25

Thai Airways (TG)

1,5
7:00
3,5,7
20:40
SEOUL TO YANGON

Arr

13:20
06:25+1

Tiger Airline (TR)

Days

Dep

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

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

KA 251
KA 251

5:55
5:45

KA 252
KA 250

Arr

Flights

Flights

Days

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

Arr

YANGON TO TOKYO

Flights

Days

NH 814

Daily

Dep

21:45

Days

BG 061
BG 061

1,6
4

NH 813

Arr

Flights

Dep

15:35
13:45

YANGON TO INCHEON
Days

Dep

17:00
15:10
Arr

KE 472
Daily
23:30 07:50+1
8M 7702
Daily
23:30 07:50+1
8M 7502
4,7
00:35
09:10
W9 607
4,7
14:20
16:10
PG 724
1,3,5,6
13:10
15:05
YANGON TO CHIANG MAI
Flights

Days

Y5 251
7Y 305

2,4,6
1,5
Days

8M 601
AI 236

Days

AI 236
AI 701

2
1,5

Dep

13:10
14:05

YANGON TO KOLKATA
Days

AI 228
Flights

Dep

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

Flights

Flights

Dep

6:15
11:00

YANGON TO GAYA

Flights

1,5

Dep

14:05

YANGON TO MUMBAI

AI 773

Days

1,5

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 710

Days

Daily

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO SINGAPORE

Flights

MI 533
Y5 2233

Days

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

Dep

15:55
7:50

MANDALAY TO DON MUEANG

Flights

FD 245

Days

Daily

Dep

12:45

MANDALAY TO KUNMING

Flights

MU 2030

Days

Daily

Dep

13:50

NAY PYI TAW TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 722
PG 722
PG 722

Days

3
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5

Dep

20:15
19:30
20:15

Flights

06:50+1

YANGON TO DHAKA

Flights

Flights

Dep

1:30
1:10

Arr

Arr

Flights

8:20
15:05

AI 235
8M 602

Arr

Flights

Flights

AI 227

Arr

Flights

22:35

AI 675

Arr

Flights

Arr

23:15
22:30
23:15

Days

1,6
4

Dep

12:30
10:40

INCHEON TO YANGON
Days

Days

2,4,6
1,5

Dep

Dep

9:25
13:45

GAYA TO YANGON
Days

Dep

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

2
1,5

Dep

9:20
7:00

KOLKATA TO YANGON
Days

1,5

Dep

10:35

MUMBAI TO YANGON

Flights

Flights

Arr

11:00

Days

1,5

Dep

6:10

Days

Daily

Dep

12:00

SINGAPORE TO MANDALAY

Arr

16:40

Dep

DHAKA TO YANGON

PG 709
Y5 2234
MI 533

Arr

Daily

Days

Daily
2,6

Dep

7:20
11:35

DON MUEANG TO MANDALAY

FD 244

Days

Daily

Dep

10:50

KUNMING TO MANDALAY

Flights

MU 2029

Days

Daily

Dep

13:00

BANGKOK TO NAY PYI TAW

Flights

PG 721
PG 721
PG 721

Days

1,2,3,4,5
3
1,2,3,4,5

Dep

17:00
18:25
17:45

Arr

00:30+1
23:30

BANGKOK TO MANDALAY

20:50
14:15
15:00

Days

AI 235
AI 401

15:05

16:30

Dep

22:50
21:45

TOKYO TO YANGON

Flights

Y5 252
7Y 306

Arr

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

Arr

22:25
23:25

KE 471
Daily
18:45
8M 7701
Daily
18:45
8M 7501
3,6
19:50
W9 608
4,7
17:20
PG 723
1,3,5,6
11:05
CHIANG MAI TO YANGON

8:05
12:50

16:30
19:50

Days

BG 060
BG 060
Flights

Arr

Tel: 255287~9. Fax: 255290

2,4,7
11:50
DOHA TO YANGON

Arr

15:40

Tel: 255491~6. Fax: 255223

Tel: 371383, 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Vietnam Airlines (VN)

