AllSBNews: The Irrawaddy Magazine

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

USDP, NLD Deny Skirting Campaign Rules
Rangoon Activists Send President Petition Against Property Project in Former Park
Mayangone Wins Rangoon’s ‘Cleanest Township Award’
AirAsia Jet Tail Found Underwater, Black Box May Be Close
Shan State Officials Join China-Led Regional Law Enforcement Meeting
In Taunggyi, 20 Accused Await Verdict on Terrorism Charges
Weather Improves But Progress Slow in AirAsia Search
Thai PM Urges Action on Human Trafficking as US Deadline Looms
Sri Lanka Monitor Accuses Ruling Party of Violating Election Rules
As Burma Opens Up, Miners Weigh Potential Versus Risk

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:44 AM PST

Tin Aye, chairman of the Union Election Commission, was formerly a general and member of the central committee of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's two biggest political parties have denied recent accusations that they sidestepped election rules by holding premature campaign events.

The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the main opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD), maintained on Wednesday that public rallies focused on party platform centerpieces are within their right provided they seek permission from local authorities.

Smaller parties, however, have denounced the events as manipulative and "tricky," claiming that larger parties are using their status and financial resource to bend the rules in the lead-up to general elections to be held in late 2015.

"They are just avoiding the law," Saw Than Myint, deputy-chairman of the Federal Union Party (FUP), told The Irrawaddy, shortly after other minority politicians voiced concern about a recent USDP tour branded as an awareness campaign about agricultural policy.

"We [the FUP] don't campaign under the name of another issue. We don't trick the public. What we are seeing is that one big party gives a reason for an event but it is actually for another cause," he said, adding that the dominant parties are evading the law "by a hair."

Burma's new election guidelines limit campaign periods to 60 days before polls, though Union Election Commission Chairman Tin Aye recently announced that pre-campaigning to gain general party support is not prohibited, according to attendees of a Dec. 15 meeting between the chairman and party representatives.

Director of the Elections Department Taung Hlaing told The Irrawaddy that Tin Aye informed party chairs that they are free to engage in both "short-term" and "long-term" campaign activities.

"They can campaign on behalf of their party and promote their political agenda," said Taung Hlaing, "but in an actual election, people have to vote for candidates."

While the meeting seemed to legitimize party rallies as long they do not promote candidates, members of the NLD said they are not yet campaigning and await official permission to do so. Recent rallies hosted by the NLD to honor the late Gen. Aung San—a national hero and father of the party's chairwoman, Aung San Suu Kyi—and to gain support for constitutional reform have no ulterior motive, a party official said.

A USDP lawmaker offered a similar explanation for rallies held in Irrawaddy, Rangoon and Pegu divisions drumming up support for the party's accomplishments and vision for agricultural policy.

Forthcoming general elections, set to be held in either late October or early November 2015, will be the first since Burma emerged from decades of military dictatorship in 2011. Elections held in 2010 were broadly dismissed as fraudulent and were boycotted by the NLD.

The post USDP, NLD Deny Skirting Campaign Rules appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rangoon Activists Send President Petition Against Property Project in Former Park

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:23 AM PST

The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is promoting the construction of a condominium on land in Rangoon that activists say was seized illegally. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Activists from Rangoon's South Okkalar Township said they have sent a signed petition to President Thein Sein urging him to restore a public park area that was seized by the ruling party and is being developed into a condominium complex.

Saw Naing, who is a member of the Public Park Restoration Committee, said some 200 signatures from community leaders and elders had been collected in support of a letter that asked to halt the construction of a condominium in South Okkalar Township's Ward 9.

The letter was sent on Monday to Thein Sein, Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe and Rangoon Mayor Hla Myint, Saw Naing said, adding that the activists also planned to lodge a formal complaint with the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).

The real estate project had been suspended in 2013 after the committee campaigned for restoration of the park, but resumed last November. "So we sent the petition again and hope to stop it again," he said.

In the 1960s, the area in Ward 9 on the corner of Waizayanthar Road and Thit Sar Street was turned into a public park and playground. In the early 2000s, the then-military government forcibly seized the public property and gave it to the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the political mass movement of the junta and predecessor of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The party built a township office and a number of shop houses in the area, but recently planned a joint development project with Yan Naing Construction Company to construct a condominium complex on the site. Workers have begun putting down the foundation for the building.

