Tuesday, April 3, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

KNU Still Wants Talks with Military to Settle Standoff After Meeting Postponed

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 08:12 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Karen National Union (KNU) said it will keep trying to negotiate with the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, to end a recent standoff after the Tatmadaw postponed a scheduled meeting last week.

The KNU sent its military affairs negotiation team to the meeting, which was recommended by the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC), but pulled it back after the Tatmadaw refused to attend, said KNU General Secretary Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo. He said the Tatmadaw called it off because the commander of the KNU's Brigade 5, stationed in the area of the standoff, had not been invited.

In a statement released on Monday, the KNU said the commander was not a member of its negotiation team and that a Brigade 5 major who had been sent to the meeting was.

The negotiation team was formed in 2016 to deal with military disputes but has yet to have any formal talks with the Tatmadaw, Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo said.

The seven-member team is led by Brigadier General Saw Eh Kulu Thein of the KNU’s Brigade 3. He who is also vice chairman of the Bago Regional JMC.

The latest fighting began in early March when the Tatmadaw moved into an area of Karen State claimed by Brigade 5 to rebuild an old road. Some 2,000 ethnic Karen have fled the fighting.

The KNU has asked the Tatmadaw to withdraw so that they can return home, and Karen community elders wrote to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for help last week.

"The standoff goes on, but both sides are trying to keep their troops from further engagement," Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo said.

"It is important that both sides' military delegations discuss the issue," he added.

On the JMC’s Facebook page, Major General Myat Kyaw, commander of the Tatmadaw’s Southern Command and chair of the Bago Region JMC, was quoted on Saturday as saying that the standoff was “just a misunderstanding because the Tatmadaw is rebuilding the road started in 2008 for administrative purposes only, not for military operations, and there was no deployment on the hills along the road."

The KNU says it cannot allow the roadwork and that the Tatmadaw should only enter the area with prior permission.

“It should not be continued while the KNU and the government are at the stage of building trust,” said Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo.

The Tatmadaw usually says that all disputes with ethnic armed groups should be settled by the JMC. The KNU says the JMC lacks the authority to make the necessary decisions because it is mandated only to monitor and verify ceasefires.

The post KNU Still Wants Talks with Military to Settle Standoff After Meeting Postponed appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Free Music Festival Aims to Raise Awareness of Illegal Wildlife Trade

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 05:53 AM PDT

The "Voices for Wildlife" music festival will be held on April 7 in Yangon's Mahabandoola Park with the aim of supporting efforts to stamp out illegal wildlife sales across the country.

Organized by the Voices for Momos organization with the support of the Danish Embassy, the music festival is the first ever held specifically to raise public awareness of the illegal wildlife trade and to urge the government, at both the Union and regional levels, to take steps to end illegal wildlife sales.

"Through the concert, we hope to put the spotlight on one of the biggest global challenges faced not only by Myanmar but many countries — the illegal wildlife trade," Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen said at a press conference at Pansuriya Café on Tuesday.

"Ending wildlife trafficking is a responsibility of all of us, and while these sales continue in Myanmar, its wildlife remains in peril," the ambassador said. "We congratulate the government of Myanmar on steps already taken to protect wildlife, and we urge the government to also develop a solid framework to end this trade."

Local entertainers including Bunny Phyo, Chuu Sit Han, Kyaw Thiha, Irene Zin Mar Myint, Naw Naw, Pann Yaung Chel, Wyne Lay, Zaw Pyae, Charlie, and The Peacists will perform at the concert. The event is open to the public free of charge and will run from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Lin Htet, a composer known for creating pieces that use both traditional and Western instruments, will serve as the festival's music director.

The concert is the crowning event in the five-month public campaign "Voices for Momos," which was launched in November 2017. Through a series of public events, "Voices for Momos" has raised public awareness of the dangers facing Myanmar's wild elephants, which are on the brink of extinction due to poaching for their hides and other parts.

Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein and his wife Daw Khin Mi Mi Kywe will attend the event.

"The support for this campaign has been overwhelming with voices from all sectors speaking out to protect elephants and all wildlife here in Myanmar and around the planet. We are very grateful for the support of these entertainers who have volunteered their time and talent. If you haven't already signed up to take part, then do and be part of history in the making," said Christy Williams, country director of World Wild Fund for Nature Myanmar.