Tel: 255066, 255088, 255068. Fax: 255086

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

Arr

14:55
13:05
Arr

22:25
22:25
23:25
18:10
12:00
Arr

10:15
14:35
Arr

12:0
12:30

BG = Biman Bangladesh Airlines

CA = Air China
CI = China Airlines
CZ = China Southern
DD = Nok Airline
FD = Air Asia
KA = Dragonair
KE = Korea Airlines
MH = Malaysia Airlines
MI = Silk Air

Arr

12:20
13:20
Arr

13:20

MU = China Eastern Airlines

NH = All Nippon Airways
PG = Bangkok Airways
QR = Qatar Airways

Arr

13:20
Arr

13:20
Arr

16:30
15:00
Arr

12:15
Arr

12:50
Arr

19:00
19:35
19:45

SQ = Singapore Airways
TG = Thai Airways
TR = Tiger Airline
VN = Vietnam Airline
AI = Air India
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday

A Delhi shopper
nds a friend
in the bargain
ANDrEA SAcHS

Nok Airline (DD)

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

Old Delhis Chandni Chowk, a centuries-old market, offers an array of colourful

dresses, including some made in Rajasthan. Photo: Washington Post/Andrea Sachs

4
5
6
7

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Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

n Chandni Chowk, a frenetic

market in Old Delhi, a man with
one leg hopped over to me and
issued a friendly warning.
Watch out for pickpockets, he
said. And dont shop here. Theyll rip
you off.
Since arriving in Indias capital, I
had grown delirious with excitement to
buy everything within my reach, a vulnerable state that impairs your senses.
I was wearing the sartorial equivalent
of beer goggles. Through these lenses,
objects on Delhis shelves and racks
looked so beautiful. I was destined to
bring home some duds.
The worlds second-most-populated city can be disorienting, even
for visitors who arent suffering from
retail ecstasy. Traffic defies laws
and physics. Streets are a rushing
tide of bodies, cars, tuk-tuks, carts,
motorbikes and cows. Monkeys leap
between rooftops and power lines,
inches above passing heads. Add to
this madness the bewildering maze of
stores and stalls selling shoes, scarves,
saris, satchels, jewellery, spices, textiles and housewares.
The Old Delhi bazaar inhabits a
sloppy bowl of noodly lanes near the
Red Fort, the palace garrison of the
fifth Mughal emperor. You dont stroll
the area; you tumble into it and lift
your head every so often for gulps of
breath.
Old Delhi is an old market and an
Indian market. It has better quality,
too, said Abdul, the sage with the
crutch. new Delhi is a tourist market
and double the price.
Abdul led me to naughara Street,
a tranquil lane lined with white buildings brushed with Easter egg colours.
The proprietor ushered me inside the
ground-level store and excitedly presented me with a holiday card from the
Obamas, who apparently are customers. He told me that he exports most
of his wares but encouraged me to
peruse the glass cases. I tried on a silver
bangle tipped with leopard heads and a
necklace with spaghetti strands of semiprecious stones. I could afford neither.
Then the power went out.
For textiles and clothes, Abdul suggested Ghante Wali Gali, a wholesale
section of the market that offers bottom-feeder prices. I removed my shoes
and entered a rajs den rich with silky
fabrics. A seller approached with several scarves draped across his arm, as if
he were a magician. He didnt produce
a bunny, but I think he might have
briefly hypnotised me. Before I knew