Aung Thein Lin, the USDP chairman for Rangoon and a Lower House lawmaker, could not be reached for comment about the party's property development.

The activists, joined by prominent 88 Generation Peace and Open Society activist Ko Ko Gyi, held an unauthorized protest march through Ward 9 against the project in December, even though police had only allowed for protests at Kyaikkasan, an old horse-racing track in Tamwe Township.

Saw Naing and three other activists were subsequently charged under Article 19 of the Peace Assembly Law, which stipulates punishment of three months' imprisonment for violating a provision requiring protestors to remain within the area police have designated.

Ko Ko Gyi said he expected to be charged as well but added, "The police still haven't informed me directly. I heard the other people who cooperated with me have officially been charged under Article 19."

Ko Ko Gyi said the residents of Ward 9 were determined to stop the USDP from developing valuable, high-rise real estate on the former public area as they want it restored to its original function so that local families could have a recreational area.

"The older people remember how there used to be playgrounds where children could play on seesaws and slides, and people played badminton. They want to have this park back for the young generation," he said.

The post Rangoon Activists Send President Petition Against Property Project in Former Park appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Mayangone Wins Rangoon’s ‘Cleanest Township Award’

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:17 AM PST

A municipal worker loads garbage onto a truck in Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has bestowed its first-ever award for the city's most sanitary township to Mayangone Township, in an effort to clean up the commercial capital and incentivize municipal staff performance.

YCDC, the municipal body that oversees management of Burma's biggest city, on Wednesday gave the "Cleanest Township Award," which comes with a cash prize of 2.5 million kyats (US$2,500), to Mayangone in Rangoon's Northern District. Mayangone was among 33 townships in the municipal jurisdiction that were vying for the award.

"It is a good competition," Khin Maung Tint, the Northern District's newly elected YCDC representative, told The Irrawaddy. "If each township competes effectively, it will result in the city cleaning up and will also be better for health."

YCDC evaluated Rangoon's townships based on 30 criteria, including performance in waste management, water sanitation, drainage, handling of rubbish bins and staff members' obedience, in crowning the winner.

One township from each of Rangoon's other three districts—Yankin from Southern District, Dagon Seikkan in Eastern District and Dagon from Western District—also received runners-up awards for cleanliness, which came with a cash prize of 500,000 kyats, during an award ceremony at City Hall on Wednesday.

"We gave these awards to improve the waste collection process, encourage staff to be more active in carrying out their duties and increase public cooperation in making the city clean up by competing with each other," Rangoon Mayor Hla Myint, who heads YCDC, said at the awards ceremony.

He said the prize would be awarded every three months.

"I represent all staff members in our township. We have received this award because all of us together made great efforts," said Tin Myo Htwe, officer-in-charge from the Mayangone Township office responsible for sanitation matters, adding that the monetary prize would be distributed among township staffers.

Raining on the winning township's parade, however, was local Mayangone resident Thein Zaw, who said he saw no significant improvement in his jurisdiction's cleanliness, despite the YCDC award bestowed upon it.

"I think our township won because the other townships are worse than us," he said.

Thein Zaw said other circumstances in the township had likely helped Mayangone to win the award, citing relatively low-rise architecture that resulted in less crowding and attendant garbage in alleyways; local residents' greater sense of hygiene—prompted by YCDC's own sanitation management failings, he claimed; and the fact that senior government officials' motorcades frequently passed through the area on the way to and from Rangoon International Airport.

Issues like the city's water supply and garbage pick-up featured prominently in last month's YCDC municipal elections, with candidates promising to focus on deficiencies in services' provision if elected. The former capital's 5 million residents have long lived in an urban environment far removed from the likes of neighboring sanitary stalwarts such as Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

In a report by The Irrawaddy in 2013, residents cited everything from a lack of readily available rubbish bins to the prevailing attitude of city-dwellers, with one resident joking: "If you don't dare to urinate on the roadside, people here know that you are not a Rangoon resident."

