Saturday, March 29, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

A love story for 21st century Burma

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 11:29 PM PDT

Earlier this month, Burmese newspapers and journals ran wild with the news that Burma had seen its first gay wedding.

The ceremony was reported by AFP, and soon other international news publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post picked up the story.

However, Myo Min Htet and Tin Ko Ko, who held the celebration, said the story was exaggerated.

"It is distressing, the story was published without permission. And there were many errors," said Tin Ko Ko. "We were celebrating our tenth anniversary – not a wedding."

Nonetheless, the celebration marked the first time a gay couple has declared their relationship publicly in Burma. It stirred considerable public debate.

In Burma, homosexuality is not illegal, although sodomy is. Section 377 of the county's penal code states: "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal," is punishable by ten years to life imprisonment. The wording of the law means some heterosexual acts are also illegal. However these days prosecutions are rare.

At a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights conference in Yangon, Aung Myo Min, LBGT and human rights activist, said the law is flawed.

"The law itself has flaws. It also talks about acts against women but it is threatening to us. There is no actual law against homosexuality," he said.

After Tin Ko Ko and Myo Min Htets's celebration, rumours spread that the police were investigating them, a claim that Tin Ko Ko said was also untrue.

"Actually, they didn’t interview us and the police didn’t take any action against us. They got their information from Facebook. The deputy station officer from the western district police station had already stated that the police had not brought us in for questioning," said Tin Ko Ko.

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He went on to say that they didn't have any problems with the police.

"When we finished the anniversary celebration, we both just left and went to work. There was no problem," he said.

Tin Ko Ko is a member of LGBT rights group Kings N Queens. And Myo Min Htet works as a project manager for an organisation that assists LGBT people with healthcare.

Despite their work with the community they said their tenth anniversary celebration was not an event to get international attention advocating LGBT rights.

"We care for each other and we often ask each other for help. We are like a family and we enjoy it. That is all," Tin Ko Ko said.

There is no legal protection for LGBT people in Burma and they face widespread social discrimination and police persecution.

Tin Ko Ko's friend Ngel Ngel is a well-known beautician in Rangoon. He has suffered years of bullying from his former colleagues for wearing make-up and women's clothes.

He left home because he couldn't stand his father's disapproval.

"In school they said a boy must be like a boy and a girl must be like a girl. They believe that we are unnatural. I wanted to live in my own style, so I had to fight against all of them," he said.

However Ngel Ngel believes that attitudes towards the LGBT community are slowly changing.

"In the past, everybody criticised us. Now people are becoming more aware and it is encouraging for people like me," he said.

After their big celebration and the following press interest, Tin Ko Ko and Myo Min Htet looked forward to getting back to normal.

"Like the past ten years, we will try to understand each other. We will build understanding between us. But I'm worried there may be repercussions for what we did," said Tin Ko Ko.

"We won't change," Myo Min Htet said with a smile. "We are still the same as we were ten years ago."

The battle for Burma’s crowded skies

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 09:20 PM PDT

With Burma’s eighth domestic airline taking to the skies last month and another three set to follow suit, the country's civil aviation sector is overcrowded, and on the whole, unprofitable. However some suggest that increased competition will precipitate a shake-up of the sector, which still has much to be desired in terms of its safety record and infrastructure.

“Frankly, there are too many airlines. That’s what everybody is saying,” said Kyaw Myo, the CEO of the newest arrival in Burmese skies, Mann Yatanarpon.

It seems that 2014 will be a decisive year in determining the winners and losers of the civil aviation sector, and that this will necessarily shift the focus onto boosting low expectations among Burma’s regular passengers.

“I’ve flown pretty much all the carriers and they are basically all the same. The on-board food is a bit funny at times, but all in all, so long as it stays in the sky, I’m a happy man,” said Australian engineer Peter Lloyd.

In October last year, Win Swe Tun, deputy director of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), told Reuters that Burma’s accident rate is “nine times higher” than the global average.

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“Any airline, whether international or domestic, tends to become complacent after establishing a reputation,” Kyaw Myo told DVB, before adding: “[Mann Yatanarpon] will offer better service … both on the ground and in-flight.”

However as it stands now, the vast majority of domestic airlines remain unprofitable. Air KBZ is one of the few exceptions, and it wasn’t until recently that things began to turn around for the airline. Air KBZ is owned by Kanbawza Bank, which has the largest capital base in the country.

"In our first and second years we were losing money,” Myat Thu, Air KBZ’s general manager told DVB. He said that when Air KBZ upped its fleet to six aircraft – more than any other – that operational costs began to drop and schedules became more convenient for customers, as it was able to offer more direct flights than its rivals.

Air KBZ also benefitted from introducing a computerised reservation system (CRS) to issue e-tickets.

“Thanks to CRS I can block out the seats booked on various routes – there’s no human error. For two years we were doing it manually, using paper and pen. It was lots of work and there were lots of mistakes,” Myat Thu said.