it, he was packing up three scarves and

I was agreeing to a price (about US$12
each) without haggling.
At Rayyan Enterprises, shoes trotted up all four sides of the store to the
ceiling. The Made in Rajasthan leather
flats came in solid colours and ornate
patterns, with narrow toes and low
backs. My eyes watered with happiness and my head spun with too many
choices. I chose five and winnowed the
pile down to two: lemon-yellow with
gold stitching and purple brocade with
a matching pom-pom.
The shoes are one-size-fits-all and
ambidextrous, with no difference between left and right. I wedged my feet
into the first pair and strutted up and
down the cluttered runway. Abdul, now
elevated to soul-sister status, expressed
his delight. The yellows pinched, however. The man in charge asked to see
them. He slipped them over his tubesocked feet, walked a lap and handed
them back to me. They were now my
size. I asked Abdul which ones he preferred. He provided the correct answer.
I left with both for about $10.
At Delhi Handicrafts Emporium,
near the Red Fort, Sunil Jain offered
me a cup of tea (accepted, of course)
and a lesson on pashmina (Im all ears).
He said that 90 percent of the products
are fake, with goat or sheep wool posturing as goat hair. One way of testing
the authenticity is to burn an edge of
the material. If it smells like hair, its
the real deal.
This is a way of checking, he said,
because everyone is not an expert.
In addition, Jain said the lighter the
weight, the better the quality. Also, if
the material shines, the manufacturer
has added silk strands. But thats not
a cause for embarrassment. Most
Indians wear a mix of fibres because
the weather is often too warm for pure
pashmina.
I asked him for sample prices. A
scarf blend starts at about $20, he said,
and a 100 percent pashmina costs more
than five times as much.
By the time we exited the shop, the
plump orange orb was starting to slip
down the hazy sky. We both knew that
the sun was also setting on our day of
shopping.
I told Abdul that I would catch a
cab back to my hotel, but he said that I
shouldnt waste my money. He escorted
me to the Chandni Chowk Metro station and explained the process of buying a token and boarding the train.
I tipped him mightily and said
goodbye. He left me with a final piece
of wisdom: Watch your bags and dont
talk to anyone. The Washington Post

26 Sport

THE MYANMAR TIMES june 1, 2015

FIFA CONGRESS

Footballs squabbling lovers

C
aNT live with each other,
cant live without each other:
the tangled relationship between sepp Blatters FIFa
and Michel Platinis UeFa
reached a new low with the corruption
storm that hit footballs world body.
But while Blatter, who controls the
World Cup, and Platini, with the Champions league, may be at daggers drawn,
they each know they cannot afford a
costly divorce.
Platini told Blatter to resign the day
after swiss police arrested seven FIFa
officials in Zurich accused by Us authorities of taking tens of millions of
dollars in bribes. The French football
legend said he was disgusted at the
tarnishing of FIFas image.
On May 30, the day after he won his
fifth term as president of the worlds
most powerful sporting federation, Blatter said there was a hate campaign
coming from UeFa and a person
within it.

Next weekend, on the sidelines of

the Champions league final in Berlin,
the UeFa executive will review its relations with FIFa.
some voices, such as denmarks allan Hansen, a member of the executive,
say UeFa should withdraw from the
world body.
englands FIFa vice president david
Gill has already refused to serve under
Blatter because of the world bodys multiple scandals.
Platini says all options will be considered, but he opposes a split with FIFa,
calling it the headquarters of football.
Blatter agreed. FIFa needs UeFa,
UeFa needs FIFa, he told a press conference May 30 after an executive meeting which his arch-rival attended.
Blatter chided the european body
for blocking his efforts to introduce
an independent ethics commission,
which he said could have stopped rotten officials getting onto the executive.
But the war stopped there and eu-

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company organized under the laws of Japan and having its principal
office at 4-16, Kyobashi 2-Chome, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan is the
owner and sole proprietor of the following trademark:-