The post Mayangone Wins Rangoon's 'Cleanest Township Award' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

AirAsia Jet Tail Found Underwater, Black Box May Be Close

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 04:12 AM PST

An Indonesian Air Force soldier looks through the window of a helicopter during a search operation for passengers onboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501, off the Java sea in Indonesia on January 7, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

JAKARTA/PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia — The tail of a crashed AirAsia jet has been found upturned on the sea bed about 30 km (20 miles) from the plane's last known location, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Wednesday, indicating the crucial black box recorders may be nearby.

Flight QZ8501 vanished from radar screens over the northern Java Sea on Dec. 28, less than half-way into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board.

"We've found the tail that has been our main target," Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta.

The tail was identified by divers after it was spotted by an underwater machine using a sonar scan, Soelistyo said. He displayed underwater photographs showing partial lettering on the sunken object compared with a picture of an intact Airbus A320-200 in AirAsia livery.

"I can confirm that what we found was the tail part from the pictures," he said, adding that the team "now is still desperately trying to locate the black box."

Indonesia's Minister for Maritime Affairs, Indroyono Soesilo, told another news conference: "With the finding of the tail, six SAR (search and rescue) ships are already at the location to search within a radius of two nautical miles."

Forty bodies and debris from the plane have been plucked from the surface of the waters off Borneo, but strong winds and high waves have been hampering divers' efforts to reach larger pieces of suspected wreckage detected by sonar on the sea floor.

Locating the tail has been a priority because the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that can provide vital clues on why the plane crashed are located in the rear section of the Airbus.

"I am led to believe the tail section has been found," AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes tweeted minutes after the announcement.

"If [it is the] right part of tail section, then the black box should be there… We need to find all parts soon so we can find all our guests to ease the pain of our families. That still is our priority."

'Pinger Locators'

In Pangkalan Bun, the southern Borneo town closest to the crash site, search and rescue agency coordinator Supriyadi told reporters the bad weather that has dogged the operation for 10 days had abated and divers were in the water.

But, as ships with acoustic "pinger locators" designed to pick up signals from the black box converged on the scene of the find, he cautioned the tail section of the aircraft might not be fully intact.

"The location of the tail is relatively far from the point of last contact, about 30 km," he said.

"The black box is located behind the door, to the right of the tail. There is a possibility that the tail and the back of the plane are broken up."

Until investigators can examine the black box recorders the cause of the crash remains a mystery, but the area where the plane was lost is known for intense seasonal storms. BMKG, Indonesia's meteorological agency, has said bad weather may have caused ice to form on the aircraft's engines.

Indonesia AirAsia, 49 percent owned by Fernandes's Malaysia-based AirAsia budget group, has come under pressure from the authorities in Jakarta since the crash.

The transport ministry has suspended the carrier's Surabaya-Singapore license, saying it only had permission to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight QZ8501 took off on a Sunday, though the ministry said this had no bearing on the accident.

Fernandes however maintained that AirAsia had the required permission. "What happened was purely an administrative error," he said in an e-mail. "The process has become clear now."

AirAsia has said it is cooperating fully with the ministry's investigations. That investigation would be completed by Friday evening, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.

Indonesia has also reassigned some airport and air traffic control officials who allowed the flight to take off and tightened rules on pre-flight briefing procedures.

Indonesia is one of the world's fastest growing aviation markets and its carriers, such as Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia, are among the top customers for plane makers Airbus and Boeing.

But its safety record is patchy. The European Commission banned all Indonesia-based airlines from flying to the European Union in 2007 following a series of accidents. Exemptions to that ban have since been granted to some carriers, including Garuda and AirAsia.

The post AirAsia Jet Tail Found Underwater, Black Box May Be Close appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shan State Officials Join China-Led Regional Law Enforcement Meeting

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 03:47 AM PST

A joint police force from China, Laos, Burma and Thailand patrols along the Mekong River at Guanlei in Yunnan Province in December. (Photo: Sina.com)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Burmese officials of the Shan State border township of Tachilek said they attended a regional meeting with officials from China, Laos and Thailand on Wednesday in order to discuss ways to foster economic development and fight the rampant cross-border crime that plagues the Mekong region.

The one-day meeting was the fifth of its kind and was led by China and hosted by the Lao government in Bokeo Province, northern Laos. Officials from China's Yunnan Province attended the meeting, as did officials from northern regions of Thailand and Laos.

Tin Win Shwe, administrator at Tachilek Township, told The Irrawaddy, "We focused on border trade, hotels and tourism affairs. We talked about how to cooperate and act in accordance with the laws in our respective countries.

