Friday, March 28, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

British School to Open in Rangoon, Offer UK Curriculum to Meet Education Demands

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 06:48 AM PDT

UK, British school, education, Yangon, Myanmar, business, UN, Coca Cola, foreign investment

British International School will open in Rangoon in August. (Photo: British International School)

RANGOON — In a further sign of Burma's rapid opening-up, the British School Foundation, a prestigious international education organization, announced plans to open a British International School in Rangoon on Thursday to meet growing demand for world-class education in the country.

At the opening ceremony at the British Ambassador's Residence in Rangoon, deputy headmaster Adam Johnson said he foresaw an influx of expatriate families taking up jobs in Burma, which is expecting a rapid increase in economic growth, foreign investment and international aid.

"We will target British expat families at first, but everybody can come and look at our school. We feel that there is a growing market here in Yangon," said Johnson, adding that the school would offer education at the highest international levels.

"We have very strong links with universities around the world. If the children come to our school, they will learn the English national curriculum. They can join universities both in the United Kingdom and the US," he said.

In addition to the British national curriculum, the school will also provide additional learning opportunities for pupils, such as through sports, music, drama and educational trips, according to Johnson.

The school is scheduled to open in August with a campus located close to Inya Lake on Insein Road and will at first offer classes from pre-nursery to primary school levels.

"We will open the school for what we called "Early Year and Primary" in August this year for children of age 2 until 10. The school will grow every year," said Ola Natvig, director of the British International School Yangon, adding that 100 to 150 students are expected to enroll in August.

"We learned there is a big need. There are not enough international quality schools in Yangon. We looked at the market and we realized there is big shortage. All schools are quite full. There is also big demand for British style education. There not so many schools that are providing the English national curriculum," said Natvig.

"We saw there is a big need for education and many companies told us there are big problems to recruit people to Yangon because they have nowhere to put their children. So, we decided to enter the market," he said, adding that for example the UN and Coca Cola had informed the school of this demand.

Natvig said the school complex was expected to expand in the future and include sport facilities, a theater, swimming pool and a library, adding that the school expects to have about 1,000 students two years from now.

The British International School Yangon falls under the British Schools Foundation, a UK registered non-profit organization that promotes quality British-style education worldwide. It has ten schools in nine countries.

Annual tuition and school fees range from $10,800 per year for pre-nursery care, to $19,300 per year for primary school classes 1 to 6, the school said on its website.

The post British School to Open in Rangoon, Offer UK Curriculum to Meet Education Demands appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

‘The Elders’ Call for Burma’s Peace, Transition to Be More Inclusive

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 06:41 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, Chiang Mai, Thailand, The Elders, Nelson Mandela, Thein Sein, Martti Ahtisaari, Gro Harlem Bruntland

The Elders visit Shwe Zet, a camp for internally displaced persons run by the Kachin Baptist Convention, near Myitkyina, Kachin state, on Wednesday. (Photo: Kaung Htet / The Elders)

CHIANG MAI — A delegation from The Elders—a group of independent world leaders visiting Burma and the Burmese community in Thailand this week—said Friday they would urge the international community to push for Burma's peace process and transition to be more inclusive.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy on Friday in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, members of the group said that "mistrust" between the government, ethnic groups and civil society appeared to be a major issue in Burma's progress.

"We have been involved with conflicts all over the world. I don't think conflict in Myanmar is any different from those in a sense. There is enormous mistrust," said Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and a Nobel peace laureate, who has been a mediator in ending other armed conflicts.

The delegation—led by the deputy chair of The Elders, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland—met with Burma President Thein Sein and Burma Army Commander in Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, as well as with the chief minister of Kachin State and civil society groups in Myitkyina, Kachin State.

The group's second delegation to Burma in six months on Wednesday visited the Shwe Zet camp for internally displaced persons—one of the camps near Myitkyina housing those affected by the conflict between Kachin rebels and the government.

Harlem Bruntland said the purpose of the visit was to listen to as many voices as possible, from different groups in Burma, and to discuss ways The Elders can give their support.

The Elders on Thursday visited Dr. Cynthia Maung's Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, and the Mae La border camp for mainly ethnic Karen refugees on the Thai-Burmese border who have fled decades of civil war.

Harlem Bruntland, the former director general of the World Health Organization, said The Elders "will argue and encourage a more inclusive process, to listen to the different groups and including thinking about the importance of the expertise and the training that has been going on, on health and education, in the border areas here, so that that capacity does not get lost."

Despite mistrust and concerns about the peace process and the current changes in Burma, Harlem Bruntland said she was "glad to hear" that people in the border areas expressed that "changes have already happened" in the country.

The Elders—founded in 2007 by a group including the late Nelson Mandela with the intention of using their collective experience and influence for peace, justice and human rights worldwide—have made efforts to support Burma's political reforms.

The group made its first visit to Burma in September last year to hear various perspectives on the country's future and met President Thein Sein, Min Aung Hlaing, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ex-political prisoners, parliamentarians, civil society groups and religious leaders.

The post 'The Elders' Call for Burma's Peace, Transition to Be More Inclusive appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Shine’s Off the Apple as Burma Govt Marks Three Years

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 06:33 AM PDT

President Thein Sein's speech to Parliament this week, marking the third anniversary of his government, received a lukewarm reception among the Burmese public, adding to indications that doubts are growing over the direction and substance of the country's reform process.

Why the subdued reaction? I would posit that the reason can be traced to the fact that for ordinary Burmese, life on the ground in Burma is not so different today than it was in the days when senior generals in full-on military garb ruled the country. An increasingly skeptical public sees a "new Burma" in which power remains in the same old hands.

The message from the "reformist" Thein Sein was intended to showcase his government's achievements these past three years, but in this a tone of caution was unmistakable.

