The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Children are Victims in Arakan State, Unicef Says
- Govt Should Change Bill, Privatize State Newspapers: Press Council
- Ruffled Feathers on the March Toward Peace
- After Thandwe Violence, Suu Kyi Reiterates Need for Rule of Law
- Pushing the Limits on Burmese Women in Politics
- Myanmar and North Korea: Friends in Need
- Ethnic Kachin Among 56 Political Prisoners Freed as Peace Talks Begin
- Cheap Coal Tipped to Fuel Energy-Starved Burma
- With Obama Out, Others Take APEC Stage, Sort Of
- GSK Aims to Market World’s First Malaria Vaccine
- A Girl’s Very Best Friend: $55 Mln Necklace on Sale in Singapore
- A Billionaire and a Ghost Trading Floor – The Tale of Nepal’s Paralysis
| Children are Victims in Arakan State, Unicef Says Posted: 08 Oct 2013 05:13 AM PDT  An ethnic Rohingya boy and woman eat at a camp for displaced Muslim families in Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The UN agency for children's rights has called for an end to communal violence in west Burma, where clashes last week between Muslims and Buddhists left hundreds of people homeless. Unicef issued a statement on Tuesday urging an end to violence in Arakan State, following the third major wave of communal violence to hit the state since last year. The clashes last week near the southern town of Thandwe left five people dead and destroyed some 110 homes. In the two waves of unrest last year—elsewhere in Arakan State, in June and October—more than 140,000 people were displaced, and more than 105,000 were children affected by the violence, according to statistics from Unicef, which is providing aid locally. "We are concerned the inter-communal violence is spreading in the whole country," Bertrand Bainvel, a Unicef spokesman in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy. Anti-Muslim riots have also broken out in several locations across Burma this year. Bainvel said the violence could affect the country's ability to promote peace and stay united in the long term, amid a transition to democracy after decades of military rule. Of the unrest, he said, "first and foremost, if affects children." "It is difficult for them to understand what is going on. It is psychologically very difficult." Unicef, which has provided assistance in Arakan State for education, nutrition and health, as well as psychosocial support, says the unrest has made it nearly impossible for many affected children to continue their education or access health care. "Even if they manage to go to school, it is difficult for them to concentrate on learning because they will hear about the burning, shooting or adults speaking about violence," the Unicef spokesman said. "Even if their houses weren't burned, maybe their neighbors' homes were." In temporary camps for displaced families near Sittwe, the state capital, about 85,000 children are 18 years old or younger. These include both Muslims and ethnic Arakanese Buddhists. Unicef operates a temporary learning center for displaced children in camps in Sittwe as well as nearby Myaybon, Pauktaw and Kyauktaw townships, but only 7,500 children aged 11 to 14 have access to it. Unicef says another 1,000 children will soon be able to attend. Farther north in Kachin State, where clashes continue between ethnic rebel armed groups and the government army, 8,000 children between the ages of 6 and 9 attend schools in rebel-controlled territory. Unicef does not have other data on the number of children affected by conflicts elsewhere in the country due to government restrictions on traveling to those areas. The post Children are Victims in Arakan State, Unicef Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Govt Should Change Bill, Privatize State Newspapers: Press Council Posted: 08 Oct 2013 05:05 AM PDT  A woman sells newspapers in Rangoon on April 1, 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Interim Press Council of Myanmar has urged the Ministry of Information to abandon a section of the Public Service Media bill that would continue government support for state-run newspapers, saying that these publications should be privatized instead. "Internationally, there are no state-owned newspapers," said council member Ye Min Oo, adding that private print media freed from government controls would be better suited to provide the public with information. The council held a press conference this weekend to underline its demands regarding the Public Service Media bill, which the Information Ministry has been drafting in recent months. Since taking office in 2011, President Thein Sein's reformist government has lifted draconian media restrictions that were in place during decades of military rule, such as a pre-publication media censorship. It also plans to revamp state-run newspapers The New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror, and Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV), by turning them into independent public service media. In the past, the media organizations were used as propaganda outlets for the repressive military regime. The Public Service Media bill would be overseen by a PSM Council with two sections: a Public Service Newspaper Enterprise (PSNE) that manages the public service print media, and a Public Service Broadcasting Enterprise (PSBE) that manages the public service television and radio stations, according to Article 19, a UK-based freedom of expression advocacy group that assessed the bill in June. Public service media would receive 70 percent of its funding from Parliament and 30 percent from commercial sources such as advertising, but would not pay taxes like other publications. The Interim Myanmar Press Council said the current PSM bill would create an uneven playing field that put privately-owned media at a disadvantage. "If the state-run media can get public funds and income from advertisement [private newspapers] cannot compete with them," said Zaw Thet Htwe, a council member. "Especially, because the state-run newspaper could sell at very low prices, like for example for 50 kyat [US $0.05], while private newspapers have to charge at least 200 kyat." Currently, the state-run daily The Mirror is sold for a mere 2,000 kyat [about $2] per month. Zaw Thet Htwe said the state-run newspaper should cut all ties with the Information Ministry and stand on their own feet as private media companies. "They should become private companies—it's not a problem," he said. The council does support the Public Service Broadcasting part of the bill, which would create government-supported public service television and radio stations. Like in other countries, such public radio and TV would enable broadcast programs on issues that are ignored by private channels, such as educational programs. The council, however, urged the Information Ministry to redraft some sections of the bill pertaining to public service TV and radio in order to ensure that the stations become more independent. Article 19 said in June that it generally welcomed the new Public Service Media bill, but, like the Press Council, it objects to supporting state-run newspapers. The group said the PSM bill should also be changed as the current draft does not provide sufficient independence to public television and radio channels in terms of funding and regulations. "Until now, the Myanmar state has controlled all forms of media in many different ways. This control must end if the government is serious about democratizing. The [public service radio and TV] must be entirely independent from state and commercial interests," the group said. Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze. The post Govt Should Change Bill, Privatize State Newspapers: Press Council appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ruffled Feathers on the March Toward Peace Posted: 08 Oct 2013 04:44 AM PDT  This cartoon was originally published in The People's Age weekly, and is reproduced here with permission from the artist. The post Ruffled Feathers on the March Toward Peace appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| After Thandwe Violence, Suu Kyi Reiterates Need for Rule of Law Posted: 08 Oct 2013 03:56 AM PDT  Muslim women whose homes and businesses were destroyed take shelter at a secret location in Thandwe. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and women political activists have called for better law enforcement after communal violence in west Burma last week left five people dead and hundreds more homeless. At a forum of women lawmakers in Naypyidaw last Friday, just a couple days after fighting died down near Thandwe in Arakan State, Suu Kyi echoed earlier statements on the need for rule of law. "If you ask why violence has erupted in the country, I think it is because of fear—our people are insecure," the 68-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and lawmaker said. "We need to have rule of law for our society. Our people need to feel safe and secure through rule of law. This is the only way we can do it." Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims last week near Thandwe destroyed more than 100 homes, according to state media. The fighting followed anti-Muslim riots earlier this year in several locations across Burma, as well as communal violence between both religious groups in other parts of Arakan State last year in June and October. The vast majority of victims last year were ethnic Rohingya Muslims, while the many victims in Thandwe last week were Kaman Muslims. "Buddhism is not violence," Suu Kyi said at the forum, organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) political foundation of Germany to promote women's leadership. "We must have rule of law." Cheery Zahau, an ethnic Chin rights activist at the forum, said she agreed that violence had created a feeling of insecurity in the country. "People are partaking in violence because they think there is no rule of law. If they know they can be punished, they won't do that," she said. "Communal violence in Burma is based on religion, but as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, Buddhism is not violence, although some people are using it as a tool." Kyi Phyu Shin, a central executive member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said it was important to consider the roots of violence. "We have to consider who is responsible for the violence, to look back and see how the tensions were created," she said. She said women could offer counseling in conflict-torn areas to promote peace, but added that such measures would not be enough. "The thing we need is rule of law," she said. The post After Thandwe Violence, Suu Kyi Reiterates Need for Rule of Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Pushing the Limits on Burmese Women in Politics Posted: 08 Oct 2013 03:34 AM PDT  National League for Democracy parliamentarian Phyu Phyu Thin attends a forum on women in politics in Naypyidaw last week. (Aye Chan Myae / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Foreign and Burmese female lawmakers gathered last week in Naypyidaw to discuss the role of women in politics. National League for Democracy parliamentarian Phyu Phyu Thin, who is also a well-known campaigner on behalf of people with HIV/AIDS, spoke with The Irrawaddy reporter Kyaw Hsu Mon about being one of only 20 women in the 659-seats of both the upper and lower houses. Question: It's been more than one year you become a member of Parliament in the Lower House. Have you seen any discrimination against women during that time? Answer: It seems to me there is no discriminated by male parliamentarians. Although there are very few women parliamentarians here, all are integrated and working together. Q: You are over 40, but we can say you are rare as a young female MP. Do you have any difficulties in Parliament because of your age? A: In the Burmese houses of Parliament, older MPs are holding more seats in total. Actually, their age shows you they are experienced, but, on the other hand, we need more strength from the youth as well. As in other similar countries, Burma needs both elders' experience and the young people's force for the country's development. Q: Why do you think that we have very few young parliamentarians in Burma, while there are many young MPs in other countries in Asia? A: Of course, woman MP Nan War Nu is 36, as well as newly elected NLD lawmaker Zay Yar Thaw, who is also only 35. But we need more practical training for young people to get involved in Parliament. There will be more energetic young MPs who can lead in Parliament if we can systematically support people who are interested in politics. Q: Why are women hesitant to get involved in politics? A: There are a lot of difficulties that effectively prevent women from getting involved in the political field. Some people say that Burmese women are still behind men in terms of education. Because we have been under the military government for more than 50 years, the women's role has not been at the front of things. We should give them chance to be at the front, depending on their abilities. In the past, there were a lot of risks for women involved in politics. They might be jailed. They might be beaten and killed. That is why most women don't have any involvement in politics. But I believe that if women attempt to actively be involved in political activities, they can be ahead in the sector. Q: How do male parliamentarians and military representatives behave around