"We talked about how to inspect illegal [goods] transport on the Mekong River in our respective territories. It is just to push for more inspection on criminal activities on the Mekong River," he said.

The Mekong runs along the borders Laos, Thailand, Burma and southern China and forms a rugged region called the Golden Triangle that has long been an epicenter of opium, heroin and methamphetamine production and smuggling in Southeast Asia.

Burmese militias and drug gangs from the neighboring countries often use the Mekong to transport contraband out of the Golden Triangle. Patrolling the river in order to crackdown on illicit activities has become a priority for China after an attack on two Chinese cargo boats left 13 Chinese sailors dead in October 2011.

China weighed upon the Lao government, which arrested Shan State drug lord Nam Kham in 2012 and extradited him to China, where he was executed. Since the incident China has taken unilateral steps to patrol the Mekong, sending patrols far south into parts of the river bordering the other countries, while also stepping up initiatives to boost regional security cooperation.

Bertil Lintner, a veteran Swedish journalist who has written extensively on Burma and drug trade in the Golden Triangle, said China's commitment to cracking down on crime in the region was a new development, but he added that successful regional law enforcement cooperation is still a long way off.

"Those meetings are pretty meaningless and never result in any concrete action. They can sit together in meetings and sign agreements, but when it comes to actual action then it gets much more difficult," Lintner said.

"China finally decided to take unilateral action and send their own patrol boats down the river because there was never any joint action with other countries. To the best of my knowledge, there has been little or no coordination with other countries," he added.

The post Shan State Officials Join China-Led Regional Law Enforcement Meeting appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Taunggyi, 20 Accused Await Verdict on Terrorism Charges

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:23 PM PST

An aerial view of Mandalay prison, where 20 Burmese Muslims are awaiting a Jan. 12 verdict on terrorism charges. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The district court of the Shan State capital of Taunggyi will next week pass down a verdict 20 Muslims accused of links to terrorism, according to a lawyer representing the defendants.

Khin Moe Moe, a lawyer for 12 of the detained, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the defendants face sentences of 14-20 years imprisonment under sections of the Emergency Provisions Act related to the possession of weapons and undermining the security of the country.

"The court will have a verdict for them on Jan. 12," she said. "I tried my best to prove these people are innocent, but I do not know the viewpoint of the court. But then, we do not know how much independence the judge has to decide the case."

Prosecutors in the case accused the four women and 16 men defending the charges had links to armed insurgent groups. Khin Moe Moe said that evidence of the allegations has not been forthcoming, and neither the name of the insurgent group nor specific times and dates of alleged meetings between the defendants and insurgent groups was presented to the court.

"They agreed with us that when we asked them they could not furnish evidence or prove the charges. If these people had links to armed insurgents they should be able to show documents or weapons to prove this. Therefore, we proposed that these people are innocent at the court," she said.

The detained men and women, hailing from Taunggyi, Kyaukse and Naypyidaw, were arrested in August at Konhein Township, Shan State, which they had traveled to for a wedding.

The 20 Muslims are all Burmese nationals, and some are even members of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), according to their lawyer.

The accused have been held since their arrest in a Mandalay prison more than 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the courtroom, with their lawyer objecting to their continued detention while the trial is ongoing.

"We have already prepared to go to the High Court to appeal, because conditions are not good for them," said Khin Moe Moe. "They are innocent."

The post In Taunggyi, 20 Accused Await Verdict on Terrorism Charges appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Weather Improves But Progress Slow in AirAsia Search

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:17 PM PST

A Malaysian Navy ship is seen from an Indonesian Air Force Super Puma helicopter during a search mission for for AirAsia flight QZ8501 off the coast of Central Kalimantan on Jan. 6, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia — Indonesian search and rescue officials reported better weather on Wednesday over the presumed crash site of an AirAsia passenger jet, but appeared no closer to finding the black box flight recorders that may explain what brought the plane down.

Thirty-nine bodies and debris from the plane have since been plucked from the surface of the waters off Borneo, but strong winds and high waves have prevented divers from reaching larger pieces of suspected wreckage detected by sonar on the sea floor.

