Thursday, July 5, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Yangon Has 4th-Fastest 4G Speeds in East Asia, Survey Finds

Posted: 05 Jul 2018 07:39 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon ranked fourth among East Asian cities in terms of 4G download and upload speeds in a report released by OpenSignal on Thursday.

The telecommunications coverage mapping company studied 12 major economic centers in the region for a three-month period.

"The result is surprising," said OpenSignal, which listed a group of cities with impressive 4G download speeds exceeding 25 Mbps, including Yangon.

Myanmar's former capital offered average download speeds of over 27 Mbps and an upload speed of 11.4 Mbps. The country launched commercial 4G services over the past two years, which perhaps explains why it is delivering such fast connections.

Among East Asian cities, Seoul ranked No. 1, followed by Singapore. The two cities, which offer average download speeds greater than 45 Mbps, were both among the fastest cities in the world, let alone East Asia, OpenSignal said.

The report identified a large group of cities in the region with average 4G download speeds at or below the global average of 16.9 Mbps, including Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Jakarta.

Average 4G download and upload speeds in 12 major cities in East Asia.

Myanmar has four telecom operators: Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT), owned by the government and Japan's KDDI; Ooredoo Myanmar, based in Doha, Qatar; Norwegian-owned Telenor Myanmar; and Mytel, backed by Myanmar's military. According to OpenSignal's "Mobile Networks" report, MPT and Ooredoo Myanmar both offer a speed of 28.1 Mbps with a 4G signal. In terms of national average signal availability, Telenor offered 72.1 percent, Ooredoo 71.2 percent and MPT 68.1 percent across the country.

Myanmar began liberalizing its telecommunications market in 2013. According to Telenor's "Digital Myanmar 2018" report, the country has a mobile density (or penetration) rate of 105 per cent, while 80 percent of people access the Internet via smartphones. These figures remain low compared with other countries in the region. The report said that only 50 percent of the population own SIM cards, and 90 percent of SIM card owners are using 4G or 3G networks.

The post Yangon Has 4th-Fastest 4G Speeds in East Asia, Survey Finds appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Major International Contractors Express Interest in Elevated Expressway Project

Posted: 05 Jul 2018 06:44 AM PDT

YANGON – More than 5o local and international conglomerates, mostly from Asia, have submitted Expressions of Interest (EoI) applications for the Yangon Elevated Expressway project to the Myanmar government.

An announcement from the Ministry of Construction (MOC's) on Wednesday noted that the highway project aimed to alleviate the severe traffic congestion in Yangon and that 53 companies had participated in the initial EoI step. The ministry previously stated in late May 2018 that it was seeking to invite international developers to build up to 47.5km of expressway under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The planned four-lane ring road will connect downtown Yangon, Yangon Port, Yangon International Airport, Mingalardon Industrial Park and the Yangon-Mandalay Highway. Construction is expected to take two to three years.

According to the list, 16 of the companies come from Myanmar, while 13 come from China, seven from Japan, three from both India and Korea, and nearly all the rest from other Asian countries. There is only one company from Europe, France’s VINCI Highways, which is generally active in Germany and well-known for its high-tech highway construction methods.

Of the 13 Chinese firms, state-owned conglomerate Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), which signed a framework agreement with New Yangon City Project in May to work on an infrastructure project on 20,000 acres in the first phase of the expressway task, was also listed as an EoI applicant. Moreover, its subsidiaries China Harbour Engineering Com Ltd (CHEC), China Railway international Group (CRIG) and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) also submitted EoI applications.

CRIG, CHEC and CRBC have all developed many infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia under build-operate-transfer (BOT) and public-private-partnership (PPP) schemes for both the government and private sectors.

Within the Japanese bloc, Kajima Corporation and Sojitz Corporation as well as IHI Corporation submitted EoIs. All these companies have experience in heavy industry manufacturing, off-shore facilities, and participation in the resource and energy sectors in foreign countries. IHI even participates in the government aeronautical-engineering, space and defense fields.

Among the 16 local companies, Max Myanmar Construction Company Ltd, owned by Ayeyarwaddy banker U Zaw Zaw, SHWE TAUNG Development Company, owned by U Eaik Htun and Capital Development Group’s U Ko Kyo Gyi, and Myanmar Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) are also exploring participation in the project.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has been appointed as the exclusive lead advisor for the project and officially signed terms with the Ministry of Construction on Jan. 11. The IFC has estimated that the expressway project will facilitate about $350-$400 million of private investment in Yangon's road infrastructure.