women? A: I've seen that all are acting equally, like siblings. But some people—unconsciously—are not impressed by female politicians. I heard in some internal training people telling us we need to try harder if we want get a position. They are just trying to influence us. Actually, they should help us practically rather than telling us to 'try hard'. We have to ask whether we have gender equality here, because we still can't perform to the best of our abilities. I feel that men are still scornful of women in politics. Q: What are the abilities you are unable to perform? A: Some women have no chance to perform their abilities in politics. For example, some have the business sense—more than men—but Burmese culture limits them. For example married women have to do only jobs around the house. It's the same with political jobs—women are limited by their families and environment. So they can't perform their abilities as much as they are capable of in this field. Q: As a woman MP, what can you do for the country through your position in Parliament? A: The best example is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she is an idol for women here. She is an MP as well as a political leader. She can lead women in society and she is a capable woman. Women's force is still weak in every sector here. We can say that by comparing women's involvement in development, anti-corruption efforts and reducing poverty. We need the rule of law to protect Burmese women, and to fight gender discrimination. Women MPs can work for women rights, and we know what our rights are. The post Pushing the Limits on Burmese Women in Politics appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Myanmar and North Korea: Friends in Need Posted: 08 Oct 2013 03:03 AM PDT  Myanmar's then foreign minister, U Nyan Win (second from right), makes an official visit to Pyongyang on Oct. 29, 2008. The following month, then Gen Thura Shwe Mann — currently Speaker of the Union Parliament — made a secret visit to cement military ties between the two countries. (Photo: Reuters) One doesn't have to look far to discover that the North Koreans have arrived in Yangon. The Pyongyang Koryo restaurant on Saya San Road in Bahan Township is part of a chain of North Korean eateries in the region that earn badly needed foreign exchange for the cash-strapped government in Pyongyang. There are similar restaurants in various Chinese cities, in Vientiane in Laos, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia, and, until recently, in Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand. But there is a more sinister side to North Korea's presence in Myanmar than just serving hot pots, cold noodles and kimchi. For more than a decade, North Korea has been an important supplier of military hardware to Myanmar. North Korean tunneling experts have also helped the Myanmar authorities build bunkers and other underground facilities. Years of quiet military cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea were formalized in November 2008, when Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, then number three in the military hierarchy and now the speaker of the Union Parliament, paid a secret visit to Pyongyang and signed a memorandum of understanding with Gen. Kim Kyok-sik, the chief of the North Korean military. It is that agreement—and North Korea's general relationship with Myanmar—that made the United States change its Myanmar policy from one of isolation, condemnation and sanctions to one of engagement and promises of all kinds support in civilian as well as military fields. While containing China may be the longer-term objective of the new US approach to Myanmar, its more immediate goal is to prevent North Korea from forging strong ties with an ally strategically located at the crossroads of South and Southeast Asia. After years of treating Myanmar as a pariah state, Washington decided it was time to act and moved to improve its relations with the country soon after President U Thein Sein assumed office in March 2011. But even so, cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea has continued, which became obvious on July 2of this year, when Lt-Gen Thein Htay, the head of Myanmar's Directorate of Defense Industries, was blacklisted by the US Department of the Treasury because he "is involved in the illicit trade of North Korean arms." Sending Signals The statement curiously went on to state that the sanction did not target the government of Myanmar, which it said "has continued to take positive steps in severing its military ties with North Korea." Any sensible observer would argue it would have been impossible for him to have acted independently over such a highly sensitive matter. Policymakers in Washington no doubt understand this, but wanted to send a strong signal to the Myanmar government that they are aware of the continued cooperation without directly confronting the president. In April 2007, North Korea and Myanmar reestablished diplomatic relations which had been cut in October 1983, when North Korean agents detonated a powerful bomb in the then capital Yangon that killed 21 people, including 17 visiting South Korean government officials. But until then, relations had been quite friendly, so the resumption of ties in 2007 was not really unexpected. Both North and South Korea maintained unofficial "consulates" in Yangon as long as U Nu was prime minister. Following the 1962 military takeover, formal relations were established with both Koreas, but Yangon's relations with Pyongyang tended to be warmer than those with Seoul. In 1966, the official News Agency Burma signed an agreement with Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, which was permitted to employ a Myanmar citizen as its correspondent in Yangon. In 1977, military strongman Gen. Ne Win paid an official visit to Pyongyang, and North Korea became the first communist-ruled country to establish fraternal links with the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP), at the time Myanmar's only legally permitted political party. Subsequently, in 1980, a BSPP delegation attended the 6th Congress of the Korean Workers' Party in Pyongyang. Under an economic agreement negotiated during Gen. Ne Win's 1977 visit, North Korea helped Myanmar to build and operate a tin smelter, a glass-manufacturing plant, a hydroelectric plant and a synthetic textiles plant. North Korea also provided Myanmar with industrial products, including machinery, tools, cement and chemicals. In return, Myanmar exported cotton, rubber, wood, rice and minerals to North Korea. But there is no evidence of arms transfers during this time. Maintaining Relations Myanmar's eagerness to maintain cordial relations with