"It's clear, it's much better than the past few days," air force First Lieutenant Alpha Yudi Baskoro told reporters in Pangkalan Bun, the southern Borneo town where the operation is based. "Waves are around one to two meters—that's good. The wind speed is also relatively low."

Indonesian officials believe seven metal objects pinpointed in water about 30 meters deep may include the tail and parts of the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200.

But even on the few occasions the weather has allowed divers to enter the water, strong currents and poor visibility in the muddy sea have made progress painstakingly slow.

"We couldn't dive for long, only five or 10 minutes and then go up," navy diving supervisor Sgt-Maj Rudi Hartanto told Reuters late on Tuesday. "The seabed is mostly mud and sand, and the current is strong—four to five knots—so the mud comes up and the visibility reduces to zero."

For relatives of those aboard the flight, the slow pace has been agonizing. "I'm still looking for my younger sibling," said a woman, who did not give her name, at the crisis center set up for relatives in Surabaya.

Indonesia AirAsia, 49 percent owned by the Malaysia-based AirAsia budget group, has faced criticism from authorities in Jakarta in the 10 days since the crash.

AirAsia has said it is cooperating fully with the ministry's investigations.

Indonesia has also reassigned some airport and air traffic control officials who allowed the flight to take off and tightened rules on pre-flight procedures in a country with a patchy reputation for air safety.

The post Weather Improves But Progress Slow in AirAsia Search appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai PM Urges Action on Human Trafficking as US Deadline Looms

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:12 PM PST

Detained trafficking victims sleep on the floor of a detention center in Thailand's Phang Nga province. (Photo: Htoo Chit)

BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday his government would step up measures against human trafficking as the country scrambles to improve its record in fighting the illegal trade before a U.S. deadline to show improvement.

Thailand is ranked one of the world’s worst centers of human trafficking. It was downgraded to the lowest "Tier 3" status last June on the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report for not fully complying with minimum standards for its elimination.

Prayuth, who as army chief seized power from an elected government in a coup in May, said Thailand would work on areas flagged by the United States before submitting its record for 2014 to the U.S. State Department by a March deadline.

"We have set up a committee to look after 23 areas which the U.S. analyses and has warned us about for years," Prayuth, told reporters in Bangkok.

"We have to take this plan and put it in to action. Police, officials … everyone."

Any progress made in 2014 could help lift Thailand from the lowest tier and boost investment in industries accused of using trafficked labor, including fisheries.

Shortly after the military seized power in May, it vowed to "prevent and suppress human trafficking".

But an October Reuters Special Report suggests trafficking routes in Thailand were thriving, with jungle camps still holding thousands of people in remote hills near the border with Malaysia and trafficking rings able to operate largely with impunity.

Prayuth acknowledged the complicity of some Thai authorities in smuggling people and forcing them to work in the fishing industry.

"There is not only the human trafficking problem but also slaves and beggars and state officials taking people to work on fishing boats," he said.

Thailand is the world’s third-largest exporter of seafood.

Senior ministers will meet on Wednesday to assess progress made over the past year.

The post Thai PM Urges Action on Human Trafficking as US Deadline Looms appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Sri Lanka Monitor Accuses Ruling Party of Violating Election Rules

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:07 PM PST

Supporters of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at an election rally in Piliyandala on Monday. (Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters)

COLOMBO — Supporters of Sri Lanka’s ruling party have repeatedly violated election laws in the run-up to Thursday’s presidential vote and has largely got away with it because police have turned a blind eye, a local polling monitor said on Tuesday.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said there had been "unparalleled misuse of state resources and media" by the party of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose bid for a third term could be upset by an unexpected challenger from within his own ranks, Mithripala Sirisena.

"There was impunity. No action was taken against the perpetrators or actions were mild," Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a convener of the CMEV, told reporters.

He said police inaction had allowed election-related violence to mount, adding that most of those responsible were local councillors from Rajapaksa’s party.

CMEV, one of three main local monitor groups, said it had documented 420 incidents of violence and intimidation since the poll was announced in November. In one case this week, decapitated dogs' heads were delivered to the houses of two human rights activists who are known critics of the government.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said the level of violence had been much lower than during previous elections and actions had been taken against perpetrators, including two deputy ministers.

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said he could not comment on the allegations of misuse of state resources unless they were specific. He rejected claims that ruling party supporters were behind the violence.

