Thursday, September 6, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Annual Indie Film Festival Raises Competition Standards but Struggles Remain with Censorship

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 05:44 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar's first independent competitive film festival, Wathann Film Festival (WFF), is in its eighth year and changing up its style adding a panel discussion with lauded international filmmakers and brand new screening sections as part of this year's exciting line-up of events.

The ongoing film festival is taking place at two top venues in Yangon—Waziya Cinema and Goethe-Institut— and it will run from September 5 to 10.

"In recent years, Wathann has always been held at the same place that is Waziya Cinema. Luckily, we got another venue to screen the films and we are really thankful to Goethe Institut," said Ko Thaid Dhi, a filmmaker and co-founder of the festival.

Wathann Film Festival volunteers busy with festival goers at the entrance counter in Waziya Cinema.(Photo: Htet Wei/ The Irrawaddy)

WFF is the very first independent competitive film festival in Yangon and it was first launched in September 2011 by Ko Thaid Dhi and another local filmmaker Ma Thu Thu Shein. It is a film platform for independent local and international filmmakers.

"This year we got a total of 57 local short and documentary film entries for the competition—an increased number from previous years," said Ko Thaid Dhi.

Last year, there were around 45 local film entries in the competition section and they chose 29 of them for the final competition stage.

"This year we selected only 11 competition films to screen at the film festival and yes, it less than last year. The festival team wants to focus on quality and to make it more competitive and challenging for the filmmakers," Ko Thaid Dhi added.

All films to be screened for the festival have to be submitted to the national censorship board which is comprised of members of the Ministry of Information and the Myanmar Motion Picture Organization (MMPO), in order to get approval to be screened.

"We always have to submit the films and the board members usually ask for some scenes of movies to be cut out but no director ever wants to cut out scenes from their film," said Ko Thaid Dhi.

The opening ceremony of the 8th Wathann Film Festival which was held on Wednesday at Waziya Cinema. (Photo: Htet Wei/ The Irrawaddy)

The WFF team and directors always have to negotiate with the censorship board members. Usually the final result is that they don't need to cut off the full scene but rather blur or cover subjects which they don't want to be shown to audiences.

"One actor's dialogue included the word 'sout' (a Myanmar swear word) so we had to cover that sound. In another case, a girl in the film called 'Whispers of Silence' is seen drinking wine with a boy and the board members said girls shouldn't drink wine so we had to cover the wine glasses," said Ko Thaid Dhi explaining some struggles of this year's festival.

Even though the filmmakers didn't want to cover the props, they don't have a choice and it's much better than cutting out a whole scene from the film, added Ko Thaid Dhi.

Another highlight of this year's festival program is 'S-Express', an annual collaboration of short film programmers from nine countries including Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Laos. In this program, the programmers will bring selected short films from their country to screen at the film festival.

Audience members at the opening ceremony of the 8th Wathann Film Festival.(Photo: Htet Wei/ The Irrawaddy)

A new program feature called 'Reflection of Society' is a special screening of four documentary films by woman filmmakers from Myanmar who aim to reflect today's social and political situations through their documentary films.

"Actually, we didn't intend to feature only woman's films in this section. The films we selected are coincidentally all directed by women and they are all really good and tell stories from different filmmakers' aspects," Ko Thaid Dhi said.

The festival will screen more than 70 short and documentary films from both local and international filmmakers including the 11 competition films, eight international feature-length films, four local documentaries for the aforementioned 'Reflection of Society' and other short films.

The winners will be selected from the 11 competition films on the last day of the festival in the categories of Best Documentary, Best Short film and New Wave Award. Each winner will win one million kyats and a special trophy designed by Traditional Czech Crystal.

The judges for this year's festival are from Myanmar, Japan and Germany.

The opening ceremony was held on Wednesday at the Waziya Cinema and three short and documentary films were screened including Blood Flowers by Maung Day, The Memory of Water by Mary Stephen and Seasonal Rain by Aung Phyoe.

Ticket fees for film screenings are 500 kyats and you can check the screening timetable at their Facebook page .

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Information Minister Explains State Media Enterprise’s Projected 1.2bn Kyat Loss

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 05:11 AM PDT

YANGON— Information Minister U Pe Myint has blamed the rise of the dollar exchange rate and the decrease in advertisement-generating revenue for the losses expected to be made by the state-run newspapers in the upcoming fiscal year.

Answering questions from lawmakers in his ministry, the minister said in parliament that it is expected that losses of 1.158 billion kyats ($770, 000) will be made in the 2018-19 fiscal year because of the rise of the dollar exchange rate which causes higher costs of purchasing raw materials for the publications and because income from advertisements is decreasing year-on-year due to the growth in online media.