The MOC statement says it will announce the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in August and will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) within the last quarter of the year.

The post Major International Contractors Express Interest in Elevated Expressway Project appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

NLD Dismisses Ethnic Minorities’ Objections to Aung San Statues

Posted: 05 Jul 2018 02:40 AM PDT

Amid controversy over the erection of statues of General Aung San in regions with large ethnic minority populations, ethnic Kayah in Karenni State on Tuesday protested against the local government’s plans to place a statue of the late independence hero in the state capital, Loikaw. Protesters said some of them were hit by police who blocked their route, and 10 people are under investigation for distributing pamphlets critical of the statue ahead of the event.

The governing National League for Democracy (NLD) has come under fire for the police crackdown and lawsuits. U Myo Nyunt, an NLD spokesman and central executive committee member, spoke with The Irrawaddy's Htet Naing Zaw by phone on Thursday about the statues.

What is the party’s policy on erecting statues of Gen. Aung San across the country?

Gen. Aung San was not concerned with the Bamar alone but with all ethnicities in the country, because he was the person who took the lead role in drafting the Panglong Agreement, the foundation of the demands for federalism by ethnic people. There would not have been federalism and a union system if Gen. Aung had not existed.

[Ethnic people] claim that Gen. Aung San, who was ethnic Bamar, failed to keep his promise of federalism. That is their excuse. How could he keep his promise after he died, after he was assassinated?

Local residents made Gen. Aung San statues out of their own pockets to [help future generations] remember his spirit and his actions. It is good to have his statue as a memorial to him.

Because it is a good thing, concerned members of our party cooperate [with locals]. But we have never instructed them to erect statues.

Local residents have raised objections to erecting statues of Gen. Aung San in ethnic minority regions. So does your party have a policy to consult with local ethnic minorities before erecting statues? What measures will the party take to solve this problem?

I've already spoken about this. Party members only assist local residents when they want to do so. We haven't instructed our party members to persuade locals to erect statues. The most important thing is that locals want to erect it by their own will. A statue may cost millions. People make voluntary contributions from their modest salaries for the statue, and they choose the shape of the statue and place their order. It costs a lot of money and efforts. If we have to stop this because a group of people raises deliberate objections, it is a waste of the goodwill of local people who want to have a statue for good reasons. There is a need for both sides to think fairly. Anyone who engages in political movements should think of the possible consequences before they act.

Police clamped down on protesters in Karenni State this week. This has impacted the image of the NLD-led government. What would you like to say about that?

If security forces used excessive force in breach of the law, they will be punished according to the law. But we've received reports for the time being that [protesters] forcibly pushed through the systematic police blockade. If that is the case, we suspect that a group of anti-government individuals deliberately did it.

Why don't ethnic minorities accept the Gen. Aung San statue? What do you think?

We believe the reasons they give are not strong. They said Gen. Aung San failed to keep his promise and federalism still hasn’t been realized. It is not that Gen. Aung San didn't keep his word. It is because Gen. Aung San made a promise that ethnic people can demand at peace talks that the Panglong Agreement be realized as the general had planned. It is not the fault of Gen. Aung San. So we should remember him more and demand more loudly that his principles be embraced.

There are allegations that the NLD is attempting Burmanization by erecting statues of Gen. Aung San in ethnic minority regions. What do you want to say?

He does not represent the Bamar alone. There would not have been a Panglong Agreement without Gen. Aung San.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post NLD Dismisses Ethnic Minorities’ Objections to Aung San Statues appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Two Men Jailed for Three Months for Taking Part in Mandalay Peace Protests

Posted: 05 Jul 2018 01:31 AM PDT

MANDALAY – A court in Aung Myay Tharsan Township on Thursday sentenced two men to three months' imprisonment for participating in peace protests in Mandalay in May.

The men were convicted of violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Act.

Ko Than Htike and Ko Thet Hnin Aung were arrested on May 12 in a shopping district in Mandalay as they handed out questionnaires in a bid to elicit locals' views on the peace process and armed conflicts around the country.

Plainclothes police officers arrested them under Article 19 of the law for participating in protests earlier in the month. The protests called for an end to armed conflict and demanded authorities help villagers trapped in conflict zones in Kachin State.