Air KBZ currently has a 30 percent market share and sold nearly 240,000 seats during the previous financial year.

An ongoing inconvenience for passengers is the inability to purchase flights online from domestic airlines – however Myat Thu said that KBZ is “working on it”.

And surprisingly, despite wide consumer choice – including two low cost carriers, Air Asia and Golden Myanmar Airlines – discounted fares are rare.

"We’re starting with a promotional period of three months but instead of offering promotional fares, we’re giving passengers souvenirs, such as t-shirts or coffee mugs,” said Kyaw Myo of Mann Yatanarpon.

Standard airlines offer comparable fares and while KBZ’s are on the whole slightly more expensive, it was only recently that the airline introduced an alternative to the flat fare.

Those who book six months in advance have “a chance of getting a cheaper flight – maybe 5 percent,” said Myat Thu.

“If we get involved in a price war, we won’t make money,” Myat Thu said, before explaining that discounts won’t be available during the high season because the demand for tickets simply wouldn’t justify it.

“There are lots of tourists coming in,” he added.

According to figures from the Ministry of Tourism, more than two million tourists visited Myanmar in 2013 – a two-fold increase on 2012.

“Although Myanmar has a population of around 60 million, even by a conservative estimate I’d say that that no more than 20 million would actually be able to afford a flight,” said Myat Thu.

However despite the fact that each of the domestic airlines operates a route between the commercial capital of Rangoon and the administrative capital of Naypyidaw, FMI’s charter flight, which uses Air KBZ’s fleet, costs a whopping US$160 for the one-hour journey.

Yet according to Myat Thu, the plane is “full every time".

Kyaw Myo, who is also an advisor to the Department of Civil Aviation, said that all new airlines must be based at either Mandalay or Naypyidaw due to existing congestion at Yangon International Airport.

Plans are underway to build a state of the art international airport in Pegu [Bago] Region, which is 80 km from Rangoon, and it is slated for completion in 2018.

In the 1950s, prior to the military regime’s takeover in 1962, Burma was considered an Asian aviation hub: however restoring that former position will be no easy task, if at all possible, having long ago been overtaken by Bangkok and Singapore.

“It will be very hard to regain our position. It certainly won’t happen in five years' time. If the [political] situation in Bangkok were to continue … then maybe. But then there’s Singapore’s Changi,” said Myat Thu.

“It would be very difficult to compete with Bangkok. Myanmar could become a secondary hub, perhaps in 15 years from now,” said Kyaw Myo.

Although Myat Thu described Burma’s civil aviation sector as “really booming", Kyaw Myo stressed that the government will be instrumental in determining its measure of success.

"The future of the industry depends a lot on the air transport policy of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the Ministry of Transport. It could make [the sector] more sustainable.”

On the opening of the three-day Myanmar Civil Aviation Development Conference on Monday, DCA's director-general Tin Naing Tun gave a press conference about Burma's aviation "master plan" for 2014. Details were scarce, but included helping local airlines to become more competitive regionally, liberalising the sector's regulations and creating direct flights to countries outside Southeast Asia, such as Europe and America. How this will be achieved, however, remains to be seen.

“Whether you say it’s our expectation or our dream, we will put infrastructure and strategic plans in place to get our position as an aviation hub back in 2030,” said Tin Naing Tun.

Hundreds of villages in central Burma suffer acute water shortage

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 08:43 PM PDT

Nearly 200 villages in central Burma are suffering from acute water shortages, according to the Civil Society Network, an NGO that has begun an emergency import of potable water to village tracts in the area around Mount Popa in Mandalay Division where wells have yielded water contaminated by disease.

The wells themselves were a local government initiative to relieve water shortages, which have grown ever more severe as the long dry season has carried on.

Ko Phyo of Civil Society Network said the number of affected villages is much higher than previously thought: "We heard that nearly ten villages were suffering from water shortages. The main problem was a shortage of drinking water. There are 150 villages lacking drinking water shortage because the water from pump wells is not fit to drink due to diseases."

Kyaukpadaung resident Aye Myint Yee confirmed that the government pumps are not working.

"The pump well cannot produce enough and the taste of water is bitter," she said.

However the government has declined to truck water into towns that have been supplied with the pumps.

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Aung Pyi, who heads the Kyaukpadaung Township Development Committee, said that the 65 pump wells, dug in conjunction with the Mandalay government, were sufficient sources of water.

"There is no problem with drinking water in most of the places where we have dug the wells," he said.

Regulations on the digging of private wells has also added to the water shortage problem, say villagers from Taungthar Township, also in Mandalay Division.

This has forced the Civil Society Network, which last year distributed water only to villages in Kyaukpadaung Township, to extend their water deliveries into Nyaung Oo Township in Mandalay Division and Chauk Township in Magwe Division.

Water shortages are not unusual in central Burma during the dry season.
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