Monday, August 19, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Quintana ‘too rushed’ to meet Chin civic groups

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 06:05 AM PDT

During his two-day trip to Chin state, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Tomás Ojea Quintana was too rushed to meet with several Chin civic groups who complained that they did not get the opportunity to present their issues to him.

Representatives of the Chin Youth Organization (CYO) said they met with the UN envoy for a short time but that the Argentinian diplomat was too exhausted to properly attend to their requests. Other Chin NGOs, they said, were not permitted an audience with Quintana although such meetings had been arranged in advance.

Speaking to DVB on Monday, Salai Shwe Aung, a youth leader from Mindat Township, said that the civic groups were disappointed not to be afforded the chance to explain their human rights situation to the UN Rapporteur.

"Government newspaper Kye Mon published an article which called the Chin people barbarians and compared us to animals," he said. "We applied twice to hold a demonstration to oppose this language but the authorities refused to allow it. In other cases, people in Chin state were evicted from their land when contractors wanted to build modern offices. We missed the opportunity to discuss these issues with Mr. Quintana."

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During his two-day trip to Chin State, Quintana visited Mindat and Kan Pet Let townships, and met with state government officials, township and district administrators, and Christian leaders.

Earlier the UN envoy had been denied permission to visit the Sino-Burmese border town of Laiza where the rebel Kachin Independence Army headquarters is based, with government officials citing security concerns.

Quintana did however visit Lashio in Shan State where he met with representatives of a Shan literature and culture society, as well as various religious leaders and government administrators. He also met with Aye Aye Win, the woman who was doused in petrol and set alight at a gas station in Lashio in May, an incident which set off communal riots in the city.

On the next leg of his trip, Quintana is scheduled to visit Meiktila in Mandalay Division, another town which was the center of deadly violence between Buddhist and Muslim mobs.

During his visit to Arakan state, Buddhist demonstrators chanted and held banners accusing the UN envoy of backing the region's Muslim population.

At the end of his mission on 21 August, Quintana is due to hold a press conference at Rangoon International Airport to present his preliminary observations; his full report is due to be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 24, according to a United Nations press release.

Arakanese call for a share of natural resources profits

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 05:28 AM PDT

A petition campaign has been launched in Arakan state calling for an equitable distribution of benefits from the region's natural resources.

Led by the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and local civil society groups, the campaign launched across the state and in Rangoon on Sunday with a call to the public to add their names to petitions.

Speaking to DVB, RNDP representative Khine Pyi Soe said they launched billboards in 17 townships within Arakan State and held public meetings at which they called for profits from various projects in the region to be distributed among the local population.

He said the goals of the campaign are: to achieve the right for the local Arakanese population to manage and control their natural resources; for state residents to obtain a share of the profits; to combat poverty and mange a job creation program with dividends from the projects; to ensure a 24-hour electricity supply.

"Arakan State is second poorest State in Burma," said Khine Pyi Soe. "We have no factories, industry or major businesses. We only have agriculture and fishing as livelihoods. We need to be able to receive an income from the abundant natural resources in the state. We believe we have that right."

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Arakan State is rich in natural gas. The controversial Shwe Gas Project which is soon due to begin transferring gas and later oil from the Bay of Bengal to China has its base in Kyaukphyu in Arakan state.

"The gas pipeline will be able to carry 500 million cubic feet of natural gas to China every day. However it is regrettable that Burma will only receive 100 million cubic feet of that amount and, of that, Arakan state just 20 million cubic feet."

The Arakanese are one of many ethnic minorities that have repeatedly urged the central government to allot income from business projects exploiting natural resource to help develop the local area. Last year the Upper House of Parliament agreed to discuss an RNDP proposal on the issue.

Foreign trade exceeds $7 billion for first quarter

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:18 AM PDT

In first three months of fiscal year 2013-14, Burma’s foreign trade hit over US $7 billion, an increase of 15 percent on the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Of the total trade volume, Burmese exports amounted to $3. 161 billion while imports totaled $3.919 billion, making a total of $7.080 billion. In the first three months of the 2012-13 period, exports amounted to $3.152 billion with imports standing at $3.010 billion, a total of $6,162 billion.

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Dr. Maung Aung, an advisor to the Ministry of Commerce, said priority is currently given to the import sector as the country embarks on a period of building and renewed openness.

"We have given priority to importing goods and investments for the benefit of long-term economic development," he said. "That is why the amount of imports has significantly increased."

He said that although imports of rice and various beans have decreased, traders should expect a raise in those goods in the future. He added that Burma has seen a sharp rise in the import of commodities and raw materials in the industry sector.
Thailand, China and India remain Burma's main exporting partners while China, Singapore and Japan are the top three importers from Burma.

Burma expects to reach a total of $25 billion in foreign trade for the entire 2013-14 fiscal year.