"In a genuine democracy, people are not arrested or subject to legal action for expressing their thoughts in public," Ko Than Htike said after the court session.

"As long as the Peaceful Assembly Act is in force, many people like us across the country will face prosecution and there will be no freedom of expression. Our actions were taken for the sake of peace. Taking action against those who speak out for peace runs counter to the national peace process," he added.

The two men were eligible for bail but opted to defend themselves from behind bars. The two months they have spent in detention will be put toward their sentence, leaving them with one month left to serve.

Three other peace protesters from Mandalay who were arrested during the May protests — Ko Kalint, Ko Aung Hmine San and Ko Soe Naing — were earlier sentenced to two-month jail terms. All three were released in the past week after completing the sentences.

In addition to being imprisoned, Ko Kalint, a poet who also worked on the civilian staff of the military's Central Command based in Mandalay, was fired for participating in the protest.

His younger brother, who worked on the civilian municipal staff at the same military office, was fired for being the brother of a peace protester.

In May, protests calling for assistance to trapped villagers in war-torn Kachin State and an end to the nation's many armed conflicts were held in many cities including Mandalay, Yangon and Prome in Bago Region. These were followed by the opening of a protest camp in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin. Thousands of locals have been displaced by a recent flare-up in the fighting in the state.

The protest camp in Myitkyina was broken up following the arrest of a number of peace protesters. Protests and peace movements in other cities were also ended amid arrests and prosecutions.

Lawsuits relating to violations of the Peaceful Assembly Act were filed against 17 peace activists from Yangon, six from Mandalay and two from Prome. Many of these cases are ongoing.

The post Two Men Jailed for Three Months for Taking Part in Mandalay Peace Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Post-Independence History Told Through Artists’ Memories

Posted: 05 Jul 2018 01:20 AM PDT

YANGON — A major new art exhibition called “Seven Decades” will feature both old and new work by 18 artists reflecting on their memories of some of the most important periods of the 70 years since independence.

The show will run from July 7 to 31 at the historic Secretariat building — where some of the fathers of Myanmar’s independence were assassinated in 1947 — with support from the Pyinsa Rasa art group.

"Our country gained independence in 1948. As of this year, 2018, we have been through 70 years. The artists who were invited to participate in this exhibition have experienced a lot of things during these seven decades. I asked each of them to look back on those decades and present them through art," Htein Lin, the show’s curator, told the Irrawaddy.

"Over these seven decades, they experienced many wars, they lived through different eras, they suffered repeated failures and they enjoyed much success. We can see those things in their art,” he said.

The exhibit will feature a total of 18 artists who have lived through all or most of those post-independence years.

The artists are San Minn, Sun Myint, Win Pe, Chaw Ei Thein, Sonny Nyein, Maung Di, Phyu Mon, San Oo, Chan Aye, Wah Nu, Kyi Wynn, Pe Maung Same, Soe Naing, Aung Myint, Sandar Khine, MPP Ye Myint, Ma Thanegi, Aye Ko and Ngu Eain Htet Myet.

"Most of the artists I have invited came of age during the Myanmar modern period, but they have survived many storms and made it through to the era of contemporary art," said Htein Lin.

"I always wanted to have this kind of big contemporary art exhibition in Myanmar because artists from abroad are always doing this kind of exhibition at their national museums or theaters. This time we are lucky have a chance to have the exhibition at a big compound — the historic Secretariat building."

Htein Lin was curious to see which memories the artists would choose to focus on.

"When I look back at the past seven decades, there was a period that I hated most. It was the popular three digits lottery period around 1969. That lottery was illegal and some people’s lives were ruined because of the lottery," said MPP Ye Myint, one of the artists in the show.

"There were pieces of paper called chai for the three digits lottery that contained lots of numbers, and people used them to guess the winning numbers. Even though the lottery was not good, the papers were beautiful. So I collected them quietly and turned them into art to reflect that time," he said.

"This exhibition isn't about looking at old art from past years. It's about creating new art to recall past decades," Htein Lin said.

At Saturday’s opening, scheduled for 2 p.m., Htein Lin will give a speech and artist Aung Myint will create a painting before the guests.

Opening hours will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission will be free on the first weekend and 1,500 kyats after that.