(Reg: Nos. IV/7298/2009 & IV/1640/2015)

in respect of :- Pharmaceutical, veterinary and sanitary preparations;
antibiotic preparations; air freshening preparations; depuratives;
bouillons for bacteriological cultures; media for bacteriological
cultures; vitamin preparations; amino acid preparations; cultures
of microorganisms for medical and veterinary use; diagnostic
preparations for medical purposes; pharmaceutical preparations sold
in pre-filled syringes; chemical reagents for medical or veterinary
purposes; fungicides; insecticides; herbicides; sanitary masks; dental
materials; incontinence diapers; lactose (milk sugar); powdered milk
for babies; albuminous milk; semen for artificial insemination; dietetic
beverages adapted for medical purposes; dietetic foods adapted for
medical purposes; food for babies; malted milk beverages for medical
purposes; soft drinks for babies; fruit juice for babies; edible plant
fibers, non-nutritive; dietary supplements for medical purposes;
nutritional supplements for medical use, dietary supplemental drinks
containing collagen and/or amino acids Class: 5
Margarine; milk products; milk beverages, milk predominating;
lactic acid drinks; lactic acid bacteria drinks; drinking yogurts;
butter; cheese; curd; cream [dairy products]; yogurt; powdered
milk [not for babies]; condensed milk; soya milk (milk substitute);
food supplements not for medical purposes mainly consisting of
amino acids or collagen in the form of tablets, capsules, granules,
powders and liquid; dietary supplements (other than for medical
use) Class: 29
Teas; tea-based beverages; coffee; cocoa; coffee-based beverages;
cocoa based beverages; cocoa product; chocolate-based beverages;
ice cream, ice; edible ices; sorbets [ices]; ice cream mixes; sherbet
mixes; confectionery, bread and buns; pastries; chocolates,
crackers, biscuits, candies, chewing gums, pretzels, corn snacks,
fruit jellies [confectionery]; dietary supplements, other than for
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Dated: 1st June, 2015

Behind the war of

personalities, it is a war
of strategic visions.

Jerome Champagne
Former FIFA officer

rope kept its 13 places at the 2022 World

Cup without a major fight at the executive committee. It had feared an attempt
to see numbers cut.
The world football war is nothing new. But the financial stakes are
growing.
Its part of history, according to Jerome Champagne, a former right-hand
man of Blatter at FIFa who tried to
stand against his ex-boss in the election.
ever since controversial Brazilian
Joao Havelange beat englands stanley
rous to the FIFa presidency in 1974

UeFa has permanently in 1998, 2002

and again in 2011 tried to take power,
said Champagne.
europe, dominated by its cash rich
major clubs in the Champions league,
wants to restrain FIFas power, according to Champagne.
Behind the war of personalities, it
is a war of strategic visions, he added.
Today football is becoming like basketball where there is only one league that
matters, the NBa.
The rival football enterprises are
both huge earners.
FIFa made Us$5.7 billion between
the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, much of
which goes back to small federations in
africa and asia who backed Blatter this
week.
It has a grip on the rules and regulations of the worlds most popular sport.
But decisions from the award of World
Cups to television contracts have been
surrounded by corruption claims for
many years.

UeFa predicts bumper revenue of

more than $5 billion for 2015-16 alone
when it stages the european Championships in France. earnings from the
the Champions league are putting on
healthy growth each year.
Its reputation is clean. But many of
the players who shine for Barcelona,
real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester
United come from beyond europe. and
that causes frustration for countries outside.
Franz Beckenbauer, the German
legend who was on the FIFa executive,
says FIFa and UeFa need urgent talks
or football everywhere will suffer.
But with the Us corruption investigation growing and bitterness in europe
high, the squabble will not end soon.
I forgive everyone, but I will not forget, Blatter said of his ties with Platini.
Platini could be ready to let the
tensions run. He is said to be thinking
about a run for the FIFa presidency in
four years time. AFP

Indonesia shrugs off FIFA suspension

INdONesIa football chiefs yesterday
said FIFas decision to suspend it should
not be mourned excessively and authorities were now focused on reforming the countrys crisis-wracked game.
The ban, announced May 30, means
Indonesian teams cannot compete in
world football and makes the national
team ineligible for June matches that
are qualifiers for both the 2018 World
Cup and 2019 asian Cup.
The sports ministry, whose move to
oust the Indonesian football association
(PssI) sparked the crisis, defended its
actions and said the ban was really not
what we wanted.
But it added in a statement; FIFas sanction need not be mourned
excessively.
We must be confident and believe
that if reform of national football can
be done with full sincerity, consistency,
transparency and with better governance, then achieving great performance
will no longer be a dream.
The government will take measures
to restructure the system of national
football management and will restart

domestic tournaments, it added.