The former general stressed the need for a smooth transition and emphasized the ongoing peace process in ethnic minority regions. Other issues were notably absent from his remarks, and it's not hard to guess why. The wide-ranging reform platform that he set out to enact three years ago is seeing a shrinking number of planks on which his administration can stand surefootedly. There has been no economic miracle, no end to politically motivated arrests and no change to the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the country's political system.

It looks like the eggs of Thein Sein's presidency are increasingly placed in one basket: the peace process with Burma's ethnic minorities. His recent trip to Kachin State seemed designed to sell the government's peace push, and indeed, ethnic reconciliation plays well with the international audience and donor countries. Even on this front, however, ethnic groups remain wary, distrustful of the powerful military and its proxy government.

It is important to note that the president also made no mention of clean government, good governance, anticorruption or poverty alleviation—all things he had prioritized in previous speeches, promising some measure of achievement on all of these fronts. He and his team know well that these are issues that they cannot possibly deliver on before national elections next year.

On the matter of amending the 2008 Constitution, Thein Sein could step up to the plate, but on Wednesday he only elusively offered his support for "softly and gently" amending the charter, and in the same speech affirmed that the military would continue to have a role in the country's politics.

Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org.

"Past history and current world affairs have shown us that it is of utmost importance for small countries like ours to safeguard our sovereignty and to rely on our own resources," he said. "In this regard, it is vital that our armed forces are modern and strong, in order to defend and secure our country. Our armed forces will continue to play a role in our democratic transition."

As much as what has been said in reaction to the president's speech, the lack of much noise is equally telling—the excitement and expectations that were raised three years ago are gone.

Though Thein Sein in his speech claimed the country would "be able to steadily reduce the role of our armed forces as we mature in democracy," that institution's most powerful figure may not be of the same view.

The next day, as the country celebrated the 69th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing splashed water all over Thein Sein's tepid acknowledgement of popular support for constitutional change.

"We have to respect the desire of the voters, 92.48 percent of the whole population," Min Aung Hlaing said, referring to the percentage of voters who purportedly voted in favor of the charter in a sham referendum.

"The reform [of the charter] must be done following the law prescribed in [the Constitution's] Chapter 12: Reforming of the Constitution," he added, this time in reference to the part of the charter that gives the military an effective veto over amendments.

Unlike in the past, you can see the Thein Sein government struggling to sell itself to both domestic and international audiences. Inside the country, many people long ago stopped buying his high-minded rhetoric, but those words seem to have had more mileage with the Western crowd.

But even that sell will be increasingly difficult for the administration.

Over the past two years, the country has faced serious outbreaks of violence between Buddhists and Muslims, an issue that has had regional repercussions and brought international condemnation, with no end to the internal conflict in sight.

To make matters worse, the government seems to think a solution lies in promoting a nationalism that looks very likely to exacerbate the problem.

On Feb. 25, the president sent a message to Parliament requesting that four laws—related to religious conversion, marriage, monogamy and population control—be enacted with the purpose of protecting race and religion, and safeguarding the national interest. In prioritizing the "protection of race and religion," the president risks stoking a nationalistic impulse in the country that could inflame tensions even more.

The latest episode in Arakan State, which has seen international NGOs flee the strife-prone region, should serve to further dampen the feting of this government as it enters its fourth year. Often overlooked by those eager to heap praise on Burma's government is the fact that Thein Sein was hand-picked by Snr-Gen Than Shwe to succeed him and implement a laughably termed "road map to democracy." The former's true colors are starting to show, and his contrasts with the latter are far less stark than many would like to believe.

All in all, at the three-year anniversary of Thein Sein's reformist government, Burma finds itself more divided than ever.

There are many more people watching the country than there were when Thein Sein was sworn in three years ago. Let's hope they can see through the empty rhetoric and start talking critically about the reality on the ground.

The post Shine's Off the Apple as Burma Govt Marks Three Years appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Aid Workers Flee, Girl Killed as Attacks Continue in Sittwe

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 04:16 AM PDT

Rohingya, Muslim, Buddhism, UN, Arakan, Myanmar, Rakhine, Sittwe, human rights, MSF, US, EU, religious conflict

A WFP warehouse in Sittwe was attacked by Buddhist mobs on Thursday. (Photo: Facebook/Myanmar Police Force)

RANGOON — The Arakan State capital Sittwe was rocked by a second day of attacks on the offices of international aid groups on Thursday, as Arakanese Buddhists sought to chase out humanitarian organizations providing support for the Rohingya Muslim minority, officials and residents said.

An Arakanese girl was killed after she was injured by a police bullet that was fired when police tried to disperse angry crowds, an official said.

The outburst of violence was reportedly prompted by Arakanese anger over the planned UN-backed census. The attacks have drawn condemnation from the UN, the European Union and the United States government.

Win Myaing, an Arakan State spokesman, told The Irrawaddy that an 11-year-old girl died this morning as a result of her injuries which she sustained on Thursday around 4 pm.

"The girl died, but not because of shooting at her. While the police were trying to restore security they fired their guns where there was violence, but the bullet hit her while she was in another place," he said.

Win Myaing said the situation was "stable" on Friday afternoon, a claim the spokesman had also made a day earlier. He said all aid workers had been evacuated from Sittwe by airplane. Asked if local authorities would help arrange the return of the aid workers soon, Win Myaing said, "No, we don't have a plan."

Offices of more than a dozen UN and international NGOs were destroyed by Arakanese mobs and more than 100 aid workers, both foreign and Burmese, have been forced to flee Sittwe, The Irrawaddy has learned.

The state capital is the hub of large-scale operations of a host of aid agencies, such as the World Food Program, UNHCR, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Committee for the Red Cross, and Malteser International.