"It's won’t be easy to put on this kind of an exhibition again,” Htein Lin said.

The post Post-Independence History Told Through Artists’ Memories appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Warrant Issued for Thaksin Over 2006 Loan to Myanmar Junta

Posted: 04 Jul 2018 10:21 PM PDT

The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Wednesday issued a warrant for the arrest of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after he failed to appear for the first hearing in a corruption case in connection with a 4-billion-baht loan to Myanmar.

Thaksin is accused of abuses of power by ordering the Export-Import Bank of Thailand in 2006 to increase a 3-billion-baht loan to 4 billion so that Myanmar's then-ruling junta could buy services from a Shinawatra-run company, Shin Satellite.

The proceedings of the case were temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court in 2008 on the ground that Thaksin had fled the country.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) asked the court to renew the case after the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) in 2017 passed an organic law on criminal procedures for holders of political offices. A critical point in the law is that the statute of limitations will not expire as long as the accused is on the run and that the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions can order a trial to proceed in absentia.

The Supreme Court subsequently agreed to renew the case and scheduled the first hearing for Wednesday. Thaksin, however, failed to show up without notice.

The court then resolved to issue a warrant for the arrest of the former prime minister. The public prosecutors have been instructed to execute the arrest warrant and report to the court every month.

The court also scheduled Oct 31 for a pre-trial examination of evidence in the case.

This is the fourth warrant issued for Thaksin's arrest after the NLA passed the law for a trial to proceed against the defendant on the run in absentia.

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Trapped Thai Team Gets Diving Lessons as Rescuers Weigh Extraction

Posted: 04 Jul 2018 09:59 PM PDT

CHIANG RAI, Thailand — Rescue teams in northern Thailand were giving crash courses in swimming and diving on Wednesday as part of complex preparations to extract a young football team trapped in a cave, and hoping for a swift end to their harrowing 11-day ordeal.

Divers, medics, counselors and Thai navy SEALS were with the 12 schoolboys and a 25-year-old assistant coach, providing medicines and food while experts assessed conditions for getting them out safely, a task the government said would not be easy.

“The water is very strong and space is narrow. Extracting the children takes a lot of people,” Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.

“Now we are teaching the children to swim and dive,” he said, adding that if water levels fell and the flow weakened, they would be taken out quickly.

The SEALS posted photographs on Facebook showing their members working in chest-deep water in the cave, adding that it was pumping water as “fast as possible” as it prepares to bring out the stranded group.

About 120 million liters of water had been pumped out by late on Tuesday, or about 1.6 million every hour.

It was unclear what the options were to get the “Wild Boar” team out of the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai Province and how they would be steered through tight, fluid conditions and uncertain weather.

Experts say divers have required three hours to reach the boys, located about 4 km from the mouth of the cave.

A video released by the SEALS showed two rescuers seated on an elevated part of the cave beside boys wrapped in emergency foil blankets who appeared to be in good spirits, occasionally laughing.

A torch is shone on each boy, who says hello and introduces himself with head bowed and palms pressed together in a traditional “wai” greeting.

One wears what appears to be the red jersey of the England football team in Tuesday’s World Cup second-round victory over Colombia. Another wears the blue shirt of English team Chelsea.

Nightmare outing

The group was discovered by the SEALS and two British cave diving experts on Monday, having been incommunicado since June 23, when a post-practice outing went awry, prompting the high-profile search and rescue effort.

The multinational operation has included divers from the Australian Federal Police, US military personnel, British cave experts and teams from China, Japan, Laos and Myanmar.

The Thai army has sent in 31 divers to support the navy’s SEALS, a spokesman said.

News that the team had survived sparked relief, celebrations and an outpouring of praise in a country transfixed by the drama and its almost blanket media coverage.

Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said the authorities were keen to get the boys out and suggested that might have to happen in phases.

“All 13 don’t have to come out at the same time,” he told reporters. “Who is ready first can go first.”

Officials have dismissed as speculation reports that the boys could be trapped for up to four months, although supplies have been prepared for that period of time.

There was much work to be done in preparing the boys for what could be a demanding task, and rescue teams should not be pressured to act faster, said a deputy government spokesman, Weerachon Sukondhapatipak, who was at the cave on Wednesday.

“Some of them can’t swim, so therefore it will take time for them to adjust,” he said.

“Officials would teach them how to move, how to dive, how to move their body under those circumstances.”

