Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Violence Gives the Lie to Burma’s ‘Reforms’

Posted: 05 Jul 2014 05:57 AM PDT

The situation appears calm in Mandalay today following a spate of violence that broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in Burma's second-largest city earlier this week.

A curfew has been imposed and police patrol the city's mostly deserted streets. But for local journalists covering the unrest, there is fear that the trouble has only just begun.

Sadly, as reporters do their job of informing citizens of this latest outbreak of communal violence, they find themselves becoming targets of extremists. The Irrawaddy's own reporters and photographers have received death threats, and one of our photographers has been forced to go into hiding for his safety. Reporters and stringers for foreign media have also come under heavy pressure from mobs.

Police Chief Win Khaung has gone on record as saying that the government has shut down Facebook—one of the main forums in Burma for spreading anti-Muslim rumors and "exposing" journalists deemed traitors to their race and religion—to stem the tide of hate speech. But don't expect the government to take action against the hatemongers—it isn't going to happen.

Last year, Tomás Ojea Quintana, the former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, said that he'd received reports of "state involvement" in attacks on Muslims, with the authorities "standing by while atrocities have been committed before their very eyes, including by well-organized ultranationalist Buddhist mobs."

Since Burma's opening began three years ago, there has seen a series of riots between the country's Muslim and Buddhist communities, and anti-Muslim hysteria has reached a fever pitch on social media and in the teashops.

Burmese observers have noticed that this sudden rise in anti-Muslim sentiment began just months after the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in by-elections held in April 2012. That vote was a stinging rebuke to the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which came to power in a rigged election in November 2010.

Since then, Muslims have been singled out as a threat to the very fabric of Burmese society, with attacks being carried out against them with "brutal efficiency," according to Vijay Nambiar, the former special advisor on Burma to the United Nations secretary general.

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

Adding salt to these wounds, the government of President Thein Sein has proposed laws that would restrict religious conversions and require women to obtain permission before marrying outside their religion—in effect, endorsing the view that Muslims are a menace to society.

The marriage bill is part of a package of proposed legislation to "protect race and religion." The package, promoted by a group of nationalist monks, also includes bills to ban polygamy, enact population control measures and restrict religious conversion. Civil society groups and interfaith groups that have opposed the laws have been subjected to death threats and intimidation.

Long-time observers of Burmese politics say the sudden appearance of nationalistic thugs on the streets of Burma comes as no surprise: Whenever Burma's military rulers felt threatened in the past, they unleashed murder and mayhem on some segment of the population to justify the need to "restore order."

Recently, before this latest outbreak of violence, some ethnic leaders told me that the government "lacks the courage" to hold free and fair elections next year. "As in the past, they'll steal the election again, or if they can't do that, they'll find some excuse to postpone it," they said.

Already, it seems, elements within the ruling military elite are laying the groundwork for such a scenario. When push comes to shove, they will want to be ready to put the country on lockdown to save it from the evils of democracy.

No wonder, then, that the optimism that greeted the early days of Thein Sein's "reformist" administration is fading fast. And it's little wonder that Mandalay—a city that hosted huge NLD rallies in May—has become a major battleground in the fight for Burma's future.

Speaking to massive crowds of supporters, Suu Kyi called on military officials to do the right thing and amend the undemocratic 2010 Constitution, which was forced on the country by the junta than then held total control.

"I want to challenge them [military officials] to amend the Constitution within this year, from within the boundaries of the law and via the Parliament. If they truly love the country, respect the citizens: Think of the future of the country and be brave enough," she said to loud applause.

Now joined by former activists and prominent student leaders, the campaign to amend the Constitution has gained momentum. By bringing the fight to the home base of the firebrand nationalist monk Wirathu, who calls himself the "Burmese bin Laden," the country's democratic forces are mounting a direct challenge to the fascist, reactionary elements who have ruled for most of Burma's post-independence history.

It comes as no surprise that Wirathu's hateful incitement against Muslims has gone unchecked: Photographs on social media sights have shown him receiving alms from hardline leaders of the USDP and others who unashamedly proclaim him a true defender of Buddhism.

What is surprising is that foreign officials continue to line up at Burma's door, eager to work with former regime leaders despite evidence that they have little interest in respecting the wishes of the country's people for a return to full democracy.

Among recent visitors were Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Tom Malinowski, the US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, who said "it is time to engage" the country's military.