The organizations provide food, health care, water and sanitation care to more than 140,000 people in northern Arakan, mostly Rohingyas displaced by inter-communal violence, but also to impoverished Buddhist communities.

Thein Tun Aye, a local resident, said he visited Sittwe airport this morning and saw a large group of aid workers wait for an Air Bagan flight to Rangoon. "All aid workers are leaving from here," he said.

Kyaw San, another Sittwe resident, said some residents had even attempted to block the access to road to the airport to prevent aid workers from leaving. "The situation is bad here. Some aid workers have to go and hide for their safety," he said.

Violence first erupted on Wednesday night, when some Sittwe residents claimed that a foreign staff member of Malteser International had improperly handled a Buddhist flag when she removed it from a building that the organization rented.

The claims quickly proved an excuse for the residents of Sittwe to attack all international aid offices, while some mobs also went in search of the private residences of foreign staffers in order to try to break into their homes. Aid workers were brought to safety and stayed at Sittwe police station.

Violence continued on Thursday night, and more than 20 office buildings and aid supply storage facilities were reportedly ransacked. State-owned media reported that police fired more than 120 warning shots to disperse mobs of several hundred people in several parts of the town.

The UN, US and EU missions in Burma condemned the attacks in statements issued on Thursday.

"We are deeply concerned by mob violence in Sittwe over the past day targeting international NGOs that has resulted in the destruction of property and the emergency relocation of international aid workers," the US Embassy said.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burma Toily Kurbanov said the UN agencies were determined to resume aid in Arakan State and he urged "the authorities to ensure an appropriate response is provided and perpetrators are held accountable."

The Arakan State government has said it will conduct an investigation into the attacks, state media reported.

Northern Arakan State saw waves of violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in 2012 that left scores dead and more than 140,000 people displaced. Tensions in the state and Sittwe remain high.

The Buddhist community is virulently anti-Rohingya—a stateless, impoverished minority—and oppose any international humanitarian aid support for the group, which suffers from malnutrition and a range of other health problems as a result of a lack access to government services. Last month, Arakanese public demonstrations led the government to suspend the work of Medicine Sans Frontier (MSF) Holland in Arakan State.

In recent weeks, the Arakanese community, whipped up by visiting nationalist monk U Wirathu, voiced their anger over the UN-backed census, as it would allow Rohingya respondents to fill in their ethnicity as they wish, in accordance with international census standards.

The Arakanese community—and the Burma government—object to the Muslim group calling themselves native Rohingya and refer to them as "Bengalis," to suggest most are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The Sittwe aid community had been expecting the attacks on their offices because the starting date of the census is near and aid deliveries were completed last week in anticipation of the troubles, The Irrawaddy understands.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a statement Friday evening that it is "concerned by reports linking the riots to mounting tensions in Rakhine State in relation to the Myanmar census" scheduled to start on March 30.

UNFPA said the census can only be carried out properly "if safety and security of enumerators and respondents is assured," adding, however, that it will stick with the census methodology in which respondents can self-identify their ethnicity. "This commitment cannot be honored selectively in the face of intimidation or threats of violence," the UN agency said.

Be Than, a lawmaker for the Arakan National Party, said the methodology of the planned census had angered the local Buddhist population, adding that the alleged improper handling of a Buddhist flag had provided the spark for the outburst of violence against aid workers.

"Our people believe in their minds that most NGOs take only one side [of the Rohingya]. The houses they rent as offices belong to our Arakanese people. The NGOs should think about having the [Buddhist] flags at their buildings," he said, adding that all of Sittwe residents had put Buddhist flags on their homes and vehicles to signal a boycott of the census.

Sittwe is a predominantly Buddhist after the 70,000 Muslims were chased out during a bloody outburst of violence in 2012.

Rohingya activists, meanwhile, said the suspension of aid support was having an immediate impact on the Muslims in the camps, isolated villages and in the last remaining Muslim neighborhood in Sittwe, Aung Mingalar.

"They destroyed warehouses of WFP. Without rations from WFP, what are our people going to eat? There will be a lot of problems," said Aung Win, an activist and resident of Aung Mingalar. He said even trade in and out of the neighborhood had to come to a standstill because of the unrest, and food and commodity prices in the area are rising rapidly.

Aung Win said Muslim residents were also concerned over their security since there were no more foreign observers left in Sittwe. "Our people are very worried they will become the target next. They are waiting to watch the situation," he said.

Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze. This story was updated on Friday March 28, 2014, around 6 pm.

The post Aid Workers Flee, Girl Killed as Attacks Continue in Sittwe appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai-Run Gas Field to Help Meet Burma’s Power Needs

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 04:09 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, PTTEP, PTT Exploration and Production, Zawtike, gas, offshore, Thailand, Mon State, Yangon, Rangoon, power supply

A boy exercises on a beach outside Pyar Pon Township as ships involved in the construction of a Yadana underwater gas pipeline project are moored in the background, May 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — A portion of gas from an offshore field that was recently brought online by Thailand's state-run energy firm PTT Exploration and Production will go toward use in Rangoon and Mon State, Tin Nilar Soe, a PTTEP communications officer, told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The Zawtika gas field in the Gulf of Martaban began producing earlier this month, and its production is distributed for delivery after first passing through a receiving station run by Burma's state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Kanbauk, Tenasserim Division. From there, some of the gas will be used to fuel a power plant in neighboring Mon State, while other product will be piped onward to Rangoon, where it will also be used for power generation in the commercial capital.

The Zawtika supply will help provide power for industrial operations in Mon State cities such as Moulmein, Myaingalay and Thaton, and in the Sittaung region, the PTTEP spokeswoman said. A pipeline linking Kanbauk to Rangoon will supply Burma's largest city with a portion of the Zawtika gas output as well.