North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s may have been prompted by Pyongyang's then policy to support revolutionary movements all over the world. Myanmar was at that time facing a serious communist insurgency—and it did not want to have North Korea as an enemy. Only China, never North Korea, supplied the Communist Party of Burma with weapons and provided other support. Ironically, the 1983 Yangon bombing became the catalyst for military cooperation between Pyongyang and Myanmar. One North Korean agent had been killed in a shootout with Myanmar's security forces shortly after the bombing. But two were captured alive. Both of them were sentenced to death but only one, Maj. Zin Mo, was hanged. The third demolitions expert, Capt. Kang Min-chul, decided to cooperate with the investigation, and his life was spared. For over a decade, there were no exchanges of any kind between the two countries, but a thaw in relations took part in the mid-1990s. North Korea's then ambassador in Bangkok, Ri Do-sop, had been instructed by Pyongyang to contact his Myanmar counterpart to negotiate the repatriation of Capt. Kang, who was wanted for high treason in North Korea. However, Kang was never extradited. He remained in Insein Jail where he reportedly died of liver cancer in May 2008. But the two then pariah countries found each other during those secret talks in Bangkok. Both countries had difficulty trading openly through international monetary institutions because of sanctions imposed by the West—while Myanmar wanted to obtain more modern, heavy weapons, North Korea needed food. In what appears to be a barter agreement, North Korean freighters carried military equipment to Thilawa and Yangon ports, and returned with tons of Myanmar rice. North Korean shipments to Myanmar have included artillery, multiple launch rocket systems vehicles and, most probably, missile technology. Now, the situation has changed dramatically, at least for Myanmar, but the trade is continuing. "The Chinese would never sell sophisticated machinery or equipment and Russian smugglers are too cunning. In these circumstances, North Korea is still Myanmar's most reliable supplier," said one Myanmar military source, explaining why Naypyitaw and Pyongyang seem intent on maintaining their relationship. Indeed, given the years of hostility with the West, it would be surprising if Myanmar decided to throw in its lot exclusively with the United States and totally sever ties with an old ally like North Korea. Myanmar has always maintained a balance in its relations with outside powers—and relations with North Korea could also be a useful bargaining chip when Naypyitaw wants more concessions from the United States. So for the foreseeable future, kimchi is not likely to be the only thing that North Korea exports to Myanmar. Bertil Lintner is a journalist and author of numerous books on Myanmar and Asia, including "Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea under the Kim Clan". This story first appeared in the October 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Myanmar and North Korea: Friends in Need appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ethnic Kachin Among 56 Political Prisoners Freed as Peace Talks Begin Posted: 08 Oct 2013 02:50 AM PDT  Gen Sumlut Gun Maw, left, of the Kachin Independence Army, addresses attendees during peace talks with the government in Myitkyina on Tuesday. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) MYITKYINA, Kachin State — Fifty-six political prisoners—nearly a third of them ethnic Kachin—were released on Tuesday, according to President's Office Minister Aung Min, who is leading a government delegation for peace talks in the Kachin State capital this week. Aung Min made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the three-day peace talks with the ethnic rebel Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Myitkyina. "Today, at 11 am, 56 political prisoners were released. Among the 56, 18 of them are our 'relatives' from Kachin State. It is a very special day," Aung Min said. In addition to coinciding with the three-day peace talks in Myitkyina, the prisoners' release comes ahead of President Thein Sein's departure for Brunei, where Southeast Asian leaders will gather for the 23rd Asean Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan this week. Other large releases of political prisoners have also come ahead of high-profile international developments concerning Burma, such as the European Union's lifting of economic sanctions in April, and prior to Thein Sein's historic visit to the White House in May. According to the Former Political Prisoners Group, most of those released are ethnic Kachin and Shan who were behind bars on charges related to the Unlawful Association Law. "Most of these people were accused of having contact with ethnic armed groups such as the Kachin Independence Army or Shan State Army. We can say that the government is releasing these people coinciding with the peace talks in Kachin State to show that they are working compassionately for peace," said Rangoon-based Thet Oo, spokesman for the group and a former political prisoner himself. According to Thet Oo, about 140 political prisoners remain behind bars, while other activists are facing trials for staging or assisting unauthorized protests. That fact, he said, cast doubt on Thein Sein's pledge to release all political prisoners by year's end. "We do not believe President Thein Sein will free all political prisoners by the end of this year, because there are many activists facing trials and they will surely get prison terms. So, our country will never be free of political prisoners since we do not have freedom of expression and freedom of speech yet," Thet Oo said. In Myitkyina, ethnic Wa rebel representatives from the United Wa State Army (UWSA) are also in attendance for this week's peace talks, as are international observers including UN special adviser to Burma Vijay Nambiar and Chinese officials from the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon. Li Xiaoyan, a counselor from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said ahead of the meeting that Beijing was pleased to see the two sides sit down again, after more than 27 months of on and off fighting. "We hope the meeting will be successful. We are also glad to see that they [the government and KIO] are openly talking to each other. "Border stability is the common interest of both of us [Burma and China]," Xiaoyan added. The KIO and the government army have been fighting since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in June 2011, with the conflict having displaced an estimated 100,000 people. The KIO and the government's peace team are