"But as a state-owned enterprise, we will find ways to make the losses as low as possible," he told lawmakers on Thursday.

The estimated losses by the News and Periodicals Enterprise (NPE) under the Information Ministry was questioned by a Lower House lawmaker Daw Aye Mya Mya Myo of Yangon's Kyauktan constituency.

The NPE runs three state-owned daily newspapers: The Mirror and Myanma Alinn Daily in the Burmese language and the English-language Global New Light of Myanmar which is running as a joint venture with a private company.

The MP Daw Aye Mya Mya Myo pointed out on Wednesday that the enterprise uses state buildings and land for the operations and money from the state budget to pay staff. Moreover, she said, state media dominates the market in terms of circulation and they are getting plenty of advertisements.

Information Minister U Pe Myint responded on Thursday at the parliament that the ministry has in fact been spending its own funds from the other accounts (OAs) to pay staff and pensions, along with other expenses, since the 2017-18 fiscal year.

"We are selling state-run newspapers at affordable prices with the aim of getting information to the public rather than making a profit," he said, using an example of a 35-page newspaper which cost 115 kyats to publish, yet has a sale price set at 50 kyats.

Despite the low sale prices, until the first six months of 2018, the enterprise hadn't made a loss since the 2011-12 fiscal year, he said.

As part of its efforts to reduce the expected losses in the upcoming fiscal year, the ministry will expand circulation in order to reach more rural areas; reduce spending as much as they can; and seek to increase income from advertisements, the minister said, adding that some tax exemptions under the new 2018 tax law could also help to reduce losses.

However, the author and former journalist U Pe Myint who also served as vice chairman of the Myanmar Press Council, disagreed with the Upper House lawmaker U Ye Htut's call to privatize all state-run newspapers.

"Even other organizations, business firms and associations use media for the effectiveness of their operations. The government is responsible for reporting what they are doing to the people who voted for them. The information ministry also has a duty to inform and educate people. Thus, the [state-run] newspapers should continue as a medium."

In response to the minister's explanations on Thursday, lawmaker Daw Aye Mya Mya Myo told The Irrawaddy that while it is controversial whether state media should exist or not, high costs of raw materials and decreased income from advertisements are not good enough reasons to account for losses of millions of kyats as the enterprise operates using state budget and also still dominates the market.

The MP said she will follow up by reading the auditor-general's report at the end of the fiscal year in order to understand the enterprise's spending and budget mismanagement.

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Court Hears from Kachin Protesters Accused of Defaming Military

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 05:02 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Myitkyina Township Court on Thursday started hearing from three Kachin civilians charged with defamation against the Myanmar Military (or Tatmadaw).

On May 8, Lieutenant-Colonel Myo Min Oo from the Tatmadaw's Northern Command filed criminal defamation complaints under Article 500 of the Penal Code against three Kachin civilians, Lum Zawng, 29; Zau Jat, 41; and Nang Pu, 47, for statements they made at an April 30 press conference and at a peaceful protest they participated in on April 30 and May 1.

The three were charged on Monday.

Fighting broke out on April 11 between the government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), displacing more than 6,000 people in Tanai, Injangyang, Mogaung and Hpakant townships in Kachin State. IDPs who fled from their homes in Tanai Township were trapped by the fighting, as the Tatmadaw would not allow them to travel to downtown Tanai. A group of Kachin youth staged a series of protests urging the government and Tatmadaw to help save the civilians trapped by the fighting.

After more than three months of cross-examining the prosecution witnesses, the judge accepted the charges this week.

Doi Bu, the lawyer for Nang Pu, told The Irrawaddy that the court heard from all three defendants on Thursday, adding that defense witnesses would be heard from on Sept. 10.

Nang Pu is the director of the Htoi Gender and Development Foundation, Zau Jat is the chair of the Kachin National Social Development Association, and Lum Zawng is a lawyer. Lum Zawng and another youth leader were fined 30,000 kyats each for violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law in May. 

"We have no personal problems with the plaintiff and my client and others defendants did not intend to harm the Tatmadaw in this case. They just relayed the accounts of civilians who faced troubles on the ground," the lawyer said.

The defendants all said their actions were only aimed at facilitating the rescue of thousands of trapped civilian IDPs. During their protest, more than 3,000 local Kachin marched against the ongoing clashes between the Tatmadaw and the KIA.

The defamation charge carries a maximum of two years' imprisonment and a fine, but allows bail.