"The Zawtika sale point to MOGE is at Kanbauk. MOGE is arranging with the end-user customers," Tin Nilar Soe said.

In a press release on Monday, PTTEP said the project, in which it holds a majority 80 percent share, began sending natural gas onshore on March 14. MOGE holds the remaining 20 percent stake in the Zawtika field.

"The starting deliver rate is 50 million standard cubic feet per day [MMSCFD] and will increase the rate up to 100 million [MMSCFD] by April 2014 to meet domestic growing energy demand as well as to support the economic development of Myanmar," the press release stated.

PTTEP is also a partner in the Yadana field operated by Total E&P Myanmar. The Yadana project last year provided gas to Burma amounting to about 150 MMSCFD and the supply recently increased to approximately 200 MMSCFD, according to Tin Nilar Soe.

"Zawtika will supply gas to Myanmar at a maximum of 100 MMSCFD," she added.

Combined, PTTEP's Yadana and Zawtika operations will supply Burma with about 300 MMSCFD. Zawtika is expected to produce a maximum 345 MMSCFD, of which 100 MMSCFD will be supplied to Burma and the remaining 245 MMSCFD slated for export to Thailand.

At the end of February, PTTEP, Thailand's biggest oil and gas company, announced that it would invest US$3.3 billion in Burma over five years. PTTEP is working in four offshore blocks in the Gulf of Martaban, as well as at three onshore oil and gas projects in central Burma.

PTTEP holds a 25 percent stake in the Yadana gas field and also claims 19 percent of the Yetagun field. The two offshore natural gas projects are being developed by Total of France and Petronas of Malaysia, respectively, in partnership with MOGE.

Burma's Ministry of Energy this week announced tender winners for the exploration of 20 offshore oil and gas blocks, which were awarded to both Western and Asian companies. PTTEP was not among winning bidders of the latest tender.

The post Thai-Run Gas Field to Help Meet Burma's Power Needs appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

National Education Bill Rejected by NLD-Backed Group

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 04:05 AM PDT

National Network for Education Reform, Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, education, academic freedom, reform

Students study at a private school in Rangoon (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The National Network for Education Reform (NNER) has rejected a government-drafted national education bill submitted to Parliament earlier this month.

The NNER, a civil society group which includes the education bloc of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, says the proposed legislation gives the government too much control over the school system.

"The NNER has suggested academic freedom that reduces central control," Thu Thu Mar, the education policy coordinator of the NNER's working committee, told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The National Education Bill was drafted by the government's Education Promotion Implementation Committee (EPIC) and announced in state newspapers last week.

Another education bill has been drafted by the Lower House of Parliament but has not yet been shared with the public. The two bills were both submitted to Union Parliament on March 13 and are expected to be discussed at the same time.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the NNER criticized a provision in the government's bill that would see the creation of a National Education Council comprising the vice president, ministers and other government officials.

"This is similar to the national education committee formed during the military regime. The National Education Council is another form of central control," the network said in the statement.

"Though the law includes some suggestions from the NNER's education policy, the government's central control in the education sector is still obvious. The academic freedom of students and teachers is still under their control, and there are remaining concerns over freedom for ethnic languages and curriculum."

Thu Thu Mar said the government rushed through drafting the bill and failed to consult with members of the public before submitting it to Parliament.

"Educational policy should be discussed, with academic and public debate," she said. "Based on these results, Parliament can pass a national education law and then the education department can implement it.

The NNER is a diverse network that also includes the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, members of teachers' unions, Buddhists monks and ethnic education groups.

The network formed in 2012 and has held seminars across the country to discuss education reform. In June last year it organized a national conference attended by 1,200 participants. After that, it sent a report with recommendations to lawmakers and the government.

These recommendations have not been formally discussed in Parliament. NLD lawmakers say they support the recommendations but are waiting for MPs from another party to call for formal discussion, fearing the proposals will be rejected if the opposition party brings them forward.

The post National Education Bill Rejected by NLD-Backed Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Shedding Some Light on the Blacklist

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 03:23 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, Crony, blacklist, businessman, Tay Za, Air bagan,

The US Treasury Department building in Washington D.C. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control keeps a list of individuals with whom American companies cannot do business. (Photo: Florian Hirzinger / Wikimedia Commons)

RANGOON — Although most economic sanctions applied by the United States against Burma have been suspended, a number of businesspeople and companies with ties to the former military regime, or to arms or drug trafficking, remain sanctioned.

The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list held by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) keeps a record of who is still blacklisted. Some Burmese government officials have been removed from the list since US-Burma relations improved under the government of President Thein Sein, but many so-called cronies who worked closely with the military government during years of isolation remain listed.

Companies with operations in America that want to work in Burma must therefore be cautious about linking up with the wrong people, or face prosecution in the United States.

Eric Rose is lead director of Herzfeld Rubin Meyer and Rose, an American law firm with an office in Rangoon that provides advice both to US firms working in the country and to locals dealing with the implications of the SDN list.

Rose answered The Irrawaddy's questions by email, covering in his responses US companies' duties in relation to the SDN list, a recent case where an exception was required to deal with Air Bagan owner Tay Za, and efforts by Burmese to have themselves taken off the list.

Eric Rose, lead director of Herzfeld Rubin Meyer and Rose.

Question: Have there been any recent changes to the way the SDN list is being enforced, in general and specifically relating to Burma in light of the suspension of other sanctions?

Answer: As you know, the US sanctions have been partially suspended, but they remain in effect against most SDN-listed parties. One major exception is the issuance a year ago of OFAC Burma License 19, which allows financial transactions with four SDN-listed banks. Nevertheless, there have been indications that, for the first time, OFAC will consider favorably the receipt of applications for de-listing from a number of Myanmar SDNs, and several have already applied. There has been only one private Myanmar SDN de-listed (other than government officials), and the list was enlarged with several names last year. Issues concerning deals with North Korea have been at the core of the new listings.