expected to discuss troop repositioning; the resettlement of internally displaces persons (IDPs) and refugees; a proposed nationwide ceasefire; and the convening of a political dialogue, among other issues. "We discussed how to reduce the fighting, how to move forward to a firm ceasefire agreement. We also talked about how to prepare for resettlement of the refugees and IDPs when they return home one day," said Gen Sumlut Gun Maw, deputy chief of staff of the KIO's military wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Asked about prospects for a ceasefire between the two sides, Gun Maw said more than just an agreement between armed factions would be required to achieve a lasting peace. "A ceasefire just involves those who are armed. What we want is a political dialogue in which all parties can get involved," he said. This is the second round of peace talks in Myitkyina between the KIO and the government peace delegation. The first meeting took place in May of this year, and ended with the two sides signing an agreement to "undertake efforts to achieve de-escalation and cessation of hostilities" and to "continue discussions on military matters related to repositioning of troops." Since then, the government in July released 26 ethnic Kachin political prisoners, but clashes between the two sides' armed forces have been intermittent throughout the intervening months. A high-ranking government army official, Lt-Gen Myint Soe, who commands the Bureau of Special Operations-1 overseeing military operations in Kachin State, is also attending the Myitkyina peace talks this week. Other ethnic representatives, among them officials from the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South), Karen National Union (KNU), Chin National Front (CNF) and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), are attending as observers. Civilian society organizations and political parties, including the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), have also sent representatives. Zarni Mann contributed reporting from Rangoon. The post Ethnic Kachin Among 56 Political Prisoners Freed as Peace Talks Begin appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Cheap Coal Tipped to Fuel Energy-Starved Burma Posted: 08 Oct 2013 12:23 AM PDT  A Burmese laborer carries sacks of coal beside Rangoon River. (Photo: Reuters) http://www.irrawaddy.org/natural-resources/is-this-the-wrong-century-for-coal-to-be-king-in-burma.html Burma's future electricity needs are more likely to be fueled by coal than the oil and gas believed to be sitting beneath the seabed in offshore territorial waters, energy experts predict. Coal is rapidly becoming the fuel of choice for companies investing in new power-generating plants across the 10 Asean member states because of cost and availability. Collectively, the Asean countries will need to spend about US$440 billion on new power plants between now and 2035 to meet consumer demand, and 40 percent of this total will be spent on coal-fueled systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted. Over the next 20 years or so, energy demand in Southeast Asia will grow at more than double the world average, and to meet this need coal will fuel almost 50 percent of all electricity generated, the IEA said in a regional forecasting study. By 2035, natural gas will fuel only 28 percent of all electricity generation in the region, down from 44 percent today. The decline of gas as a power fuel will be due its high global cost, relative to coal, and also declining reserves in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei. "Burma is anticipating big new discoveries of natural gas from E&P [exploration and production] to come from the new offshore licenses due to be awarded soon, but there is no guarantee of this and even if there is, there will be strong pressure to sell a lot of it to foreign customers to boost the country's GDP [gross domestic product]," regional energy industry consultant Collin Reynolds in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy this week. "Selling natural gas to overseas customers has been a significant factor in helping the growth of the economies of Malaysia and Indonesia, which are today among the world's top exporters of LNG [liquefied natural gas]," he said. But both countries have already begun building more coal-driven power stations because of domestic gas shortages—caused by the imperative to sell gas overseas. In 2012, Malaysia had to buy electricity from Singapore for several months because of a gas shortage and lack of alternative fuel-generating plants. The IEA noted in its Southeast Asia Energy Outlook, published last week, that Burma was already planning to import expensive LNG via a floating dock terminal as a "short-term" energy gap solution. Although Thailand produces both oil and natural gas from fields in the Gulf of Thailand, it imports about one-third of its gas needs from fields in Burmese waters. "The Thais' overdependence on natural gas for electricity generation was exposed earlier this year when one of its main Burma offshore suppliers for power plants for the Bangkok region had to shut down its operating platform for maintenance work," said Reynolds. "The Thais bought electricity from Malaysia to cover the shortfall. "Burma is in a much worse position than most of its Asean partners because it is starting out its economic expansion from a very, very low power generation base. There needs to be a rapid growth in electricity generating capacity and I would say that waiting for new gas or oil discoveries offshore is not an option in the short term or even the medium term. "New gas fields take years to develop from exploration and discovery to production," Reynolds explained. The attraction of coal to investors contending with Southeast Asia's insatiable demand for electricity could inadvertently be driven by the Chinese coal market, where low domestic coal prices coupled with government attempts to reduce coal to curb urban air pollution are undermining imports. China imports coal from a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. Due to a slide in Chinese imports and a surfeit of coal coming onto the regional market from new suppliers such as the United States, coal prices are at their lowest in more than three years, according to global energy analysts Platts. The glut is expected to continue: Indonesia alone has plans to double its production over the next decade, although much of this will be consumed at home—to help reduce natural gas use and costly crude oil imports. The IEA estimates that the cost of producing electricity from coal over the next decade in Southeast Asia will be about 30 percent cheaper than gas. The problem Burma faces is that