"Voices for Momos" was launched to stem the crisis of elephant poaching and skinning in Myanmar. It aims to encourage individuals and organizations across all sectors to use their voice to call for the end of illegal wildlife sales in Myanmar, according to organizers.

The post Free Music Festival Aims to Raise Awareness of Illegal Wildlife Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rights Groups Slam Jailing of Ex-Child Soldier for Telling His Story

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 05:41 AM PDT

More than 150 rights groups have asked the government and the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) to release a former child soldier who was last month sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor for discussing with the media his forced recruitment into the army and subsequent history of legal problems.

The rights groups issued a statement saying that Aung Ko Htwe, now 26, was only exercising his rights and did nothing wrong when he related to the media his experiences as a child soldier and his later problems with the law.

In 2005, at the age of 14, Aung Ko Htwe was abducted at Yangon's central railway station and forcibly recruited into the Tatmadaw, according to his family. Two years later, he escaped with two others. In the process of escaping, they killed the owner of a motorbike while stealing it. One of the three reportedly strangled the victim, though Aung Ko Htwe later said he was not involved in the killing.

The trio was charged with murder and found guilty; all received death sentences, though Aung Ko Htwe was just 16 at the time. In 2013, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Aung Ko Htwe was eventually released in July 2017 after serving 10 years in jail.

Shortly after his release, he gave an interview to Radio Free Asia (RFA) describing his experiences. The army charged him under Article 505 (b), a section of Myanmar's criminal code related to incitement. He was eventually sentenced to two years in prison.

"We rights groups condemn the decision to sentence him to prison. The punishment violates his rights," the organizations said in a statement issued on April 1.

Going further, the groups asked the government and the army to release him unconditionally and drop additional charges that he is facing. Police added an extra charge under Section 7 of a 2010 law that prohibits destruction of the Union seal. The offense is punishable by three years in prison.

Aung Myo Min, the director of Equality Myanmar, one of the 154 right groups that signed the statement demanding Aung Ko Htwe's release, said: "He has done nothing wrong, but they [the government] used the law to punish him."

Myanmar ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. Despite having agreed not use underage soldiers, however, the Tatmadaw recruited Aung Ko Htwe.

"The government must learn from Aung Ko Htwe's experiences in order to prevent this from happening again. The government needs to find a solution, and cooperate with Aung Ko Htwe. This would be the best way to have a really strong law," U Aung Myo Min said.

U Aung Myo Min said, "Our country has some laws that are used to punish citizens. These laws are used selectively. [Authorities] act like cats, using their claws when they need to hunt for prey, but retracting them when they don't need them."

Genuine rule of law is about protecting the rights of citizens, but in Myanmar, the laws are not used to protect citizens, according to the right groups.

Following the RFA interview, Aung Ko Htwe was sentenced to six months' jail for contempt of court. He refused to appear in court following this, but police forced him to appear. The court finally sentenced him to two years' imprisonment last month.

The police later brought additional charges for which he faces additional sentencing in future.

The rights groups criticized the lack of rule of law in the country, as increasing numbers of people are sent to prison on contempt charges after criticizing the courts.

"The government first needs to consider whether the critics' arguments are valid or not. The critics point out incorrect rulings by the courts. If the courts do not reform, rule of law will not be upheld, and the people will not respect the courts anymore," U Aung Myo Min said.

The post Rights Groups Slam Jailing of Ex-Child Soldier for Telling His Story appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Farmland Rented Out by Previous Governments Under Investigation

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 03:46 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Authorities in Naypyitaw will investigate to find out whether some 30,000 acres of confiscated land leased to agri-businesses by previous governments are being used as intended.

The Naypyitaw Council formed two vacant, fallow and virgin lands inspection teams on March 6, said lawmaker and team member U Maung Maung Swe, adding that authorities will seize any inactive land and use it for other purposes, including farming.

Each group has six members and includes a lawmaker and officials from the Agriculture and General Administration departments, and will start work before Myanmar's New Year festival.

"We will start inspection in Ottarathiri District before Thingyan, and then Dekkhinathiri District. We have rough data about which areas are inactive," said U Maung Maung Swe.