Q: How much due diligence relating to the SDN list are US companies required to conduct ahead of entering with a local partner in Burma? If a link to a named individual or company comes to light later, what must the company do?

A: Any investor in Myanmar has to understand the market it enters and wisely choose whom to do business with. As Myanmar is considered a 'frontier' market, the foreign investor has to take the time to learn the market, investigate opportunities and be present in Myanmar when the right time comes. Due diligence is an essential aspect of this long-term effort, which should not cease once a party has conducted the preliminary investigation. Doing due diligence under these circumstances is an art form, not a mechanical exercise. An American individual or company which suddenly finds out that, despite his/its best due diligence efforts, he/it has failed to uncover relevant information has several ways to deal with the issue, in particular in light of the audit, compliance and reporting requirements it has to comply with.

Q: How can US companies apply to OFAC for an exception to deal with an SDN-listed party?

A:We have extensive experience in dealing with such filings for an OFAC license. For example, Air Bagan is an SDN-listed company. US citizens and businesses are prohibited from dealing with both SDNs, as well as with any entities 50 percent or more owned by an SDN. Last year, we secured in record time (five weeks) a license from OFAC in order to defend the rights of two passengers who were grievously injured in the crash at Heho airport…. Subsequently, Air Bagan's lawyers asked us to also secure an OFAC license for them, which we did in three weeks. The process requires a lot of interaction with the US Treasury Department and the State Department, and a specialized knowledge of how to handle such license applications.

Q: How does OFAC treat US companies that negotiate with listed individuals who may be still on—but expected shortly to be removed from—the SDN list?

A: This is like saying that someone can be half-pregnant. Not possible, right? Consequently, a US party should refrain from having any private contact with a SDN-listed party without an OFAC license. The penalties can be enormous: US$250,000 or more for an administrative sanction, and, upon conviction, over $1,000,000 in criminal penalties, plus imprisonment up to 20 years, or both, for those engaging in intentional violations of the Burmese Sanctions Regulations or Executive Orders concerning Myanmar.

Q: How do listed individuals get off the list? Can good deeds—like setting up a charitable foundation, for example, as some cronies have done—go some way to changing the US Treasury's view?

A: OFAC will look, first and foremost, at whether the SDN-listed party has ceased the behavior which caused it to be SDN-listed in the first place. Additional remedial steps, such as corporate reorganization, resignation of certain tainted persons from positions in the SDN-listed party, sales of assets, and other such steps will be very helpful in aiding the chances of success of the de-listing application. Charity work, or helping opposition parties and former political prisoners are helpful, but not relevant.

The post Shedding Some Light on the Blacklist appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Kyaukphyu Plan ‘Lacks Purpose’ If China Pipeline Problems Persist

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 03:08 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, Kyaukphyu, China, Yunnan, SEZ, special economic zone, oil, gas,

A map shows the Burmese-Chinese oil pipeline and the Shwe Gas Pipeline at Kyaukphyu in Arakan State, where a massive special economic zone is planned. (Photo: Irrawaddy)

Problems afflicting the oil and gas pipelines built by China through Burma could jeopardize the development of a special economic zone (SEZ) around Kyaukphyu on the Arakan State coast, an economist said.

Energy industry reports say the natural gas pipeline stretching from Kyaukphyu to China's Yunnan Province is operating at less than 20 percent of its capacity, five months after it was declared operational by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

This revelation, by Interfax Natural Gas Daily, comes on top of news that the chief purpose of the twin oil pipeline through Burma nearing completion by CNPC is in doubt.

Middle Eastern crude oil to be transshipped through Kyaukphyu was meant to feed a new giant 200,000 barrels-per-day refinery and petrochemicals complex in Yunnan's capital Kunming. However the complex, to have been built by CNPC, has been shelved until at least 2016 as part of cutbacks in China's over-invested refining industry.

"Kyaukphyu is dependent for its viability on being a transshipment point for energy resources to China," economist and noted expert on Burma Sean Turnell told The Irrawaddy. "In the absence of this, or in its significant under-use, the economic rationale for the location for an SEZ disappears rather quickly."

State-financed CNPC has spent an unknown sum of money developing a deep-water oil tanker terminal at Kyaukphyu, which is where undersea pipe links to the Shwe gas fields in the Bay of Bengal also come ashore.

China's official news agency Xinhua said last October that the gas pipeline had "gone into full operation."

But Interfax said in a new report on the pipeline: "More than seven months after its commissioning ceremony, the pipeline is handling a fraction of its designed capacity of 12 billion cubic meters (cm) per year, according to Chinese customs data.

"Imports climbed to 56.92 million cm in November, 141.29 million cm in December and 166.02 million cm in January. However, that amounts to less than 20% of the pipeline's capacity.

"Marketing projections by CNPC had suggested it would initially run at 50% of capacity."

The South Korean-Indian business consortium developing the Shwe project led by engineering giant Daewoo International is facing operational problems such as undersea drilling, said Interfax, citing industry sources.
The London-based gas industry specialists cast doubt on CNPC's trans-Burma pipeline ever achieving full capacity throughput without obtaining gas from sources other the Shwe field.

"As CNPC's offtake [from Shwe] is equivalent to 4 billion cm per year, analysts have questioned where the additional gas will come from to exploit the pipeline's designed 12 billion cm capacity.

"New discoveries and new developments for the pipeline could come, but so far, it's not there yet," Kang Wu, head of Asia operations at Facts Global Energy, told Interfax.