while it might choose to assign domestically produced natural gas to fuel the country's growth in electricity production, all gas is valued at international market rates. The Malaysia state, for example, has spent billions of dollars over the last 15 years or more subsidising the country's electricity generation by providing domestically produced gas at below market prices. That's another reason why Malaysia is now diversifying fuel to generate power with coal plants, said Reynolds. "Coal is emerging as the fuel of choice because of its relative abundance and affordability in the region," IEA Executive Director Maria Van der Hoeven said in Bangkok. "As long as fuel price differentials continue to favor coal over gas by a significant margin, Southeast Asia's incremental power generation is set to be dominated by coal." The post Cheap Coal Tipped to Fuel Energy-Starved Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| With Obama Out, Others Take APEC Stage, Sort Of Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:57 PM PDT  Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center, listens to Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang, third right, as other Southeast Asian leaders prepare for a group photo on Oct. 7, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BALI, Indonesia — As some of the world's heavy-weight leaders stood in the spotlight Monday at a regional economic summit, they still managed to be upstaged by who was missing. Even US Secretary of State John Kerry poked fun at himself while standing in for President Barack Obama, saying when he worked to replace a president nearly a decade ago, "this is not what I had in mind." For Obama, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was meant to be an opportunity to underline renewed US attention to Asia as a counterbalance to China's increased economic and military clout. But that message was undermined by the US budget impasse and government shutdown forcing Obama to cancel his trip to Indonesia and three other countries. His absence was perhaps felt most by Indonesians who consider him one of their own after he spent part of his childhood growing up in the capital, Jakarta. Russian President Vladimir Putin, often at odds with Obama on foreign policy and other issues, sympathized with the US president's predicament, calling his decision to stay home "justified." "You can see the president is busy with the domestic situation of the United States," he said. "If I were him I would not have come as well. Any leader of a state would have done the same." Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential race, sought to fill the Obama vacuum by assuring business leaders that nothing will shake America's commitment to Asia and that the government shutdown in Washington will soon be over and forgotten. Leaders of the 21 nations and territories that comprise APEC, meeting amid tight security on this tropical island in eastern Indonesia, urged faster work on reforms meant to break down trade barriers and improve competitiveness. The annual APEC gathering gives regional leaders the opportunity to thrash out policies to encourage trade and business cooperation, while also tackling country-to-country issues in meetings on the sidelines. It also is a boon for this year's host Bali, which has worked to rebuild its tourism industry following terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005 that killed more than 200 people. But there were some light moments mixed in with the work. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono picked up a guitar and serenaded Putin on his 61st birthday. Speaking to business and political leaders, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to reassure other Asian countries, especially those that suffered colonization and invasion before and during World War II, over Japan's efforts to upgrade its military. "We are aspiring to become a pro-active contributor to stability and security in the world as a country that observes international norms," Abe said. The reference to international norms also appeared aimed at China, whose naval incursions into waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea have angered Japan. Relations between the two biggest Asian economies remain chilly with scant sign either is willing to compromise on the islands issue. But China's President Xi Jinping said his country only wants peace, and he is confident its economic growth will remain robust despite a recent slowdown in the world's second biggest economy. Meanwhile, the dozen countries involved in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership were haggling over their plans for a free trade area they hope will eventually encompass the entire region. Kerry said the 12-nation trade pact would generate growth and jobs and unleash investment and entrepreneurship. "At a time when all of us seek strong, sustainable growth, TPP is creating a race to the top, not to the bottom," he said. Contents of the trade talks have been kept secret. However, relatively awkward issues such as protection of patents and other intellectual property are among the topics still being worked out, officials said. "Despite President Obama's absence, each country is sticking to its resolve to achieve an agreement by the year's end," Japan's economy minister Akira Amari told reporters. "We are in the process of negotiating to conclude the talks within this year." New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said an agreement by the end of the year is "doable" and would be the first time in decades that multiple countries have signed up to an agreement that aims to completely eliminate tariffs. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini, Margie Mason and Stephen Wright contributed. The post With Obama Out, Others Take APEC Stage, Sort Of appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| GSK Aims to Market World’s First Malaria Vaccine Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:52 PM PDT  A Thai Public Heath Ministry official places a thermometer into a child’s mouth at a malaria clinic in Sai Yoke district, Kanchanaburi Province October 26, 2012. The child, who lives on the Thai-Myanmar border, came to the clinic to get tested for malaria. (Photo: Reuters) LONDON — British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline will seek marketing approval for the world's first malaria vaccine next year after trial data showed the shot significantly cut cases of the disease in African children. The vaccine known as RTS,S was found, after 18 months of follow-up, to have almost halved the number of malaria cases in young children in the trial, and to have reduced by around a quarter the