The two teams will then have to present their survey reports and photos to the Naypyitaw Union Territory Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Central Committee.

The committee can seize land that remains inactive four years after a permit was issued, the lawmaker said.

As of 2005, thousands of acres of land were confiscated to establish agricultural zones including mango and castor oil plantations in Naypyitaw. Land in those zones was then leased to private businesspeople for farming.

According to existing laws governing land use in Myanmar, fallow, vacant and virgin land can be leased for up to 30 years for agricultural purposes.

Some businesspeople, however, did not do any farming and their land has remained inactive for years.

Some of that land might have been confiscated from farmers, said Lower House lawmaker U Than Soe Aung, of Naypyitaw’s Pyinmana Township.

The previous government of U Thein Sein issued permits for about 8,000 acres of land to grow mangos just months before the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in early 2016. The original owners continue to complain that their land was grabbed, said Lower House lawmaker U Thant Zin Htun, of Naypyitaw’s Dekkhinathiri Township.

"When nothing is done on that land, it is a loss not only for the country but also for the farmers and locals whose land was confiscated," he said.

"I had eight acres of land confiscated in 2010. I just want to get that land back because nothing has been done with it. And  I don't need compensation either," said U Than Tun Aung, a farmer in Dekkhinathiri.

The Naypyitaw Union Territory Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Central Committee plans to complete the inspection before the eighth regular session of Parliament resumes, said U Maung Maung Swe.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Farmland Rented Out by Previous Governments Under Investigation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Huge Haul of Smuggled Teak Seized in Southern Rakhine

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 03:37 AM PDT

YANGON — More than 30 tons of smuggled teak were seized in the village of Kaing Shae near Taungup Township in southern Rakhine State on Monday, according to a local forestry official.

Sawn teak and teak logs were found in the compound of a concrete mixing facility owned by Aung Myin Thit Co near Kaing Shae village, Taungup Township Forestry Department official U Lwin Ko Oo told The Irrawaddy.

"I am sure it is smuggled teak; otherwise it would have the mark of Myanma Timber Enterprise," he said.

The Forestry Department opened a smuggling case under Article 42 of the Forestry Law, he said.

Taungup Township Administrator Hla Moe Oo confirmed the teak haul at the compound of Aung Myin Thit Co, adding that authorities are still investigating the ownership of the company, though one of the owners was reportedly identified as U Win Zaw.

Aung Myin Thit Co built a paved road in Taungup last month. According to U Lwin Ko Oo, the company is not a sole proprietorship, but a partnership, and authorities are still trying to determine the identities of the other partners.

A security guard was present on the company's compound at the time of the raid, but he had not been working for the company for long and did not own the teak, U Lwin Ko Oo told The Irrawaddy.

The large teak logs were not likely to be from the Rakhine Mountains, said U Lwin Ko Oo, because "there are no more teak trees with trunks that are 12 inches in diameter in the Rakhine Mountains."

He said the logs might have been smuggled in from Magwe Region via the Padaung-Ann route.

Some media sources in Taungup suggested the teak logs had been stockpiled for sale in local markets or to be smuggled into foreign countries. Teak and other timber is often smuggled into Malaysia and Thailand via Thandwe, Gwa, Taungup and Ma-Ei townships in northern Rakhine State, they said.

Myanmar banned the export of timber logs in 2014, and the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government has restricted logging since 2016 in a bid to curb deforestation.

The ban has forced Myanma Timber Enterprise to rely on existing stockpiles of timber to meet domestic and international demand. Whenever demand exceeds supply, smugglers arise to fill the gap. Illegal logging has long been a persistent problem in Myanmar.

Last year, U Lwin Ko Oo reported the seizure of around 30 tons of smuggled hardwood stockpiled in rivers and creeks in Thandwe and Ann townships. The latest seizure was likely intended to be supplied to the domestic market rather than for illegal export, he suggested.

"If they want to smuggle those logs by water, they would store them in creeks, and not on land," he said.

The post Huge Haul of Smuggled Teak Seized in Southern Rakhine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Air Force Jet Crashes in Bago, Kills Pilot

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 02:37 AM PDT

YANGON — A Myanmar Air Force jet crashed on Tuesday near a village in Taungoo town, Bago Region, killing the pilot.