"You can speculate, say it will be filled up. Maybe that will be true, but so far, the development is not concrete enough to say the rest of the pipeline will be filled up soon," Interfax quoted Kang Wu as saying.

The Ministry of Energy this week named international energy firms as the winners of tenders on 20 offshore blocks to explore for oil and gas, but new gas coming from the seabed in these areas is years off. And the Naypyidaw government has already declared it will not permit the export of any more domestically produced natural gas resources—beyond those agreements already signed, mainly by the former military regime—until all of Burma's energy needs are met.

The government last September invited tender bids from Burmese and foreign companies for contracts to develop an SEZ around Kyaukphyu. A government outline proposal is for a zone of 120 square kilometers including all of Ramree Island and adjoining on the mainland. An international consortium led by Singapore's CPG Corporation was this month awarded the consulting tender for the project, and a tender to develop the SEZ is expected to close in November.

A Chinese state-owned firm, China Railways Engineering Corporation, last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Naypyidaw to build an 800-kilometer railway linking Yunnan Province with the proposed SEZ.

Turnell, based at Macquarie University in Australia and co-editor of Burma Economic Watch Bulletin, told The Irrawaddy: "Unlike other SEZ locations, which have advantages for the transshipment of other goods, Kyaukphyu is really just about energy."

In an earlier interview, Turnell said he doubted whether there would be a great deal of interest in an SEZ linked to a Kyaukphyu port other than from China and its old rival in the region, India.

The Shwe Gas Movement, a domestic rights group, continues to call for more transparency and fairness for local people in Kyaukphyu developments.

"The primary direct consequences of the Shwe Gas project are land confiscation, labor abuse, loss of livelihoods and environmental degradation," the group alleges.

"Given that Burma's transition from military dictatorship to a quasi-civilian government is still in an early and precarious stage, some of the abuses associated with this project are ongoing, and new problems have emerged."

The post Kyaukphyu Plan 'Lacks Purpose' If China Pipeline Problems Persist appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Water Supply Strains to Meet Demands of Growing Rangoon

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 01:24 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, water supply, Rangoon, Yangon, YCDC

Men dig up an area in preparation to lay a water pipe in Rangoon's North Dagon Township. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — As the noontime temperature soared into the high 30s, Tin Oo helped sister Nyaunt Myint, 70, onto a timber bench in the front yard of the family's home in northern Rangoon.

As the older sister propped her head under a folded towel, Tin Oo, 63, looked on. "She's not feeling so well in this weather, and the water situation does not help," said Tin Oo, voice raised above the sonorous incantations blaring out of a nearby Buddhist monastery.

There's nothing as dramatic as a drought here, but clean water is hard to come by in this suburb of Burma's biggest city. Here in North Dagon, some residents drill their own backyard wells, hoping to tap groundwater, while others, like Tin Oo's family, depend on hand pumps set up in the yard and connected to a leaf-covered lake nearby.

Cranking the rusty old pump is heavy work for the elderly, with the hot season now reaching its peak. But for other, less well-off families in the area, getting water means ferrying buckets and jerrycans from the lake—work best left to the young in such heat.

And while millions gear up for Thingyan, the Buddhist New Year celebration marked by a weeklong festival in which revelers douse each other with water, other Burmese have more mundane water matters on their minds.

Pressure on Rangoon's water supply is growing as the urban population increases and construction work on new buildings and roads puts greater demand on the main pipe feeding the city.

Burma's urban population growth is more than two times the national population growth rate, according to Hlaing Maw Oo, the assistant director of the Department of Human Settlement & Housing Development (DHSHD), part of Burma's Ministry of Construction. "Even with a rural development strategy, that urbanization will speed up," she told a gathering of officials and businesspeople at the Myanmar Investment Summit 2014 held in Rangoon recently.

"There is even less water than last year for us to use. Since then, many new families have moved into this area, from the countryside, and from the downtown [in Rangoon]," explained Tin Oo. "Now, even though it is so hot, we only bathe once a day, at nighttime."

Tin Oo and Nyaunt Myint contend that the lake water is fine to drink, but that assessment is not shared by neighbor Aye Chan, a young bank official.

"We buy about four of these a week," she said, pointing to a drum of drinking water perched upside-down on a steel stand, a tin cup poised on a footstool beneath.

Her family—better-off than most of the neighborhood—installed an electric pump priced at 30,000 kyats (US$31), just over two years ago. "It was worth it, but sometimes the power goes off, so we have to use the old hand pump," Aye Chan said.

While estimates suggest that less than half of Rangoon's 6 million or so population is connected to the main public water system, there is insufficient information about the water supply in Burma, particularly when it comes to assessing whether water is safe to drink.

According to a 2013 article in The Scientific World Journal, "very few water-quality data are currently available," wrote the Japanese authors, who added that "To the best of our knowledge, only a single water-quality survey has been conducted."

In Rangoon, Burma's commercial capital, the public water supply is prone to leakage and waste, with up to 60 percent of water lost, according to some estimates. It's a problem that city bosses at the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) have commissioned Tokyo-based Mitsubishi and Manila Water, a Filipino company that has worked on plugging water supply seepages in the Philippines and Vietnam, to sort out.

Fixing the water supply is part of a Japan-backed blueprint for a projected $4.5 billion renovation of Burma's biggest city—one of the most dynamic and modern urban centers in Asia just after World War II.

Some developments are already happening. A new water supply system bringing clean water to around 40,000 people in Dagon Seikkan, an eastern part of Rangoon that has been blighted by land-grabs, is due to open in the coming months.

U Zaw, a local administrator for the Home Affairs Ministry in North Dagon, said the city aims to bring piped water to this part of Rangoon by 2015, perhaps in time for national elections due to take place late that year.