The lawyer said the defendants hoped for the best, "but were also prepared to face any negative outcome."

The defense plans to call more than 20 witnesses. Daw Doi Bu said her client would not seek help from the higher courts, so that the trial process could be expedited more quickly. After the Tatmadaw filed the lawsuits, lawyers for the other defendants filed appeals with the Kachin State Supreme Court. Daw Doi Bu said that once these were accepted they had delayed the proceedings.

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Minister Warns Many More Dams at Risk of Bursting

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 04:10 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW—Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, U Aung Thu, has warned the public of possible dam breaks.

Speaking to reporters in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, the minister said that currently, the spillways of 57 dams across the country are submerged, warning of the likelihood of incidents similar to the bursting of the spillway of the dam on Swar Creek in Bago Region which resulted in the flooding of dozens of villages in Taungoo District in late August.

The burst of the Swar Dam spillway was totally unexpected, said the minister.

"The dam was on the 'to-inspect' list. We were about to inspect it. We were not worried about it, but it happened and so I'd like to warn that it can happen again in unexpected places," he told reporters.

At that time, the ministry was in fact worried about Kyi Ohn Kyi Wa Dam, he said. The water level was around 35 feet above the danger level in that dam, while the water level in Swar Dam was less than 10 feet above its danger level, he added.

The ministry spends over 50 million kyats yearly on conducting regular maintenance works on all the dams across the country, he said, but the climate is unpredictable. The ministry's deputy permanent secretary U Myo Tint Tun told The Irrawaddy that the burst was due to unusual rainfall.

"No new dam has been built under the new government," said the minister.

A local of Swar Township, who had to flee for his life after the dam break, told The Irrawaddy that many now have concerns about the dam breaking in future rainy seasons, and have planned to move away from there.

"I had no time to bring along my belongings and fled empty-handed. In case we will have to flee again, it would be better to move to another place away from the dam," he told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

The Lower House Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development Committee has not summoned the Irrigation Department to explain the breach of Swar Dam, said Lower House lawmaker U Tin Tun Naing who grilled the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation about the dam burst during Monday's session of the Union Parliament.

Myanmar lacks X-ray technology for inspecting the inner parts of the dams to assess their strength. Moreover, the country experienced 36 earthquakes and tremors this year, which might have an impact on the dams, said U Aung Thu.

The agriculture ministry has now assigned staff members at each dam across the country with the responsibility of directly and immediately phoning the locals of villages around the dam areas in case of possible dam breach in the future.

The Swar Creek dam was built in 1999 under the military regime and came into service in 2001.

While there have been criticisms about the structure of the dam which burst, U Aung Thu said, "nobody should be blamed for this."

Myanmar is lacking in technology and can only build two types of dam systems, he said.

"It is important to maintain and repair the dams as necessary in order to prevent [future disasters]. It is also important that people have awareness," said the minister.

According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement on Aug. 31, seven people were killed, three are still missing and more than 5,000 residents of Yedashe, Taunggu, Oktwin and Kyauk Gyi townships in Taungoo District were affected by flooding of the Sittaung River after the bursting of the dam.

The minister said that his ministry will also help farmers to re-plant paddy on 609 acres of paddy fields inundated by the flooding.

The post Minister Warns Many More Dams at Risk of Bursting appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Ranks Near Bottom of Global Illegal Trade Index

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 04:03 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar urgently needs to combat illicit trade, particularly in the areas of logging, mining, human trafficking and consumer goods, the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) said after the country placed near the bottom of a global index on illicit trade.

Myanmar ranked 82nd out of 84 countries—followed only by Iraq and Libya—in the global index on illicit trade compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Illicit trade continues to thrive in Myanmar, undermining legitimate businesses and costing the government billions of dollars of revenue.

At the Anti-Illicit Trade Forum 2018 hosted by EuroCham Myanmar on Wednesday in Naypyitaw, anti-corruption experts, government officials and industry stakeholders discussed ways of strengthening Myanmar's efforts to fight illicit trade, as well as needed legal reforms and the problem of slack border controls.

TRACIT director-general Jeffrey Hardy said Myanmar's poor showing on the index pointed to inadequate structural defenses against illicit trade. He urged the government to work more closely with neighboring countries to address immediate cross-border illicit trade issues.

According to the EIU's report, Myanmar's commitment to illicit trade-related treaties is very low. Moreover, the country lacks effective intellectual property protections, amid generally poor law enforcement in the region.

As more EU companies do business in Myanmar, many EU investment firms are making a serious effort to tackle illicit trade, especially in the consumer goods sector. According to the Brewers Association of Myanmar, illicit trade is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry.