This engagement reached a new level last Monday, when Lt-Gen Anthony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the US Pacific Command, became the first US general to speak at Burma's National Defense College in Naypyidaw since the two countries began their current détente in 2011.

"The purpose of this engagement, the sole purpose, was and is to speak to the military about the importance of human rights, the rule of law and civilian control," Malinowski said. Although he characterized this engagement as "cautious," he added that "there is the potential for a deeper partnership, even a full partnership, in the future."

Even in Thailand, where a junta seized power in May, there is something truly surreal about the way the country's new rulers have embraced Burma's military leaders. Speaking on the occasion of a visit to Bangkok by Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the supreme commander of the Royal Thai Army, Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn, likened Thailand's bloodless coup to one of the most tragic episodes in Burma's modern history, when thousands of peaceful protesters were gunned down for demanding a return to civilian rule.

"Myanmar's government agrees with what Thailand is doing in order to return stability to the nation. Myanmar had a similar experience to us in 1988, so they understand," said the Thai military commander.

As bizarre as this remark sounds, however, it is not nearly as disturbing as the fact that many Western governments still seem determined to put a positive spin on Burma's "reforms," even as the country's dream of democracy looks increasingly like it is turning into a carefully orchestrated nightmare. The sooner the rest of the world awakens to this reality, the better.

The post Violence Gives the Lie to Burma's 'Reforms' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Mandalay Quiet, But Residents Live in Fear

Posted: 05 Jul 2014 05:07 AM PDT

Police in riot gear stand guard at Joon Mosque in central Mandalay on Saturday evening. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY —After four days of unrest between Buddhist and Muslim communities, calm had returned to Mandalay and surrounding areas on Saturday,where thestreets were quiet and largely deserted. Residents said, however,that they lived in fear of another outbreak of inter-communal violence.

In Mandalay's Muslim neighborhoods, located southeast of the old moat, shops were shuttered and armed security forces were deployed at access routes to the areas and atreligious buildings. Hundreds of police officers in riot gear stood guard atJoon Mosque, one of the city's biggest mosques.

Police said they had made a number of arrests in relation with the violence.

"So far, 11 people have been arrested," said Mandalay District Police chief Sein Tun. "For security, we have deployed three police battalions. We haven't asked for any help from the military because we don't need it."

"Now, the minister of home affairs and the national police chief are in Mandalay to assess the situation,"SeinTun added.

A Muslim owner of an electrical goods shop in the city center said the community had closed their businesses and was anxiously waiting for tensions to subside."It would be better to close the shop for awhile for safety reasons. The closure will affect the business but safety is the first thing we have to think of," said the man, who asked not to
be named.

The main markets in city center were open, but most shops remains closed, including those located in Burmese Buddhist and Chinese communities.

"We do not know what will happen next. If something happens again in the area, it will be difficult for us to close the shop and we will not be able to run back home quickly," said Ma Myo, a Buddhist owner of a clothing shop.

Violence first broke out on Tuesday night after allegations circulated on Facebook that a Muslim tea shop owner had raped a Buddhist maid. Mandalay-based nationalist Buddhist monk Wirathu quickly fanned the tensions by spreading the accusations and calling for action against the shop owner.

During clashes between communities, a 36-year-old Buddhist man was killed and a 50-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death. Fourteen people were injured.

Unrest continued to simmer in subsequent days and on Thursday night authorities imposed a 9 pm to 5 am curfew for all six of Mandalay's townships.

A Chinese restaurant owner, who declined to be named said, "We normally operate late at night but now we have to close before 9pm.Although our customers buy foods early in the evening, our income has slightly declined. We hope peace will be restored very soon."

On Friday, the curfew was extended to PatheinGyi Township, a rural area north of Mandalay, where hundreds of villagers, angered after attending the funeral of a Buddhist victim,vandalized the Muslim section of a cemetery and burned down several small buildings.

During a visit to the area on Saturday morning, the streets were empty and residents were afraid to leave their homes.

"Since Act 144 [curfew] was announced last night, traffic on the roadshas dried up and the markets became nearly deserted. People are living in fear and worry that something will happen", said KyawMyint, a resident of PatheinGyi Township.

"People whisper to each other in fear about what was happened in recent days and have warned eachother not to go outside if it is not necessary," he said."I'm also afraid. It seems we have no choice, but have to sit on a huge pile of gunpowder while fearing that someone might ignite it."

Irrawaddy reporters visitedPatheinGyi Township Police Station but officers refused to discuss the situation.

