The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Burma-Born English Novelist to Attend Second Irrawaddy Literary Festival
• Letter from the Editor
• 2014 Promises to Be a Boom Year for Burma’s Gas and Oil Industry

Burma-Born English Novelist to Attend Second Irrawaddy Literary Festival Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:22 AM PST Wendy Law-Yone is the only Burmese writer whose work is written and published in English. (Photo: Vanessa Gavalya) RANGOON — Curiosity, excitement and a bit of anxiety is what Wendy Law-Yone is looking forward to when she joins Burma's biggest international literary festival that will be held for the second time in February this year. "Literary festivals can be stressful events, and one is never sure what to expect," said Wendy Law-Yone, one of a few Burmese novelists who writes in English and whose work is being published and marketed internationally. She will be among numerous Burmese and international writers to attend The Irrawaddy Literary Festival 2014, which will be held in the country's second largest city Mandalay. Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the patron of the festival, which was held for the first time in Rangoon in early February in 2013. The three-day event is designed to bring renowned writers from around the world to Burma to meet local authors and readers. Starting from Feb. 14, with Suu Kyi's scheduled to appear on Feb. 15, the festival will showcase the works of English writers from across the globe, including Louis de Bernières, Jung Chang, Ben Okri, Caroline Moorehead, Sudha Shah and other internationally acclaimed authors. Though she was born and raised in Burma, Wendy Law-Yone fled the country at the age of 20 and settled in the United States. She is now living in London. She has so far published three novels and last year her family memoir "Golden Parasol" hit the bookshelves. Wendy Law-Yone left Burma in 1967 after her father Edward Michael Law-Yone, the founder and chief editor of the country's influential English-language newspaper The Nation, was imprisoned for five years by the late dictator Ne Win. Wendy Law-Yone was banned from attending school and was herself imprisoned for two weeks after an attempt to flee the country. Eventually, she was able to leave Burma and moved to the US in 1973. The festival website says that after years in exile, Wendy Law-Yone is one of almost a hundred of her fellow countrymen and women taking part, including internationally renowned authors Thant Myint U, Pascal Khoo Thwe, and Ko Ko Thett. "We are extremely lucky to have secured the attendance of Wendy Law-Yone, who is not only a brilliant and prolific writer, but whose personal history and connections with Burma make her presence at the festival doubly significant," festival director Jane Heyn said. She told The Irrawaddy that the event’s main objective is to promote the exchange of ideas and modern literature between Burma and some of today’s best writers in English; particularly those who may be writing about Burma. Wendy Law-Yone told The Irrawaddy via an email that the festival has particular significance for her as a long-exiled writer being welcomed back to Burma. "I suppose I was invited because I'm an obvious candidate. I was born in Burma, I grew up in Burma, and Burma forms the backdrop to every single one of my books," she said. The 66-year old writer said the chance to meet other Burmese writers and readers within the country is the single most compelling reason for her participation in the festival. "For most of my life I have been cut off from the literature of my compatriots, a great deprivation for me as both a reader and writer. I'd like to start making up for lost time," said she. Although the festival program is yet to be finalized, Wendy Law-Yone said she believes she is taking part in several events, including a discussion of her most recent book—which is a memoir of her father as a journalist and politician during the era of parliamentary democracy and the eventual shift to military dictatorship in the early 1960s. "I'm also on a panel to discuss one of the topics of the festival program—slavery and human trafficking—because that issue is at the heart of my novel, 'The Road to Wanting'," she said. Since her departure from Burma, the writer has been back only twice before: once in 2001 and again at the end of 2011. As the festival venue is in Mandalay, her visit this time would seem like a return of the native. "This will be my third visit now, in 2014. Third visit, third time lucky, a good omen, I hope," she said. "Also, I was born in Mandalay—another auspicious sign as I see it." The post Burma-Born English Novelist to Attend Second Irrawaddy Literary Festival appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Letter from the Editor Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:17 AM PST Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org. Another New Year is upon us, and now that we have just ended our first full year of operations in Myanmar, the moment seems right to express our gratitude to all of you for your support in these exciting and challenging times. Since we opened our office in downtown Yangon in late 2012, we have been busy settling in with the help of our colleagues, both old and new. But we wouldn't have been able to make it this far without our steadily expanding readership. Your interest and encouragement are crucial to our efforts to help establish a strong foundation for independent, reliable journalism in Myanmar. Over the past year, we have received many visitors at our office, all of whom have expressed real satisfaction at seeing us here after so many years abroad. For more than two decades, we have worked to produce quality reporting on Myanmar, and the fact that we can now do so inside the country has been hailed by many as a sign of how far we as a nation have come. Since The Irrawaddy was established in 1993, we've been fortunate to have a strong following among a disparate audience that includes the Myanmar diaspora, business and political leaders in Southeast Asia, legislators and policy makers in the West, and anyone else with a strong interest in Myanmar affairs. Until very recently, however, there was one audience beyond our reach: readers inside Myanmar. There were a few exceptions, of course. One leading Myanmar businessman involved in the energy sector told me that he used to smuggle copies of the magazine into the country to share with his colleagues. This was, he noted, at a time when possession of the magazine would have landed him in prison. "But now I can subscribe! It's legal!" he said with a broad smile, waving a copy of the latest issue. My sense now, after many meetings with government officials, ethnic politicians, military generals, lawmakers and activists, is that they all welcome us as a credible voice on what is happening in Myanmar today, whether they agree with our editorial stance or not. My personal take on Myanmar's ongoing transition is that, while clearly limited in scope and very much a topdown process, there is greater potential today for genuine reform than at any other time in our country's recent history. It makes sense to remain wary, but at the