The Myanmar military's Office of the Commander-in-Chief announced that an F-7 from Taungoo airbase went down due to mechanical failure while on a training mission.

The search and rescue team from the airbase found the wreckage near Kyun Kone and Myauk Yay Kyi villages.

The pilot Major Arkar Win succumbed to his injuries despite treatment at a military hospital in Taungoo, said the announcement.

In June of last year, a Chinese made Y-200 F military transport plane crashed into the Andaman Sea in the southwest of Tanintharyi Region's Dawei due to bad weather and killed all 122 people – military staff members and their families including 15 children – on board. The crash was listed as the worst accident in Myanmar Air Force history.

A military helicopter crashed in central Myanmar, killing three military personnel on board in June 2016.

Five military personnel were killed in February 2016 after an air force aircraft crashed in the country's capital, Naypyitaw, according to media reports.

The post Air Force Jet Crashes in Bago, Kills Pilot appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Judge and Lawyer Arrested by Anti-Corruption Commission

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 02:03 AM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Police have opened a case against a judge and a lawyer in Rakhine State's Thandwe Township.

Thandwe Township police arrested lawyer Daw Khin Cho Win on Sunday, said police lieutenant of the Thandwe police station Kyaw Myo Htike.

"The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested her and we assisted the arrest," police lieutenant Kyaw Myo Htike told The Irrawaddy.

The Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement on Sunday evening that it opened a case against U Oo Thein Tun, who previously served as the judge of Thandwe Township and is now serving as the Kyaikto Township judge, and lawyer Daw Khin Cho Win.

According to the statement, the commission received complaints accusing U Oo Thein Tun, while serving as the judge of Thandwe Township in 2016, of receiving more than 16.2 million kyats of bribes in two lawsuits as well as manipulating evidence.

The commission launched an investigation and found that the judge did receive 6.2 million kyats from a plaintiff in a lawsuit, and that he also misused his power to manipulate evidence.

The commission also found that lawyer Daw Khin Cho Win bribed the judge with more than 4.7 million kyats, which she asked her client to pay, in the same case. The commission has opened a case against the two under the 2013 Anti-Corruption Law.

"We only arrested the lawyer. U Oo Thein Tun is no longer in Thandwe. He is the judge of Kyaikto Township now. The Anti-Corruption Commission will arrest him and they will both be investigated by the commission," said police lieutenant Kyaw Myo Htike.

Daw Khin Cho Win is now detained in Thandwe Prison on remand.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Malaysia Outlaws ‘Fake News,’ Sets Jail of Up to Six Years

Posted: 02 Apr 2018 10:51 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia on Monday approved a law against “fake news” that would allow for prison of up to six years for offenders, shrugging off critics who say it was aimed at curbing dissent and free speech ahead of a general election.

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government secured a simple majority in parliament to pass the Anti-Fake News 2018 bill, which sets out fines of up to 500,000 ringgit ($123,000) and a maximum six years in jail. The first draft of the bill had proposed jail of up to 10 years.

The government said the law would not impinge on freedom of speech and cases under it would be handled through an independent court process.

“This law aims to protect the public from the spread of fake news, while allowing freedom of speech as provided for under the Constitution,” Law Minister Azalina Othman Said told Parliament.

The law defines fake news as "news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false" and includes features, visuals and audio recordings.

It covers digital publications and social media and will apply to offenders who maliciously spread “fake news” inside and outside Malaysia, including foreigners, if Malaysia or a Malaysian citizen were affected.

Co-opted by US President Donald Trump, the term “fake news” has quickly become part of the standard repertoire of leaders in authoritarian countries to describe media reports and organizations critical of them.

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, had earlier on Monday urged the government not to rush the legislation through Parliament.

“I urge the government to reconsider the bill and open it up to regular and genuine public scrutiny before taking any further steps,” David Kaye said in a Twitter post.

Others Consider Laws

Other countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore and the Philippines, are considering how to tackle “fake news,” but human rights activists fear that laws against it could be used to stifle free speech.

Malaysia is among the first few countries to introduce a law against it. Germany approved a plan last year to fine social media networks if they fail to remove hateful postings.