The post Mandalay Quiet, But Residents Live in Fear appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Hundreds Gather to Mourn Buddhist Victim of Mandalay Religious Violence

Posted: 05 Jul 2014 01:31 AM PDT

A family member identified by fellow mourners as the mother of Tun Tun, a Buddhist man killed during clashes with Muslim residents of Mandalay, is supported at Kyanikan cemetery after collapsing with grief. (Photo: Steve Tickner)

MANDALAY — Several hundred people gathered for the funeral of a Buddhist man in Pathein Gyi Township, located some 15 km north of Mandalay, on Friday afternoon and emotions ran high as the victim, Tun Tun, 36, was brought to a local cemetery.

He was one of two men killed in central Mandalay on Tuesday night during an outbreak of inter-communal violence between Buddhist and Muslim residents of Burma's second biggest city. A 50-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death on his way to the mosque and another 14 people were injured.

Family members of the victim were grieving and the anger among some of the crowd was palpable.

Armed with bamboo sticks and rods, several hundred young men accompanied the mourners to

the Kyanikan cemetery (also known as Aye Yeik Nyein cemetery), where they set upon the Muslim section of the cemetery, destroying a several gravestones and burning down an orphanage building, a rest house and the home of the Muslim caretaker. No police were seen at the site.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, no more unrest was reported and central Mandalay remained calm after a heavy police deployment.

The post Hundreds Gather to Mourn Buddhist Victim of Mandalay Religious Violence appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Not the Same Old Song and Dance

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 05:30 PM PDT

trafficking

A scene from the play "Land of Smiles." (Photo courtesy of www.landofsmilesmusical.com)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A musical centered on the life of a fictional refugee from Myanmar appears at first glance an unlikely venue for a detailed critique of US anti-trafficking policies and their impact on the women they were ostensibly designed to protect. But "Land of Smiles," which had its Asian premiere in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai with a cast that included several off-Broadway veterans, is not your typical musical with a message.

The play's dual protagonists are both newcomers to Thailand. Lipoh is a young Kachin woman who has fled fighting in Myanmar's northernmost state, and Emma is an idealistic American law-school graduate who has come to Asia to join the global fight against human trafficking.

Early on in the play, Lipoh's stint working at a Chiang Rai brothel ends when she is detained by police working in cooperation with the Western-funded NGO where Emma has just started her internship. Emma's superior at the NGO, a fellow American, assigns Emma the task of coaxing Lipoh, who is being incarcerated in a grim immigration detention center supposedly for her own protection, to testify against the brothel owner and her friends who helped her get to Thailand. But Lipoh refuses to play along. "Because I am not a victim," she tells Emma.

As the play unfolds, Emma begins to question her NGO colleagues' efforts to compel Lipoh to accept the role of victim and use her case to get more funding for their organization. "Back in Indiana / Life is black and white / Nothing is too dark / Nothing's too bright / It's easy to distinguish wrong from right," Emma sings after coming to the realization that things aren't so clear-cut in Thailand.

"Land of Smiles" was written and produced by Erin Kamler, a Los Angeles-based playwright, composer and PhD candidate. The play—which will be staged in Los Angeles this month and then at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August after having its debut in Chiang Mai last December—is the product of more than 50 interviews and hours of field work conducted by Ms. Kamler in Thailand and Cambodia.

"The primary agenda for the play is to show the more complex reality of the anti-trafficking movement and how it affects migrant women on the ground in Thailand, particularly migrant women from [Myanmar]," she told The Irrawaddy.

"The big problem with the movement, the elephant in the room, is that [it doesn't really address] structural conditions that push both trafficking—that is, labor exploitation, actual human trafficking—and migration that is consensual. And there's no real distinction between those two things, either," explained Ms. Kamler, whose play is an extension of her nearly completed PhD work on these issues at the University of Southern California.

The trafficking and smuggling of people across international borders has in recent years become a high-profile issue across the globe. In the post-9/11 era, many increasingly security-conscious Western governments have taken a tough stand on such practices, with the effect that many portrayed as victims of traffickers are also suffering at the hands of law enforcement agencies.

"There's very little nuance in these policies that are supposedly meant to address trafficking," said Ms. Kamler, who is part of a growing chorus of researchers and migration experts calling for a radical shift in policy away from the militarized war on trafficking currently being carried out by most Western governments and their respective international development funding agencies.