Burmese peace activist, poet Dagon Tayar dies

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:32 AM PDT

One of Burma’s greatest contemporary literary figures and an influential peace activist, Dagon Tayar (a.k.a. Htay Myaing), passed away peacefully on Monday in Aungban, Southern Shan State. He was 95 years old.

His niece Myint Myint Sein said, "U Dagon Tayar had just returned from hospital and passed away peacefully at home at 1:15 pm. He had been hospitalized for 11 days because I did not have anyone who could look after him while I was in South Korea where I had been invited to accept an award on his behalf from the Manhae Foundation.

Despite his age and deteriorating health, Dagon Tayar continued to compose beautiful poems, short stories, novels and commentaries until his final days. Throughout his lifetime he published more than 20 books on a variety of subjects.

Dagon Tayar was well known in Burma for his quotations: "I have no foes, only friends", and "I have no hatred for any person. To me, politics means making friends of foes."

Win Tin, veteran journalist and co-founder of the National League for Democracy, said Dagon Tayar had a strong engine that was in constant struggle and was active all the time.

"In literary terms, not only were his poems very beautiful but his short stories and novels were also romantic," he said. "He was an advocate of peace and promoted the non-violent struggle."

Born in Kyaik Latt Township, in Irrawaddy Division, in May 1919, he joined the University of Rangoon in 1937.

As far back as the colonial era, Dagon Tayar was striving for peace and justice through his writings. He became chairman of the World Peace Congress (Burma) in 1951, and vice-chairman in 1952. He was a representative of the All Burma Students' Union as the head of publicity for the Rangoon University Students Union in 1940, and as an editor for multiple literary magazines.

Dagon Tayar was arrested and imprisoned for four years after the military took power in 1962. He never married nor fathered children.

Rising Buddhist extremism in Burma

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:49 AM PDT

The Buddhist nationalist movement known as 969 has spread rapidly throughout Burma.

The extremist views of its leader U Wirathu, an outspoken Buddhist monk, are seen as central to the ideology of 969, and more and more ordinary people are displaying the movement's image on cars and shops.

Local people displaying the image connect the symbol with the spreading anti-Muslim sentiment.

"Now Muslim people are very extreme, so we must be extreme too," said a Rangoon taxi driver.

Monk Sada Ma began the 969 sticker campaign in October last year when religious tension in the country was high. Since then there have been several violent clashes between Muslims and Buddhists across the country and dozens of people have been killed.

But Sada Ma refutes the implication that there is any connection.

"The violence did not begin with 969 or Buddhism. In every situation, people have trouble with conflict and violence," he said.

Although the 969 movement is portrayed as a Buddhist movement, prominent Buddhist figures reject it.

U Gambira, a leader from the 2007 anti-government protests, said the movement goes against the teachings of Buddha.

"They are using this idea in our religion but it is completely against what Buddha teaches."

For many people the sticker symbolises the increasing anti-Muslim feeling in the country.

Ooredoo vows to provide affordable telecoms service in Myanmar

Posted: 18 Aug 2013 09:06 PM PDT

 

Qatari telecoms giant Ooredoo on Friday pledged to introduce “affordable” phone services to Myanmar next year as it pumps $15 billion into one of the world’s few remaining frontier mobile markets.

The firm, which in June along with Norway’s Telenor won bids to provide mobile coverage to a nation where less than 10 percent of the population has telephone access, should be formally awarded its 15-year 3G licence by the end of this year.

It will then start to roll out its mobile services — including money transfers and weather data for farmers — within six months, a company executive told reporters in Yangon.

“People can use Ooredoo’s services next year… we need to build quickly, not only in cities but also in rural areas,” Ross Cormack said.

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Few in Myanmar can currently afford mobile phones and SIM card fees, which in the past cost about $200, although the government is now trying to make prices more affordable.

Asked how calls will be priced — in a country where about a quarter of the population live below the national poverty line — Cormack said: “I can’t say exactly but you will find it attractive and affordable.”

In a statement in July Myanmar’s government said Ooredoo had “committed” to selling SIM cards for about $1.5 and to charging roughly four cents for off-peak calls.

“We will deliver SIM cards and all the services at every road-side store and to villages,” Cormack said, adding up to 97 percent of Myanmar’s 60 million people will have access to his company’s services within five years.

Mobile coverage in the former junta-ruled nation is extremely limited, with less than 10 percent of the population enjoying access to a telephone.

The company, formerly known as QTel, will invest in selling its services at tens of thousands of outlets across the country, it said, with a focus on add-ons including mobile money transfers and providing market prices, weather updates and equipment rental costs to help farmers in remote areas.

Valid for 15 years, the licences are the first to be awarded by the formerly junta-ruled nation, and will see the two foreign firms enter a market once monopolised by a pair of state companies.
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