Monday, July 29, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Animal lovers fight to keep dogs off the menu

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 04:39 AM PDT

 

Street dogs in Mandalay may be in luck, well some of them at least.

Buddhists monks have started a programme to vaccinate the canines in order to prevent them from spreading infectious disease. Along with the medicine, the monks provide the animals with care and keep them away from a more uncertain future.

In Burma, there are millions of stray dogs and entrepreneurial citizens have taken notice. Across the country's northern border, an individual dog is worth US$ 15 dollars in China – and the buyers are usually from restaurants.

However, not everyone in Burma agrees with the practice of trafficking strays into China. A Facebook group ‘People who love and are kind to animals’ are teaming up with the Myanmar Veterinary Association to combat the dog trafficking.

The veterinarians agree that capturing dogs and selling them as livestock an unacceptable way to make a living.

Even though the dogs that are sold in Chinese markets are often strays, some of the unlucky canines also have human owners. If a pet dog does go missing on the street, the owner often has to pay a large sum of money to get their pet returned.

Animal campaigners and some veterinary surgeons have started campaigning for funds to buy the animals back from the traffickers. And one day they hope to run a permanent dog shelter in the city together with local monks.

Immigration officials relax restrictions for tourists travelling overland

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 04:19 AM PDT

Foreigners entering Burma through three major border checkpoints along the Thai border can now travel inland and will not be required to exit the country through the same portal, in accordance with a new regulation passed by Burmese immigration authorities.

According to the new rule, foreign travellers who pass through border checkpoints at Shan state's Tachilek, Karen state's Myawaddy and Tenasserim division's Kawthaung towns will be able to travel inland freely, except in restricted areas, and leave from their desired point of departure.

During a press conference at the immigration office in Kawthaung last Thursday, government officials met with representatives from tourism companies and businesspersons to expound on the parameters of the new regulation, said Moe Ei, a reporter from Tenasserim Weekly News Journal who attended the meeting.

"The town's immigration director San Lwin explained that under the new regulation, foreigners who come in from the three main checkpoints will be allowed to leave from anywhere," said Moe Ei.

The immigration director also discussed a future plan to expand tourism in the border town, which included opening more hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, souvenir shops, and provide training to tour companies in order to meet the demands of travellers visiting the country.

With the area limitation removed, tourists who enter through the Kawthaung crossing can now visit the area's renowned hot springs, which was previously off limits due to its distance from the border.

Border crossing and visa fees at the respective checkpoints will remain the same despite the change in regulations. A foreigner who through enters Burma through the three major Thai-border crossings must pay US$10 for a week's stay in the country.

Parliament passes anti-corruption bill despite president’s protests

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 03:14 AM PDT

Burma's parliament approved a new piece of anti-corruption legislation on Friday, despite calls from President Thein Sein to remove a clause deemed “unconstitutional”.

The controversial clause requires members appointed to a new anti-corruption commission to declare their assets, which the president says breaches constitutional law.

"The president previously recommended to remove the clause from the bill as it was not in conformity with the 2008 constitution because the constitution didn't force commission members to declare assets," said lower house member Ye Htun.

"But the parliament decided that it cannot be assumed the clause was against the constitution just because the constitution didn't say so and [parliamentarians] decided to approve the bill as it was.”

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On 8 July, the president's request was officially rebuffed by the parliament's bill committee, which argued that the provision was in line with the country's existing legal framework, reported Eleven News group.

Burma's constitution allows the parliament to ignore legislative recommendations made by the president.

In January, President Thein Sein announced the formation of a committee to tackle corruption in Burma's notoriously secretive government bodies, according to a statement published on his official website.

In accordance with the new legislation, the 15-member commission will be appointed by speakers from the upper and lower houses of parliament as well as the president. Their nominations will then be submitted to the union parliament for approval.

Burma ranked 172 out of 176 countries measured in Transparency International's 2012 corruption perception index.

Controversial gas pipeline goes into operation

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:19 AM PDT

Gas has started flowing to energy-hungry China through a pipeline from Burma, Beijing’s official media reported, in a major project that highlights their economic links even as political ties come under pressure.

The 793-kilometre (492-mile) pipeline runs from Kyaukpyu on resource-rich Burma’s west coast, close to the offshore Shwe gasfields, and across the country.

It enters southwest China at Ruili, near areas where heavy clashes between the rebel Kachin Independence Army and the Burmese military were reported earlier this year.

As well as diversifying China’s sources of fuel, by supplying energy to the vast and less developed west it could help Beijing’s attempts to promote economic growth there.

It went into operation on Sunday at a ceremony in Mandalay, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

“When torches flamed in the sky…. a storm of applause and cheers broke out,” it said.

But the controversial project is the fruit of Beijing’s long allegiance with the military junta that ruled Burma for decades, a bond that is weakening as the reforming government opens up to the west.

In an editorial on Monday China’s Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, said: “This is another breakthrough in China’s strategy of energy diversification and has obvious significance in reducing China’s dependence on the Strait of Malacca for the import of oil and natural gas.”

Construction began in June 2010, according to China National Petroleum Corporation, the key investor. A parallel oil pipeline is also part of the project.

According to Xinhua, the gas pipeline will be able to carry 12 billion cubic metres annually, while the crude oil pipeline has a capacity of 22 million tonnes per year.

Under military rule Burma was a pariah state largely isolated from the rest of the world and subject to heavy international sanctions, but it maintained close economic links with China, which for years was its major foreign influence.

Now, with Burma, which also includes tin and precious gems among its natural assets, opening up politically and economically, more countries are setting up operations and seeking deals that sanctions had previously prevented.

“Myanmar (Burma) used to be sanctioned by the West and China was its only friend,” the Global Times editorial acknowledged. “Nowadays, it has opened more to the West. This will reduce its passion in cooperating with China, but does not mean it will set itself against China.”

But in a warning that Beijing expects its economic interests to be protected, the newspaper cautioned Burma that it must ensure agreements regarding the project are fulfilled, no matter who eventually leads the country, where democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi has entered parliament.

“China should be determined to supervise Myanmar in doing so,” the paper said.

“Myanmar should hold a serious attitude toward China, and Chinese will take (the Burmese) people’s attitude toward the pipeline as a test of their stance on China.”

Chinese nervousness about its investments in Burma comes after Naypyidaw said last week it had revised a controversial copper mine agreement with a Chinese company, after dozens of Buddhist monks and villagers were injured in a botched police raid.

Burma's Minister of Mines Myint Aung told parliament that new terms gave the government 51 percent of the revenue, replacing a previous deal that was a joint venture between the Chinese firm and a holding company owned by the Burmese military.

In 2011, President Thein Sein stopped construction on the China-backed $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam on the Irrawaddy river amid public opposition to the project, a move that led Beijing to call for its companies’ rights and interests to be protected.

The Shwe Gas Movement, a campaign group, says the pipeline project has sparked protests over issues including demands for higher salaries for local workers, and concerns among farmers about its environmental impacts.

Burma plans to renegotiate billions of dollars of natural resource deals as it imposes tougher environmental standards and clamps down on corruption, the US-based Asia Society said in a report last month.
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