U Zaw said the groundwater in North Dagon is safe to drink, adding that he drinks it himself, but the Home Affairs official conceded that Burma's slow development affects how city dwellers use water. "The power goes off sometimes, so people cannot pump, or end up using less water," U Zaw said.

Cooling herself with a green, leaf-shaped plastic fan, Nyaunt Myint laughed when asked if she expected the proposal to connect her neighborhood to a city pipeline to help ease water shortages.

"They came here three years ago, asking questions about water supply and saying they were planning something. But we never heard back from them after that," she said. "Hopefully now things will be done differently."

The post Water Supply Strains to Meet Demands of Growing Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Grenade Attack on Thai Anti-Graft Office Ahead of PM Hearing

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 10:50 PM PDT

Thailand, Bangkok, civil unrest, political violence, Thaksin

Anti-government protesters stand at the entrance of the Royal Thai Police headquarters in central Bangkok Jan. 22, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Grenades were thrown at the offices of Thailand’s anti-corruption agency, which has summoned the prime minister to answer charges of dereliction of duty next week, as protesters trying to oust her prepared for a big weekend rally.

Nobody was injured in the overnight attack, the second on the agency’s offices this week, police said on Friday. It was not clear who threw the grenades. Supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra have been demonstrating at the building this week.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission is examining the alleged failure of Yingluck to stop corruption and stem huge losses in a government rice-buying program.

It is widely expected to recommend her impeachment by the Senate. If the Senate takes up the case, Yingluck will have to step aside, with a deputy prime minister expected to take over. If she is found guilty by the Senate, she has to step down.

Her supporters, who have been restrained during five months of anti-government protests in the capital, are starting to mobilize and are planning their own big rally, or series of rallies, on April 5.

Anti-government demonstrators resumed street protests on Monday after lying low for weeks. Their rally on Saturday is expected to draw up to 50,000 people Paradorn Pattanathabutr, a security adviser to the prime minister, told Reuters.

"We don’t expect any violence at the rally but provocateurs might try to stir trouble to discredit the government side," Paradorn said.

Thailand has been in crisis since former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck’s brother, was ousted in a 2006 coup. The conflict broadly pits the Bangkok-based middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of the Shinawatras.

The turmoil entered a fresh phase in November, when anti-government protesters first took to the streets, with 23 people killed during the political violence over the following months

The protesters disrupted a general election on Feb. 2 and the ballot was annulled by the Constitutional Court this month.

Yingluck heads a caretaker administration with limited powers, unable to take any big policy decisions binding on the next government.

The political paralysis is hurting the economy.

Data on Friday showed factory output fell 4.42 percent in February from a year before, the 11th fall in a row.

And although customs data on Wednesday logged a 2.4 percent rise in exports in February compared with a year before, imports plunged 16.6 percent after a 15.5 percent drop in January, showing the weakness of domestic demand and the reluctance of industry to invest in capital goods because of the crisis.

The post Grenade Attack on Thai Anti-Graft Office Ahead of PM Hearing appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Australia: ‘Credible lead’ Shifts Jet Search Area

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 10:39 PM PDT

Asia, MH370, Malaysia Airlines, Australia, 777, missing plane,

A navigation screen used by pilots aboard a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft shows their current location represented by a white circle during their mission to search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over the southern Indian Ocean March 27, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

PERTH, Australia — The search zone for the Malaysian airliner that crashed in the Indian Ocean nearly three weeks ago has shifted 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the northeast after new analysis of radar data suggested the plane flew faster than thought and used more fuel, which may have reduced the distance it traveled, Australia said Friday.

The revised search area comes as the weather cleared enough Friday to allow planes to hunt for fresh clues to the fate of the plane carrying 239 people that went missing March 8.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the change was based on new analysis provided by the international investigative team in Malaysia.

"This is a credible new lead and will be thoroughly investigated today," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday.

"This is an extraordinarily difficult search, and an agonizing wait for family and friends of the passengers and crew," he said. "We owe it to them to follow every credible lead and to keep the public informed of significant new developments. That is what we are doing."

According to continuing analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before contact was lost with the Boeing 777, the aircraft was traveling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel use and reducing the possible distance the aircraft could have flown into the Indian Ocean.

The new area is 319,000 square kilometers (123,000 square miles) and about 1,850 kilometers (1,250 miles) west of Perth, Australia, the launching area for the search. The pervious search area was more southwest and about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) from Perth.

The shift in search areas comes after searchers in planes and ships had scoured parts of the southern Indian Ocean for objects spotted bobbing in sea.

But strong winds and fast currents have made it difficult to pinpoint them, and the search for the plane has yet to produce a single piece of debris—not to mention its so-called black boxes, which could solve the mystery of why the jet, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, flew so far off-course.

For relatives of the 239 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the various clues and failed searches so far have just added to their agonizing waits.

Wang Zhen, whose parents were aboard the missing plane, said in a telephone interview in Beijing that he was becoming exasperated.

"There is nothing I can do but to wait, and wait," he said. "I'm also furious, but what is the use of getting furious?"

In the last week, Japan, Thailand and France have all said their satellites had picked up images of objects that could be debris from the plane. Most of the objects have measured from about 1 meter (3 feet) to about 20 meters (65 feet). Those sightings were in an area southwest of the new zone, and none have been found yet.

Japan's Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office said the objects its satellite spotted were located about 2,500 kilometers (1,560 miles) southwest of Perth, which would place them in the same general area as the 122 objects spotted by a French satellite on Sunday.

A Thai satellite revealed about 300 objects about 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the southwest of the items seen by the Japanese and French satellites. The photos were taken Monday, one day after the French and two days before the Japanese.

A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said the U.S. has also been "sharing imagery as appropriate" with investigators, but he declined to say what it entailed.