Malaysia already has an arsenal of laws, including a colonial-era Sedition Act, that have been used to clamp down on unfavorable news and social media posts.

News reports and social media posts on a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) have hounded Prime Minister Najib, who faces arguably his toughest contest in a general election this year that could be called in days.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing in connection with losses at the fund.

A deputy minister was quoted in media last month as saying any news on 1MDB not verified by the government was “fake.”

Lim Kit Siang, a senior opposition lawmaker with the Democratic Action Party, described the bill as a “Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill” which would criminalize news on the affair.

The post Malaysia Outlaws ‘Fake News,’ Sets Jail of Up to Six Years appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Philippines Starts Vote Recount in Marcos Son’s Contest for Vice Presidency

Posted: 02 Apr 2018 10:48 PM PDT

MANILA — The Philippines on Monday began a manual recount of votes in a vice presidential election after the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos contested the outcome, while the incumbent assured supporters her win was not in doubt.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a former senator popularly known as Bongbong, is furious about having lost to Leni Robredo by about 260,000 votes in a May 2016 election he says was marred by massive cheating.

Many political commentators believe Marcos has ambitions to become president one day, and wanted to use the vice presidency as a steppingstone. Opinion polls had shown him the clear leader ahead of the vote, which is separate from that for the presidency.

The recount, ordered by the Supreme Court, began with Marcos questioning the condition of some ballots from the town of Bato in Robredo’s home province of Camarines Sur.

“In four precincts in the town of Bato, all ballots are wet and thus useless,” he told reporters. Alluding to foul play, he added that the ballots seemed to be “only recently wet.”

Audit logs for most of the precincts were missing, he said, and he had seen a ballot box with a hole sealed with a masking tape.

“We have nothing to fear because the truth is what we are fighting for,” Robredo, a one-term congresswoman before the 2016 election, said in a speech after a mass service organized by her supporters in the largely Roman Catholic country.

Robredo, who hails from a decades-old political clique that opposes Duterte and helped oust Marcos in 1986, had lodged a counter protest, questioning results in about 8,000 voting precincts.

Although he was not his running mate, Marcos is on good terms with President Rodrigo Duterte, who has made numerous concessions to the Marcos family.

He has constantly praised the leadership of the late dictator, fuelling concern among some Filipinos that he might cling on to power.

Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 and held power for 14 years until his removal in a bloodless, military-backed “People Power” uprising.

The post Philippines Starts Vote Recount in Marcos Son’s Contest for Vice Presidency appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Cambodian Farmers Sue Thai Sugar Group Mitr Phol Over Alleged Land Grab

Posted: 02 Apr 2018 08:51 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH — Farmers from Cambodia have filed a lawsuit in a Thai civil court against Asia’s largest sugar producer, accusing it of rights abuses after it allegedly kicked farmers off their land, a rights group said on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 3,000 people, is the first class-action lawsuit filed in a Thai court by plaintiffs from another country against a Thai company operating outside Thailand, the group, Inclusive Development International, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs accuse sugar producer Mitr Phol of violently displacing them in Cambodia’s northwestern Oddar Meanchey province between 2008 and 2009 to make way for plantations.

“Since Mitr Phol took my land, my family and I have suffered tremendously,” Ma Okchoeurn, one of the affected people, said in a press release issued by the rights group.

“My house was burned down. I was arrested without reason, and as a result my family had nothing to eat and had to collect trash to survive. To this day, I have no land or house.”

Mitr Phol said in a statement emailed to Reuters it had invested in Cambodia in “a good faith partnership” with the government and got temporary concessions in compliance with all local and national laws and with assurances from authorities that "all temporary concession areas had been processed legally and transparently."

It said it had withdrawn from the project in 2014 due to a combination of factors including political tensions along the Thai-Cambodia border, business risks, adverse agricultural conditions and negative publicity.

Mitr Phol said after it withdrew from the project, it had recommended that the Cambodian government return land "to the affected communities."

Seng Loth, a spokesman at Land Management Ministry, which was responsible for the government’s involvement in the project, said when contacted by Reuters he was in a meeting and too busy to comment.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said he could not comment and referred queries to the Land Management Ministry.

Cambodia has awarded big concessions to foreign companies, mainly from China, Vietnam and South Korea, to operate mines, power plants and farms, in order to attract foreign investment.