The sports ministry has insisted that
taking on the PssI, which has long been
dogged by allegations of corruption and
mismanagement, was a necessary step
to clean up the game.
Football in Indonesia has been beset by repeated crises in recent years.
The latest row erupted in april when
the PssI halted the countrys top-flight
league due to a disagreement with the
sports ministry over the participation of
two clubs.
The ministry then froze all activities of the PssI, and said it was setting
up a transitional body as a step toward
replacing the association.
FIFa, which takes a dim view of
governments interfering in domestic
associations, backed the PssI, which insisted it remained in charge of football
in Indonesia.
The governing body gave Jakarta
until May 29 to allow the association to
resume activities, or face a suspension.
a series of last-ditch efforts to resolve the row in the past week came
to nothing and the sports ministry had

even expressed hope that the corruption

crisis engulfing FIFa might delay the
sanction.
But at a meeting of FIFas executive Committee in Zurich on
May 30, the world governing body
announced the ban, saying it was a result of the effective take over of the
activities of the PssI by the Indonesian
authorities.
The PssI was suspended from FIFa
and Indonesia were banned from all international competitions organised by
FIFa and the asian Football Confederation, one of six regional federations that
make up FIFa.
However as the football tournament
of the southeast asian Games started
on May 29, FIFa will allow the U23 national team to participate the singapore
Games where they will begin their campaign with a tie against Myanmar on
June 2.
The suspension came as Indonesian
football was only just recovering from a
feud between the PssI and a breakaway
association, which led to the creation of
two separate leagues. AFP

Netanyahu delighted as Palestine

withdraw bid to oust Israel
IsraelI Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on May 29 welcomed the
failure of a Palestinian bid to have
FIFa suspend Israel from international competition.
Palestinian football chief Jibril rajoub withdrew his associations bid
before shaking hands with his Israeli
counterpart Ofer eini.
I have decided to drop the resolution for the suspension, rajoub told
the FIFa congress in Zurich, adding
that Palestine wanted to keep politics
out of football.
and Netanyahu welcomed the end
of what he termed this Palestinian
provocation.
Our international effort has proven itself and led to the failure of the
Palestinian authority attempt to oust
us from FIFa, Netanyahu said in a
statement.
The state of Israel is interested
in peace but this will not be achieved
through coercion and distorting the
truth.
rajoub insisted however they may
repeat the threat against Israel if the
key issues of racism and player movement in the occupied West Bank are
not resolved before the next FIFa

congress in Mexico next year.

Palestine has not withdrawn its
application completely, but merely
suspended it, he added.
a lot of colleagues, whom I respect
and whose commitment to the ethics
and values of the game I appreciate,
told me how painful it is to hear of the
issue of suspension.
But I want to protect the Palestinian footballers, to let them enjoy the
privilege of the game as others do.
a FIFa committee, which will include figures from both the Israeli and
Palestinian governing bodies, will be
set up to resolve issues facing those
in football on the West Bank after the
congress voted for the initiative.
rajoub said FIFa must play their
part to help before waving a red card
at delegates to emphasise his point.
I think its time to raise the red
card against racism and humiliation
in Palestine and everywhere. It is
time, he added.
Palestine had wanted the governing body to suspend Israel over its
restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players.
It had also opposed the participation in the Israeli championships

of five clubs located in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In an equally passionate address,
Israeli football chief eini said it is now
up to the two associations to find a
common ground to promote football
and help each other in the troubled
region.
Football must serve as a bridge to
peace, said eini.
Im saying to my friend rajoub, let
the politicians deal with the political
points.
Israel welcomed the avoidance of
an absurd situation after the motion
was withdrawn.
The result of talks at FIFa is positive and I welcome the fact that we
didnt arrive at an absurd situation in
which a state like Israel would have
been suspended from a body whose
vocation is, before all, sporting, Israels assistant foreign affairs minister
Tzipi Hotovely said.
But he warned that Israel would be
fast to combat any future bids to expel
it.
In the future we will oppose by all
our means states and organisations
that want to delegitimise Israel, the
minister warned. AFP