same time, we have to grasp this opportunity to build a better future for all our citizens, free from oppression, war and poverty. Wedged between the world's two most populous nations, Myanmar is of great strategic interest to many powerful countries. As we strive to take our place in the community of nations, we must show that we have strengths of our own, which derive not from the use of military force or the exploitation of resources, but from the vast potential of our people. This year, for the first time in many decades, Myanmar will assume a position of leadership on the international stage as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This will be our chance to demonstrate not only our ability to work together with other countries, both East and West, but also to formulate an independent foreign policy that serves our own interests, in harmony with those of others. As a media organization, The Irrawaddy is proud to play an important role in monitoring Myanmar's emergence as a modern nation, so that our fellow citizens can better understand, and ultimately influence, the direction that we take into the future. As we begin another year, we sincerely hope that 2014 will bring Myanmar closer to its long cherished goals of peace, prosperity and democracy. And with you as our partners, we believe that all of these things are well within reach. Happy New Year to you all The post Letter from the Editor appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

2014 Promises to Be a Boom Year for Burma’s Gas and Oil Industry Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:07 AM PST A segment of the oil and gas pipelines being built from the Arakan coast to the Chinese border. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Burma will be the focus of attention in the international oil and gas industry in 2014 as a batch of major offshore exploration licenses are awarded and more blocks are expected to be put up for foreign bidding. Against that background, Burma is to host two major international oil industry exhibitions in Rangoon to attract more investor interest. The winners of pending bids for 30 offshore blocks are expected to be announced soon, with some industry reports saying successful foreign companies could be named within weeks. "The much-awaited auction of 30 offshore oil and gas sites, expected by February, is the latest test of [Burma's] economic reforms and its emerging, yet still vague, energy policy," said the US business website Frontier Markets on December 24. Oil industry magazine Rigzone said license winners could be announced during January. "Industry players are watching with interest an impending tender award by [Burma's] Ministry of Energy for 30 offshore oil and gas exploration blocks, which has attracted bidding by several major international oil companies that were absent in previous tenders," Texas-based Rigzone said. "The outcome of the tender will highlight the progress, or lack of one, as the country attempts to improve the climate for energy investments." The 30 offshore blocks which will soon be awarded to oil and gas firms for exploration. International industry reports say the award of offshore licenses is likely to lead to the offer sometime during 2014 of more than a dozen other onshore and offshore exploration blocks, including in the Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Martaban. Bidders for the 30 offshore blocks currently in the pipeline include major Western global energy development firms. Shell has bid for three blocks in partnership with Mitsui Oil of Japan, while ConocoPhillips of the US has partnered Norway's Statoil in two bids, said the energy news agency Platts. Other noted bidders include Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total. Asian bidders include the state-owned business of PTTEP of Thailand, Petronas of Malaysia and OVL of India. However, China's three major state-owned oil companies are curiously remaining on the sidelines. "The bidding is very competitive. We are just watching, waiting for better opportunities," the president of China National Offshore Oil Corporation Myanmar Limited, Chen Zhiyong, was quoted by Rigzone saying on December 16. Sister state firm China National Petroleum Corporation has just completed a 900-kilometer pipeline through Burma to pump gas from the offshore Shwe field in the Bay of Bengal. The involvement of big Western industry names in the bidding is no guarantee of major oil and gas discoveries, however. The 19 deep water and 11 shallow water blocks to be licensed are a "blind" gamble, said a recent Financial Times assessment. "This is an unusually blind auction because the [Burmese] government does not have the technical capacity to assess the geology [beneath the seabed]," the paper said. Usually, exploration blocks put up for license come with at least preliminary survey data indicating potential if not definite oil or gas prospects. The international oil industry is hopeful of new major gas and perhaps also oil discoveries because of the big Shwe, Yadana and Yetagun fields currently producing large volumes of gas. In addition, PTTEP is preparing to tap the Zawtika field in the Gulf of Martaban with proven reserves of 50 billion cubic meters of gas. It is riches like these which are set to lure more oil and gas companies to Burma during 2014 for two major international industry exhibitions in Rangoon organized by London-based promotion firms. The Myanmar Oil & Gas Week will be held February 25-27 to provide more insight for potential investors as well as the technical, financial and legal challenges they face. One of the sponsors for this event is PTTEP, whose president Tevin Vongvanich will be a main speaker. Later in the year Oil & Gas Myanmar 2014 will be held at Rangoon's convention center. This event, October 15-17, is seeking to attract not only upstream explorers but also refining specialists. Along with an inadequate electricity generating capacity, Burma also suffers from a dilapidated oil refining sector. The country's existing three small refineries can produce barely one third of local demand, which is rising as the number of vehicles on the roads rapidly expands. The February event will examine the "infrastructure, transit and logistical requirements for developing an efficient oil and gas industry," said London organizer ITE Group. Who are the likely winners of licenses for the current offshore blocks up for biding? There are no clear indications given the secret nature of the bidding and the unclear procedural processes. The Rangoon-based international law and tax advisory firm VDB Loi thinks existing foreign players Total, PTTEP and Petronas have an advantage because of their experience and the physical infrastructure they have already got in place. The three firms "have a considerable edge over any newcomers," a VDB Loi assessment said. "It will not be so easy for newcomers to get over some of the specific uncertainties that are associated with oil and gas EP [exploration and production] in Myanmar." The post 2014 Promises to Be a Boom Year for Burma's Gas and Oil Industry appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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