Despite the government's efforts to combat smuggling, illegal border trade remains largely uncontrolled in Shan and Kayin states, according to a tax official. Myanmar is home to the third-largest illegal wildlife trade in the world. And according to the London-based Environment Investigation Agency, the illegal timber trade across Myanmar's border with China is worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The group estimates that Myanmar has already lost 19 percent of its forestland.

U Maung Maung Lay, vice president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said illegal trade was flourishing in the country. He said the group had sent recommendations to the government on how to tackle the problem.

"The government faces many challenges fighting illegal trade, especially on the Kachin and Shan state borders," he said.

In a recent survey by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, business community members said the government's efforts to fight illegal trade were ineffective and insufficient. Taxes are unreasonably high while illegal trade is out of control on the ground, the participating businesspeople said.

The post Myanmar Ranks Near Bottom of Global Illegal Trade Index appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Huge Haul of Detonators Found in Truck in Northern Shan State

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 03:57 AM PDT

YANGON—More than 160,000 detonators were seized from a truck in Kyaukme Township in northern Shan State on Tuesday.

Following a tip-off, military personnel based in Kyaukme and local police inspected a truck en route from Lashio to Mandalay at the Kyaukme tollgate and found it to be carrying 164,500 detonators.

The truck from which a huge haul of detonators was seized in northern Shan State's Kyaukme Township on Tuesday. / Facebook

"We have opened a case for illegal possession of explosives," said a police officer at Kyaukme Township Police Station.

The detonators were bundled up and labeled with tags written in Chinese.

Some of the detonators seized from a truck in northern Shan State's Kyaukme Township on Tuesday. / Facebook

Police detained two men who were in the truck, identified as Zaw Myint Thein from Sagaing and Myint Zaw Oo from Lashio. Police charged them under Article 12 of the 1947 Shan State Arms Order.

Police were interrogating the two to find out whom they were working with, the police officer said.

The post Huge Haul of Detonators Found in Truck in Northern Shan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

New Thai Law for Forest-Dwellers Does Not Give Ownership Rights, Activists Say

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:33 PM PDT

BANGKOK—Thai campaigners have criticized a pilot program that allows villagers to live in the forest as long as they care for the environment, arguing that it does not give land tenure security.

More than 50,000 residents of 22 villages who live in the forests of the northern province of Loei will not be evicted or penalized if they agree to protect the forest under the newly launched Land Allocation scheme, officials said.

Conditions include reserving a fifth of the land for planting trees, and reducing their use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, said environment minister Surasak Karnjanarat.

“Only communities with a proven track record of protecting the forest will be allowed to stay,” Surasak told reporters.

“This is a new approach to community management—villagers and officials must work together to protect the forest. Forcing them from the forest is not the right decision,” he said.

Indigenous and local communities own more than half the world’s land under customary rights. Yet they only have secure legal rights to 10 percent, according to Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative.

Thailand’s campaigners have long called for amending the 1961 National Park Act to protect villagers and indigenous people from being evicted from land they consider theirs by birthright, because of disputes over ownership.

Campaigners say evictions have risen since the military government passed a forest reclamation order in 2014, which authorities say is essential for conservation.

The Forest Allocation scheme does not grant ownership rights, so there is no security of tenure, said Wiron Ruchichaiwat, a community organizer in Loei province.

“We have always cared for the forest. Now, we have to prove we have always lived here, and do what the officials ask us to do – and even then there is no guarantee we will not be evicted,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday.

“Instead, the government should give us a collective title.”

Officials have delayed granting collective titling, say campaigners who led street protests earlier this year, demanding rights to forest dwellers and an end to industrial projects on farmland.

Thailand’s Cabinet has passed a draft Community Forest Bill which also encourages public participation in managing forests.

More than 3 million families could benefit from the program, which will cover more than 2.5 million hectares (9,653 sq miles) of land, officials said.

But it only covers reserve forests, and not national parks, from where villagers are being evicted, campaigners say.

The post New Thai Law for Forest-Dwellers Does Not Give Ownership Rights, Activists Say appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

One Killed, 32 Missing after Quake Paralyses Japan’s Hokkaido Island

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:23 PM PDT

TOKYO—At least one person was killed and 32 are missing, Japanese media reported, after a powerful earthquake paralyzed the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents.

Public broadcaster NHK reported the first confirmed fatality and said 120 people had also been injured after the 6.7-magnitude quake. The number missing had earlier been put at 19.