Rights groups have said some concessions have led to forced evictions and land disputes.

The post Cambodian Farmers Sue Thai Sugar Group Mitr Phol Over Alleged Land Grab appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UNHCR Concerned Over Safety of 56 Rohingya Refugees in Stormy Seas

Posted: 02 Apr 2018 08:44 PM PDT

DHAKA — The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday it was concerned about the safety of 56 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on a boat bound for Malaysia in stormy seas.

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August sparked a military crackdown that the United Nations and Western countries have said constitutes ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar rejects that saying its forces have been waging a legitimate campaign against “terrorists” who attacked government forces.

The boat, which a UNHCR spokesman said was believed to have set sail from Rakhine State last week, stopped at an island in southern Thailand on Saturday evening after a storm.

It was the first Rohingya vessel, plying a route refugees have used for years to get to Southeast Asia, to be spotted off Thailand in more than a year. There are signs that overcrowding in Bangladeshi camps could prompt many others to make similarly perilous voyages.

“Given the poor weather conditions currently prevailing in the waters off the west coast of the Thailand-Malaysia border, we are concerned for the safety of the refugees," said Caroline Gluck, a UNHCR spokeswoman based in southeast Bangladesh.

“If they are found to be in distress, we hope they will be rescued and allowed to disembark in accordance with international maritime law," she said in an email.

The boat was restocked with essential supplies in Thailand on Sunday before setting back out to sea, on its way to Malaysia, Thai police said.

The UNHCR said it was in touch with Malaysian maritime authorities and was ready to provide any necessary assistance to the refugees when they arrived.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled by sea following an outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine State in 2012, some falling prey to human traffickers.

That exodus peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Rights groups expect another surge in Rohingya boats sailing for Southeast Asia, even if not at the levels of the past.

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Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week

Posted: 02 Apr 2018 08:38 PM PDT

Lethwei Fight | April 8

Boxers from Myanmar, Thailand, China and elsewhere will face off in the ring, with the main event between Myanmar's Soe Lin Oo and Thailand's Payak Samui.

April 8, 2 p.m. Theinbyu Stadium. Ticket information here

 

Ni Ni Khin Zaw: Retro REDVolution Show 2018 | April 7-8

Ni Ni Khin Zaw will perform jazz, pop, soul and swing with dance classics.

April 7-8, 7 p.m. National Theater, Myoma Kyaung Street, Tickets 30,000-150,000 kyats. Tel: 09-977009157, 09-4555 73442

 

Cartoon Festival | April 2-8

Rare cartoon books will bring your childhood memories back, especially for those born in the 1970s and 1980s.

Through April 8, Yangon Book Plaza, 5th Floor, Thanzay Market, Lanmadaw.


Zumba in Bubbles and Colors Thingyan | April 7

There will be dozens of singers, traditional dances, water throwing and other entertainment programs.

April 7, 2 p.m. Minder Ground. Free entry.

 

Clean Yangon Campaign | April 8

Everyone can join this campaign to keep Yangon clean.

April 8, 4 p.m. Pazundaung Garden. Register at 09-420021003, 09-420026477 and 09-798892006

 

Voices for Wildlife Music Festival | April 7

Myanmar's most celebrated singers and DJs will lead this event to raise awareness about elephant poaching and the illegal wildlife trade in Myanmar.

April 7, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mahabandoola Park, Free entry.

 

Shan Thingyan in Yangon | April 7

Shan people living in Yangon will come together to hold their first Thingyan celebration in the capital.

April 7, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Kandawgyi Hmawsinkyun

 

Myanma Plaza Thingyan Festival | April 5-8

Lucky draws, discount coupons, gifts, entertainment and more at Myanma Plaza.

April 5-8, evenings. Myanma Plaza.

 

Yangon Zay: Thingyan Edition | April 8

Organic fruits will be on sale with entertainment and kid activities.

April 8, 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. The Tea Factory, Kanyeiktha Street, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road.

 

Cross Over Vol. 4-5 | April 4-8

This is a group art exhibition of Japanese artists.

April 4-8, New Treasure Art Gallery, No. 84A, Thanlwin Street, Golden Valley, Bahan Tsp.

The post Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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