Sport
28 THE MYANMAR TIMES junE 1, 2015

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

FIFA congress:
Indonesia, Israel and Blatter
SPORT 26

FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

FIFA U20 World Cup Group A

Myanmar 1 - 2 United States
May 30, Whangarei, New Zealand
Yan Naing Oo (15) captilises on a goal-mouth scramble to score the first goal of the FIFA U20 World Cup. Photo: Facebook/MFF

Myanmars young guns

fire Cups first shots

MATT ROebUCk
matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

AN Naing Oo gave the

United States a scare in
Myanmars opening game
of the FIFA U20 World Cup
in Whangarei, New Zealand on May 20, but the Young White
Angels were unable to hold on to their
9th-minute lead and eventually succumbed 2-1.
The first goal of the tournament
came when a corner whipped into the
near post caused chaos in the box. The
ball ricocheted from shin-to-shin and
US keeper Zack Steffen ended on the
floor as Yan Naing Oo poked the ball
home to start celebrations among the
crowd, many of whom had adopted
the underdog cause for the day.
But the early shock left plenty of
time for a comeback and it took only
eight minutes before Maki Tall was de-

serted at the back post by his marker

Maung Maung Lwin. The American,
who plays his football in France for
Red Star FC, made no mistake in
grasping the opportunity to level the
score.
Maung Maung Lwin took to the
field as a replacement for injured key
player Nyein Chan Aung a player
who already has three senior caps and
a goal to his name. Gerd Zeise, who
has spoken often of his squads lack of
depth, will hope his attacking forward
will be ready for a return to action
later this week.
We were a little bit unlucky, especially in the first half, said Zeise, the
Myanmar coach, after the game. I
didnt see a better performance from
the Americans, they only had more experience. I told [the American coach]
that they were too clever for us and we
must learn, he added.
That experience nearly gave the

A young fan in Whangarei cheers on

Myanmar. Photo: Facebook/MFF

States the lead when a quickly taken

free-kick saw Rubio Rubin break
through the Myanmar defence and
cross for FC Dallas Kellyn PerryAcosta to slide the ball wide when it
seemed easier to hit the target.
Nevertheless, another Rubin pass
found Emerson Hyndman in the 56th
minute for the young American to give
the US a lead they would hold on to.
We didnt play the way we wanted
to play, thats for sure, said US coach
Tab Ramos. We found in front of
us a very inspired team, a newcomer
coming into the World Cup, and they
fought hard. They made us play ugly
and it was difficult for us.
Myanmar continued to look for a
way back into the game and although
captain Nanda Kyaws long-range effort gave the crowd a rise, Myanmar
far too often squandered the ball for
the sake of a hit-and-hope strike from
outside the box.

We can leave this arena with our

heads high, said Zeise as he now
looks toward the sides fixture against
Ukraine tomorrow.
The European side played out a
0-0 draw against hosts New Zealand
earlier on May 30. In front of a capacity crowd, both teams squandered numerous opportunities.
If Zeise and his backroom staff can
ensure that his young charges take the
positives from their opening encounter, maybe his side, described nearuniversally as the minnows of the
tournament, can find the win and the
draw that would now guarantee their
progression.
This side has triumphed over
Ukraine once before. On their first tour
of Europe they overcame a Shaktar
Donetsk U21 side 4-1. Now, with the
Whangarei crowd at their back, they will
hope to beat the national team and book
their way through to the Round of 16.