State media have run mud-slinging campaigns against Sirisena, while Rajapaksa’s party used state vehicles and government employees for his campaign, CMEV said.

It also raised concern over the deployment of troops in the former war zone in the north of the island nation, where a 26-year insurgency by Tamil separatists was put down in 2009, which could reduce voter turnout there.

The main parties representing Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil and Muslim minorities, who account for a quarter of the 21 million population, have pledged support for Sirisena.

There have been no credible opinion polls, but many political analysts believe Sirisena is within striking distance of unseating Rajapaksa.

"While Rajapaksa is likely to use security forces to suppress turnout in opposition and minority areas … the effort is unlikely to prove large enough to swing the election," said Eurasia Group’s Sasha Riser-Kositsky in a research note.

Rights group Amnesty International said reports of a potential organised plan to obstruct voters on election day using the military was a "matter of grave concern."

The post Sri Lanka Monitor Accuses Ruling Party of Violating Election Rules appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

As Burma Opens Up, Miners Weigh Potential Versus Risk

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 08:39 PM PST

A man picks up rubies at a ruby mine in Mogok February 27, 2014. Mogok, also known as the Ruby Land, is home to the world-famous Burmese ruby. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — With abundant mineral wealth from jade and rubies to copper and coal, Burma ought to be looking forward to a mining boom as it opens up its economy. But long-running insurgencies and a murky regulatory framework are holding back all but the intrepid.

Foreign investment in the Southeast Asian country as well as home-grown development were held back by 49 years of military rule that ended when a quasi-civilian, reformist government took office in 2011 and started courting investors.

The security and regulatory risks remain daunting, however, and although 69 foreign firms have registered to work in Burma’s mining sector, only 11 are operating.

One of them, Asia Pacific Mining Ltd (APML), has been granted an exploration license covering 650 square km (250 square miles) in restive Shan State, where it hopes to find deposits of lead, zinc and silver.

On Jan. 5, APML announced that its first month of exploration had yielded "significant discoveries of massive sulfide silver-lead-zinc mineralization" and said it expected to start exploratory drilling by April.

APML’s concession surrounds the Bawdwin mine, which CEO Andrew Mooney said was the world’s largest source of lead and zinc in the 1930s.

Despite its prospects, Burma’s risks will probably deter big firms from investing any time soon, Mooney told Reuters.

"[Myanmar's] been off the radar since the 1960s," he said.

"In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is the major mining powerhouse. I think Myanmar has the potential to overtake it."

A tumble in commodity prices may also deter some. Silver has lost two-thirds of its value since 2011 and zinc has shed almost 20 percent since then.

Wildcats

Burma’s government cannot put a precise figure on its potential mineral wealth and is unable to provide data on the sector’s worth before 1989.

Isolation under military rule plus international sanctions hampered exploration work.

With US$2.86 billion in foreign investment since 1989—an annual average of just $114 million—its mining sector is tiny compared to that of Indonesia, where coal exports alone generate revenue of over $25 billion a year, even at current low prices.

The limited surveying work done suggests large resources. "Judging by the size of its mineral deposits, you would expect a bonanza," the Oxford Business Group, an investment and economic consultancy, said in its 2014 report on Burma.

Yet for now, Burma is the domain of small, wildcat companies specializing in high-risk frontier investment.

Conflicts between the military and numerous ethnic minority armies have flared since the 1950s and much of the mineral wealth is in areas controlled by insurgents keen to get a share of the spoils under any peace deals.

Underlining the risks, fighting was reported near APML’s concession area three days after it announced its license in October.

And earlier this month, a woman was killed and about a dozen other people were wounded when police and villagers clashed in central Burma during a protest over the expansion of a copper mine owned by a Chinese firm and a Burma company controlled by the military.

Legal hurdles are a problem, too: a new mining law has been held up in Parliament for more than a year. The bill in its initial form did not inspire confidence among investors.

It lacks guarantees for firms to develop and exploit minerals found through exploration, said Vicky Bowman, a former Rio Tinto executive who is now director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business.

"The law has got stuck in Parliament. It’s been through various committees," she said. "But I think now people are realizing that the current draft, if adopted, would mean an opportunity to bring the sector up to international standards had been wasted."

The post As Burma Opens Up, Miners Weigh Potential Versus Risk appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

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