Ms. Kamler also takes issue with a longstanding US policy, only recently overturned, to deny funding to anti-trafficking and migrant support organizations unless they adhere to a zero-tolerance policy for prostitution—a policy that encouraged NGOs in Thailand and Cambodia to take part in raids to "save" sex workers, regardless of whether the women were engaged in such work of their own free will.

"The critique is that most of the policies and most of the funding that goes into the movement to stop trafficking happens at the end, after people have migrated and, in the case of sex workers, after they've already been working as sex workers. Then these well-funded NGOs will go in with the police and round all these women up," explained Ms. Kamler.

In many ways, "Land of Smiles" offers a musical counterpoint to the kind of campaign conducted by the likes of MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking), a "multimedia initiative" that seeks to raise awareness of human trafficking through activities such as organizing a December 2012 concert in Yangon featuring musician Jason Mraz. That concert—during which Mr. Mraz wore a t-shirt emblazoned with the words "Slavery Sucks" as he performed before 50,000 screaming fans on a stage in front of Shwedagon Pagoda—was part of a slick campaign that frequently reduces the trafficking issue to a black-and-white struggle between good and evil.

There's little space in the MTV EXIT narrative for the kind of nuance conveyed in Ms. Kamler's play, in which the Lipoh character—like tens of thousands of other refugees and migrants from Myanmar—has deliberately chosen to be smuggled into Thailand in order to support her family.

Estimates from researchers indicate that the regular flow of large numbers of people out of Myanmar has not been reduced by the current government's reform process. This may be due to the fact that the last few years have been marked by a significant increase in land-grabbing and the displacement of huge numbers of small-scale farmers across much of Myanmar's countryside—factors that continue to push thousands of migrants out of the country every month in search of employment.

There are also other push factors at play. The unresolved conflict between government troops and Kachin rebels in the north and the ongoing crisis in Rakhine State have, according to UN estimates, led to a combined figure of more than 250,000 people being displaced since President U Thein Sein's nominally civilian government took office three years ago.

These factors have left no shortage of people willing to pay brokers to smuggle them to third countries in search of a better life, ensuring that Thailand's immigration detention centers will remain full of undocumented people for many years to come.

"Land of Smiles" is a beautifully composed and highly creative rebuttal to the widely held assumptions that underpin anti-trafficking policies that have proven to be at best counterproductive and at worst extremely harmful to the very people they are meant to help. By looking at what's wrong with the status quo in a way that is both challenging and highly entertaining, it could do much to highlight the many missteps that have been taken in the name of ending human trafficking.

This article first appeared in the July 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post Not the Same Old Song and Dance appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

With One Eye on Washington, China Plots Its Own Asia ‘Pivot’

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 05:25 PM PDT

China US rivalry

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives to welcome leaders before the opening ceremony of the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia summit in Shanghai May 21, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING — The Silk Road, an obscure Kazakh-inspired security forum and a $50 billion Asian infrastructure bank are just some of the disparate elements in an evolving Chinese strategy to try to counter Washington’s "pivot" to the region.

While Chinese leaders have not given the government’s growing list of initiatives a label or said they had an overall purpose, Chinese experts and diplomats said Beijing appeared set on shaping Asia’s security and financial architecture more to its liking.

"China is trying to work out its own counterbalance strategy," said Sun Zhe, director of the Centre for U.S.-China Relations at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and who has advised China’s government on its foreign policy.

Added one Beijing-based Western diplomat who follows China’s international relations: "This is all clearly aimed at the United States."

President Barack Obama’s pivot – as the White House initially dubbed it – represented a strategy to refocus on Asia’s dynamic economies as the United States disentangled itself from costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

China sees the pivot as an attempt to contain its growing influence, especially given the United States is strengthening its ties with Asian security allies such as Japan and the Philippines, which have bitter territorial disputes with Beijing in the region’s waters. Washington denies this.

One key part of China’s diplomatic outreach has been to breathe life into the little-known Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, or CICA, which has languished since Kazakhstan proposed it in 1992 to promote peace and security.

CICA comprises two dozen mostly Asian nations, as well as Russia and some Middle Eastern countries. The United States, Japan and the Philippines are not members.

China took over chairmanship of CICA at a summit in Shanghai in May for three years. There, President Xi Jinping spoke about a new "Asian security concept", saying China would explore the formulation of a code of conduct for regional security and an Asian security partnership program.