It's unknown whether any of the objects detected by the various satellites were the same. Currents in the ocean can run a meter per second (about 2.2 mph) and wind also could move material.

If and when any bit of wreckage from Flight 370 is recovered and identified, searchers will be able to narrow their hunt for the rest of the Boeing 777 and its flight data and cockpit voice recorders. The plane was supposed to fly from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing but turned away from its route soon after takeoff and flew for several hours before crashing.

Malaysian officials said earlier this week that satellite data confirmed the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. On Thursday, Malaysia Airlines ran a full-page condolence advertisement with a black background in a major Malaysian newspaper.

"Our sincerest condolences go out to the loved ones of the 239 passengers, friends and colleagues. Words alone cannot express our enormous sorrow and pain," read the advertisement in the New Straits Times.

Officials still don't know why Flight 370 disappeared. Investigators have ruled out nothing — including mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.

Some speculation has focused on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, but his son, in an interview published Thursday in the New Straits Times, rejected the idea that his father might be to blame.

"I've read everything online, but I've ignored all the speculation," Ahmad Seth said. "I know my father better."

The post Australia: 'Credible lead' Shifts Jet Search Area appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Philippines and Muslim Rebel Group Sign Peace Deal

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 10:33 PM PDT

Philippines, rebels, Islam, Muslim, Bangsamoro, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, President Benigno Aquino III, Mindanao

Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panel chief Mohagher Iqbal, left, Malaysian Peace Facilitator Tengku Dato Abdul Ghafar Tenku Mohammed, center, and Miriam Coronel Ferrer, government of the Philippines peace panel chief negotiator, right, show the final peace pact after its signing ceremony. (Photo: Reuters / Romeo Ranoco)

MANILA — The Philippine government signed a peace accord with the country's largest Muslim rebel group on Thursday, the culmination of years of negotiations and a significant political achievement for President Benigno Aquino III.

The deal grants largely Muslim areas of the southern Mindanao region greater political autonomy in exchange for an end to armed rebellion. But it will not stop all violence in a part of the country long plagued by lawlessness, poverty and Islamist insurgency. Implementing the ambitious accord also will be challenging.

Aquino and leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front witnessed the signing of the agreement in the presidential palace in Manila. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose country brokered the peace talks, attended the ceremony.

"In signing this agreement, the two sides have looked not to the problems of the past, but to the promise of the future," Najib said. "After so many years of conflict, and so many lives lost, it is a momentous act of courage."

About 1,000 people attended the signing ceremonies, including guerrilla commanders wearing business suits instead of military uniforms who were stepping into the palace for the first time.

"For generations, fellow Filipinos in the [southern Mindanao] region were embroiled in a cycle of poverty, injustice, and violence," Aquino said. "If we are to truly address the root causes of conflict, we must close the gap between the region and the rest of Filipino society."

Some in the crowd wiped away tears as presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said in a speech, her own voice breaking: "No more war! … Enough!"

The peace accord concludes formal negotiations that began in 2001. A ceasefire agreement had been in place since 1997 and has been largely observed by both sides.

More than 120,000 people have died in separatist violence since the 1970s in Mindanao, the main southern Philippine island. It is home to most of the country's 5 million Muslims, but Christians remain the overall majority.

Previous presidents, including Corazon Aquino, Aquino's mother, tried but failed to resolve the conflict, which has stunted growth in the region and helped foster Islamic extremism in the country and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Other insurgent groups in the south have vowed to keep fighting for full independence. The region is also home to the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist network with international links that the Philippine army is battling with American support.

"I will not let peace be snatched from my people again," Aquino said. "Not now, when we have already undertaken the most difficult and most significant steps to achieve it. Those who want to test the resolve of the state will be met with a firm response based on righteousness and justice."

Under the accord, called the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front agreed to end violence and a demand for separate state in exchange for broader autonomy. An existing five-province Muslim autonomous region is to be replaced by a more powerful, better-funded and potentially larger region to be called Bangsamoro.

Bangsamoro is the term used by the rebels to refer to Muslims as well as other ethnic groups in the southern Philippines.

Rebel chairman Murad Ibrahim lauded the "shared victory of the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people."

He said the agreement "finally brings with it the restoration of the identity, powers and resources of the Bangsamoro. These three things which have been ours since time immemorial unjustly taken through colonization and occupation are now returned to us."

A 15-member commission comprising rebel and government appointees is to draft a law creating the new autonomous region.

The deal calls for rebel arms to be put "beyond use" by 2016, chief government negotiator Miriam Ferrer said. The decommissioning of rebel forces and weapons has already been flagged as a potential stumbling block in a region where even politicians have private armies and guns are easy to obtain.

US and EU-funded conflict resolution groups have been backing the peace process. International monitoring groups have long been in the region and will continue to support the deal for years to come.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines welcomed the agreement and urged the government and the Moro group to reach out to those "antagonistic" toward the peace deal.

"We pray that this first courageous breakthrough will be followed by more steps leading to true and lasting peace in Mindanao," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the group's president.

The national government and the new Moro government to be formed will have to counter four other armed Muslim groups, including a breakaway faction called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Kristian Herbolzheimer, a director of Conciliation Resources, a conflict-resolution group, said even small numbers of fighters could potentially derail the accord.

"Success will depend very much on the performance of the peace process. If they are able to deliver something to the people to show that change is coming, I think that will be major deterrent against any threat," he said.

A 1996 accord with the then main rebel group did not end the fighting because guerrilla fighters under its chairman, Nur Misuari, continued to hold on to their weapons. Misuari's followers and government forces clashed in September 2013 in southern Zamboanga city, killing more than 200 people.

The post Philippines and Muslim Rebel Group Sign Peace Deal appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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