Somboon Sompiangjai, 38, said his son Peerapat, 16, was able to swim, adding that he was confident the SEALS’ experience and professionalism would help get the boys home safely.

“I am not worried if the kids have to swim and dive,” he told Reuters.

“I felt much better after seeing the clips with the children in good spirits, even though they were in there for 10 days.”

The post Trapped Thai Team Gets Diving Lessons as Rescuers Weigh Extraction appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Killings Sow Fear Inside Rohingya Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

Posted: 04 Jul 2018 09:36 PM PDT

COX’S BAZAR/DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh is deploying thousands of extra police to Rohingya refugee camps in the south, officials said, after a series of mostly unexplained killings that have sown fear among hundreds of thousands of people who have fled from neighboring Myanmar.

Since August, when a military crackdown in Myanmar forced many of the Muslim minority to cross the border into Bangladesh and seek shelter in the crowded camps, 19 people, some of them community leaders, have been killed.

Police have made a number of arrests in connection with some of the killings but say the motives often remain unclear.

Conducted after dark and often by groups of men wielding pistols, knives, and sticks, the killings have sent a chill through the camps, which are guarded by the Bangladesh army during the day but manned by fewer police officers at night.

A.K.M. Iqbal Hossain, police superintendent of the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar under whose jurisdiction the camps fall, said a special force of roughly 2,400 men was being formed to guard the refugees.

A second senior officer, Superintendent Afrujul Haque Tutul, said police numbers were already being increased.

“We have 1,000 police officers right now for a million people, so you can imagine,” he said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have taken shelter in Cox’s Bazar district since August, joining thousands who were already living there, making it the world’s largest and fastest growing refugee camp.

Even before the August exodus, there had been violence in the camps, which Bangladesh police and aid workers have previously blamed on a struggle for control of supplies to the camps.

Stabbed 25 times

The latest killing, of 35-year-old Arifullah, took place last month on a busy road outside the Balukhali camp, where he had been appointed a leader of thousands of refugees.

A group of men surrounded him on the evening of June 18, stabbing him at least 25 times, police said. A pool of blood stained the spot the next morning and a crowd of refugees could be seen gathered around.

Police said three Rohingya men had been arrested over the killing of Arifullah, who spoke English, had worked for international agencies in Myanmar, and often met foreign delegates who visited the camps.

His wife, who did not want to be named and asked Reuters not to disclose the location where she was interviewed because she feared attack, said Arifullah was a critic of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — a militant group whose assaults on Myanmar security posts in August triggered the crackdown by the military.

The group says it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya. Police said investigations into the murder were ongoing and they had not found links to ARSA.

A spokesman for ARSA referred Reuters to its Jan. 31 statement that said other armed groups were responsible for “activities” at refugee camps and were using its name to malign its image.

The group said it did not attack civilians and would never carry out killings in the camps because it was thankful for Bangladesh’s generosity in sheltering the refugees.

That statement was issued after the Jan. 19 killing of Yusuf, another English-speaking camp leader. Sitting on the mud floor of her shelter, Yusuf’s wife Jamila said her husband had been watching a football match on his phone with his two sons when around a dozen men barged into their shelter in the Taingkhali camp carrying knives and pistols, shooting him twice.

She said police had urged her to file a case and name suspects, but she had refused, fearing retaliation, and because she did not want to leave her shelter for hours to go to court. “I’m scared for my children,” she said.

Details of Yusuf’s killing were confirmed by police superintendent Tutul at the Cox’s Bazar police station. He said the police investigation was hampered because the refugees were afraid to name suspects.

He said intelligence received so far suggested several of the killings, including those of Yusuf and Arifullah, were due to personal disputes refugees had brought from Myanmar.

Police have arrested about 300 Rohingya in cases involving killings, robberies and abductions in the camps since the August influx, Tutul said.

Camp leaders at Balukhali and Taingkhali said the army had appointed Rohingya volunteers to keep guard at night, but most had stopped working because they were not being paid.

Foreign officials said security inside the teeming camps was a worry. “What I hear from my colleagues is that is obviously a big concern,” Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on a visit to the camps on Sunday.

“It is obvious that it is a big challenge when you have big numbers, poor conditions, cramped situations.”

The post Killings Sow Fear Inside Rohingya Refugee Camps in Bangladesh appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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