Aerial footage showed dozens of landslides exposing barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido, with mounds of reddish earth and fallen trees piled up at the edge of green fields. The collapsed remains of what appeared to be houses or barns were scattered about.

The entire island was without power after Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants following the quake.

The utility said it wasn’t clear when electricity would be restored to the 2.95 million households. The trade and industry ministry told the utility to restart the coal-fired Tomato-Atsuma power plant within a few hours, Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko said.

All trains across the island were also halted.

Roof tiles and water could be seen on the floor at Hokkaido’s main airport, New Chitose Airport, which would be closed for at least Thursday. New Chitose is a major tourist gateway to the island, known for its mountains, lakes and abundant farmland and seafood, and more than 200 flights and 40,000 passengers would be affected, Kyodo News Agency said.

The closure comes just a couple days after Kansai Airport, an important hub for companies exporting semiconductors near Osaka, in western Japan, was shut after it was hit by Typhoon Jebi. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said officials hoped to reopen Kansai Airport for domestic flights on Friday.

Power outage

The quake, which hit at 3:08 a.m., posed no tsunami risk, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The US Geological Survey said it struck some 68 km (42 miles) southeast of Sapporo, Hokkaido’s main city.

It registered a strong 6 on Japan’s 7-point earthquake scale.

Abe arrived at his office before 6 a.m. and told reporters his government had set up a command center to coordinate relief and rescue. Sounding haggard, Abe said saving lives was his government’s top priority.

The Tomari Nuclear Power Station, which has been shut since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, suffered a power outage but was cooling its fuel rods safely with emergency power, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Operator Hokkaido Electric reported no radiation irregularities at the plant, Suga told a news conference.

Farming and tourism are two of the island’s biggest economic drivers, but there is some industry. Kirin Beer and Sapporo Beer both said factories were shut by the power outage, although they said no structural damage was found.

A fire broke out at a Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co plant in the city of Muroran after the quake but was mostly extinguished with no injuries, a company official said.

A series of smaller shocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.4, followed the initial quake, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. Agency official Toshiyuki Matsumori warned residents to take precautions for potential major aftershocks in the coming days.

Japan is situated on the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin and accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, struck on March 11, 2011, off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. It set off a tsunami that devastated communities along the Pacific coast and killed nearly 20,000 people.

The tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear disaster for 25 years.

Saturday marked the 95th anniversary of the Great Kanto earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists have said another such quake could strike the city at any time.

The post One Killed, 32 Missing after Quake Paralyses Japan’s Hokkaido Island appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Official says ‘Totally Underestimated’ Economic Impact of Rohingya Crisis

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:01 PM PDT

SINGAPORE—A Myanmar foreign investment official said on Wednesday he “totally underestimated” the economic damage of the Rohingya crisis, adding that the outcry over the jailing of two Reuters reporters would also have some impact on his country’s reputation.

Asked at an investor forum in Singapore what impact the crisis had on Myanmar’s economy and investment, the director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), which promotes private sector development and investment, said previously the government had been able to control outbreaks of communal tension.

But the crisis in Rakhine State was different.

“I totally underestimated,” the official, U Aung Naing Oo, told the forum, referring to the impact of an eruption of violence in 2016, which snowballed in 2017.

“But after two years … now you can see that FDI in Myanmar is heading down, it is declining,” he said, referring to foreign direct investment, though adding that he was confident the government could stabilize the situation.

Approved foreign investment into Myanmar has fallen in 2016 and 2017, according to data issued by the DICA, which operates under the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, and last year was the lowest since 2013.

Myanmar’s government spokesman, U Zaw Htay, contacted by telephone, responded with a message to say he is not immediately able to take any questions.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh since a military crackdown that began a year ago after Rohingya insurgents attacked security posts.

A UN mandated fact-finding mission said last week that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings.

The government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for failing to speak out against the military crackdown in Rakhine, and investors have voiced concern that sanctions that long hobbled the economy for years under military rule could be reinstated over it.

In addition, the conviction this week of two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone, 32, and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, 28. They were jailed for seven years on Monday after being found guilty of breaching a law on state secrets.

They denied wrongdoing and their conviction has drawn international condemnation.

The reporters were investigating a massacre of Rohingya villagers by security forces at the time of their arrest in December. The military later confirmed that a massacre had taken place and punished several soldiers.

U Aung Naing Oo, who has played a major role in drafting business laws, said the reporters’ case had attracted widespread media coverage and their treatment would be a factor Western businesses would consider when making investment decisions.

“Not only the international community but also… some of the local communities are not happy with the decision so therefore that will have some impact on our reputation,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum.

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