number of malaria cases in infants. "Based on these data, GSK now intends to submit, in 2014, a regulatory application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA)," GSK, which has been developing the vaccine for three decades, said in a statement. It added that the United Nations health agency, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), has indicated it may recommend use of the RTS,S vaccine from as early as 2015 if EMA drugs regulators back its license application. Malaria, a mosquito-borne parasitic disease, kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, mainly babies in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and scientists say an effective vaccine is key to attempts to eradicate it. Yet hopes that RTS,S would be the final answer were dampened last year when results from a final-stage trial with 6,537 babies aged six to 12 weeks showed the shot provided only modest protection, reducing episodes of the disease by 30 percent compared to immunization with a control vaccine. Malaria Cases Fill Hospital Wards Tuesday's latest readout from the malaria trial, which is Africa's largest ever clinical trial involving almost 15,500 children in seven countries, were presented at a medical meeting in Durban, South Africa. GSK is developing RTS,S with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), with grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to MVI. "Many millions of malaria cases fill the wards of our hospitals. Progress is being made with bed nets and other measures, but we need more tools to battle this terrible disease," said Halidou Tinto, a lead investigator on the RTS,S trial from Burkina Faso. Previous data sets released from earlier parts of the trial showed the vaccine's efficacy was 65 percent in babies analyzed six months after vaccination, and only around 50 percent in five to 17 month-olds. And further data released earlier this year found RTS,S's effectiveness wanes over time, with the shot protecting only 16.8 percent of children over four years. "Given the huge disease burden of malaria among African children, we cannot ignore what these latest results tell us about the potential for RTS,S to have a measurable and significant impact on the health of millions of young children in Africa," he said in a statement. "This trial continues to show that a malaria vaccine could potentially bring an important additional benefit beyond that provided by the tools already in use." If approved, the vaccine is unlikely to be anything other than neutral for GSK's bottom line. GSK has promised that if RTS,S is given the market go-ahead, it will be priced at cost of manufacture plus a 5 percent margin, and the margin would be reinvested in malaria research. The post GSK Aims to Market World's First Malaria Vaccine appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| A Girl’s Very Best Friend: $55 Mln Necklace on Sale in Singapore Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:47 PM PDT  A rose gold necklace with a 407 carat yellow diamond is presented on a stand during a media event in Singapore Oct. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SINGAPORE — For someone with US$55 million to spare on an egg-sized diamond, the world’s most expensive necklace is on sale this month at a jewelry show in Singapore, reflecting Asia’s growing appetite for precious gems and expensive baubles. Known as L’Incomparable, the necklace created by luxury jeweler Mouawad features a yellow, internally flawless diamond of more than 407 carats suspended from a rose gold setting that is studded with 90 white diamonds weighing nearly 230 carats. "Serious interest" has been expressed by a couple of potential buyers from Asia, said Jean Nasr, managing director of Mouawad in Singapore, declining to identify their nationalities. "People who will get something like this are looking at it from a different perspective because this is definitely an investment piece," he told Reuters. The necklace, whose centerpiece diamond was found by chance in a pile of mining rubble by a young girl in the Democratic Republic of Congo about 30 years ago, will be the flashiest item on offer at the Singapore Jewel Fest on Oct. 11-20. But there will be plenty of other glitz from American, European and Asian designers worth another $200 million or so. Singapore, a tiny Southeast Asian nation with the world’s highest concentration of millionaires, has positioned itself as a destination for the ultra-rich with a busy wealth management industry, luxury properties, top hotels, gourmet restaurants, high-end boutiques and two casinos. While the city-state boasts a very low crime rate, security will be extremely tight with so much jewelry on display at a pavilion outside an upscale mall. It seems unlikely there would be a robbery in Singapore like the daylight heist of about $136 million worth of jewelry on show at a hotel in the French Riviera resort of Cannes in July. But Filippo Melchionni, in charge of guarding L’Incomparable and the rest of the jewelry on show, is taking no chances. Security includes armed guards, plainclothes supervisors, cameras, motion detectors and bullet-proof display cases but the most critical time is when the pieces are shown to customers. "This is the moment that the stones are under risk because they can be passed hand-by-hand, they can be exchanged," said Melchionni, chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific at the Ferrari Group, an Italian logistics company for luxury goods. "Every night it is going back to our vault. We have an armored truck to move the stones." L’Incomparable, completed in 2012 and certified as the priciest necklace in existence by Guinness World Records earlier this year, is an extravagant novelty. But Asia, especially China, has become an important and resilient growth area for sellers of pricey jewelry, cars, boats, wine, artwork and other lavish items. Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd , which showed off its finest colored diamonds in Hong Kong last month, believes the United States will remain its key market for diamonds but sees China growing fast. Demand for diamonds in China, now the world’s second-largest market after the United States, helped boost global sales at Tiffany & Co in the latest quarter, leading the US jeweler to raise its annual profit forecast. The show in Singapore, now in its 11th year, expects some Chinese buyers but many locals and visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Russia will also be there, said Kean Ng, chairman of the Singapore Jewel Fest. "You have the high-end customers but of course you have the browsers coming in and they usually end up buying something that’s within their budget," he said. The post A Girl’s Very Best Friend: $55 Mln Necklace on Sale in Singapore appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| A Billionaire and a Ghost Trading Floor – The Tale of Nepal’s Paralysis Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:40 PM PDT  Nepal's only billionaire, Binod Chaudhary, gestures as he speaks with Reuters during an interview at his office in Kathmandu on Oct. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Navesh Chitrakar) KATHMANDU — Nepal's only billionaire made his name selling instant noodles. Now he's got an eye on running the young Himalayan republic. Binod Chaudhary, recently valued by Forbes at a billion dollars, says he would give up business for a shot at governing one of the world's poorest countries. But not yet. Nepal's politics are just too messy, even for a man who was able to build a business empire during a civil war. Wedged between two of the world's largest markets, India and China, and home to its most spectacular mountains, Nepal should be a manufacturing, tourism and trading success. Chaudhary is testament to the possibilities. Having started out selling noodles to India, then all over Asia, his family-owned conglomerate includes a bank, a telecommunications business and dozens of resorts, including two in the Maldives in partnership with India's Taj Group. But Nepal is one of Asia's most unstable countries, despite seven years of peace since the end of a Maoist war that helped topple a centuries-old monarchy. It has had five governments since 2008 elections and politicians have not been able to agree on a constitution that will lay out the contours of the state. Elections due on Nov. 19 for a new constitutional assembly are expected to go ahead despite threatened disruption by a significant faction of hardline Maoist parties. That's too soon for Chaudhary, who wants the political parties to finish writing a new constitution before he takes the plunge into full-time politics. "There is no point in getting caught in between in a situation that you can't resolve," he said, in a reception room offering sweeping views of Kathmandu's packed streets and nearby mountains from the top floor of his headquarters. The tycoon, whose mansion is decorated with leopard-print furnishings, busts of black stallions and a fresco reproduction of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's "The Banquet of Cleopatra," says he would like to jump squarely into politics when the impasse is resolved. Chaudhary said he would then apply his business acumen to create jobs and fix infrastructure, ending power cuts that keep the lights off for up to seven hours a day. Chaudhary does business from Thailand to Tanzania, a hedge against the uncertainties of his landlocked country. Amid the political churning, hundreds of thousands of people leave for jobs overseas every year and businessmen fear to invest. Growth slumped last year to 3.5 percent, the slowest in five years, and inflation was above target at 9 percent. With successive short-lived governments barely in power long enough to fill posts, there has been little clarity on what type of economic system the country will follow. "Every six months you have a new prime minister, a new government so how can people invest?" said the Finance Ministry's top economic advisor, Chiranjeevi Nepal. "Whether to follow the liberal, open economy or the mixed economy, that is the confusion here. Investment needs clear policies." Ghostly Exchange Nowhere is that confusion more apparent than at the Nepal Stock Exchange. Located in a squat, brick building by a rubbish-strewn stream, the NEPSE feels a long way from Wall Street. Its hoarding is hand-painted, its electronic ticker blank since it broke five months ago. Inside is an abandoned trading floor, frozen in time since the exchange replaced open-outcry trading in 2007. Rows of dust-covered computers remain, as do the prices from the last day of trading, scrawled on white boards used for pricing back then. Nepal's stock exchange is state-owned and, since 2007, decision-making by the government has been slow. Without government permission, the exchange's employees cannot dispose of old equipment, or introduce new technology. The NEPSE uses an electronic trading system but is one of the last in the world to settle trades manually, with brokers exchanging paper receipts and certificates at the end of trading. "We sent a proposal to the government five years ago to privatize the exchange," said NEPSE Deputy Manager Shambhu Panta. "There has been no response … There is no stable government. No decisions are taken." The NEPSE's 50 registered brokers trade an average of $1.5 million a day, up from about $700,000 last year. This, said Panta, reflected Nepal's economic potential and hopes that the elections would bring stability. The benchmark index touched a record 1,175 points in the election year of 2008 but bottomed out at 292 last year after the first constitutional assembly collapsed. It has since recovered to 541. "When people think the politicians will agree on a constitution, the index rises," said Panta. "When the politicians fight, it falls." On that basis, the market might be heading lower. No party is expected to emerge strong enough from the elections to resolve a fight over how much power to give local governments. In a sign of the volatility leading up to the vote, gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a candidate last week. Billionaire Chaudhary worries that Maoist splinter groups threatening protests will clash with troops or scare off voters, undermining the election's legitimacy. Nepal's most successful capitalist is already dabbling in politics via a long association with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which is these days seen as center-left. He was a member of the constitutional assembly until it collapsed last year and says he will campaign for the party in these elections. "I'm a political animal, I'm very much part of it," he said. Chaudhary offers Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Thailand's former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, as examples of businessmen-turned-politicians. "It's going to be a very important decision for me. I would not like to wear two hats, I'd have to completely give up my current position and current role and involvement in business and then I'd have to work 100 percent full time with the single objective of transforming this country economically." Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma. The post A Billionaire and a Ghost Trading Floor – The Tale of Nepal's Paralysis appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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