While Xi gave few details and made no direct mention of disputes such as in the South China Sea, he warned Asian nations about strengthening military alliances to counter China, an oblique reference to the U.S. pivot.

"Asian problems must be resolved by Asian people, and Asian security must be protected by Asian people," Xi said.

A Rival Bank?

Another Chinese initiative is the $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which Xi first proposed in October during a visit to Southeast Asia.

Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said this week Beijing would likely have a 50 percent stake in the bank, which diplomats see as a possible rival to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, though China says its role is a complementary one, not competitive.

Washington and Tokyo have the biggest voting rights in both the decades-old institutions.

China sees the infrastructure bank as a way to spread the message of its benign intentions in Asia, where developing countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam accuse Beijing of being the aggressor over territorial claims.

"China upholds a basic guiding principle in regional diplomacy – being friends and partners with our neighbors," Lou said.

On top of that, China has dangled financial and trade incentives to Central Asia, backing efforts to resurrect the old Silk Road that once carried treasures between China and the Mediterranean.

China is also pushing ahead with various trade pacts in the region, but is not part of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation bloc whose two biggest economies are the United States and Japan.

Not everyone is convinced China’s initiatives will amount to much.

"Some of those things are more about the optics of these issues rather than the realities of a Chinese-led order," said Matthew Goodman, senior adviser for Asian Economics at the Center for Security and International Studies in Washington.

Washington Watching

China’s foreign policy since the country began economic reforms three decades ago has traditionally followed the maxim of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping of "hiding ones’ strength and biding ones’ time", or keeping a low profile.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier this year flagged China’s more assertive regional foreign policy at his annual press conference and in a newspaper article.

"We must accept the role of a responsible major country in international affairs," Wang wrote.

Asked this week whether China was carrying out its own pivot, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was pursuing a policy of good neighborliness.

A senior Obama administration official said Washington was paying close attention to Xi’s approach to Asia.

"We noted his statement at the CICA conference about Asia for Asians, the growing criticism of U.S. alliances and the Asian infrastructure bank," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It’s raising serious questions about whether the U.S. vision and the Chinese vision are fully compatible."

A second senior U.S. official said Washington had not been assured that the infrastructure bank would adopt the high governance and other standards of institutions such as the World Bank and the ADB. He said the administration did not see how such an entity would "add value" for the region and that Washington would be making this point to Asian allies.

While they were not members, the United States and Japan were welcome to join the bank, Lou said.

Top Chinese and U.S. officials will get the chance to discuss the bank and many other issues during annual talks in Beijing on July 9-10, a meeting known as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

Forgotten Anniversaries

At the start of the CICA summit, China turned on the pomp, with live television showing Red Flag limousines delivering leaders one by one to a Shanghai conference center where they walked down a red carpet to shake hands with Xi.

Most recently, Xi feted suspicious neighbors India and Burma last Saturday to celebrate the 1954 signing of almost forgotten principles of peaceful coexistence.

He cited Indian Nobel Literature laureate Rabindranath Tagore in a speech to India’s vice president on the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, an early Cold War pledge of peace between China, India and the country then known as Burma.

Xi has gone out of his way to court India, a country which hosts exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and with which China has a festering border dispute.

Still, China’s messages of peace can come across as ham-fisted to those it’s trying to court.

"China has long engaged in a kind of smile diplomacy in the region but the challenge for China is that many of its neighbors can see the glint of steel beneath the robe," said Goodman from the CSIS think tank.

The post With One Eye on Washington, China Plots Its Own Asia 'Pivot' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 5, 2014)

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT

More Foreign Investment in Infrastructure 'Depends in Thilawa Success'

Future foreign investment in infrastructure development in Burma hinges on the outcome of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a business analysis company predicted.

"We believe the outlook of [Burma's] construction sector is significantly dependent on the success of the Thilawa SEZ and future SEZs such as Dawei and Kyaukphyu," said a study by Business Monitor International (BMI).

The strong investment in Thilawa, on the edge of Rangoon—mostly by Japanese firms—was positive and pointed to further foreign investment in Burma's "severe deficit in infrastructure, industrial and commercial buildings," BMI said. But many overseas businesses are waiting to see how successful the Thilawa project turns out to be.

Japanese companies have taken the majority investment share in Thilawa, primarily with the backing of conglomerates Mitsubishi, Marubeni and Sumitomo, plus the Tokyo government-financed Japan International Cooperation Agency.

These Japanese interests have a combined 49 percent stake in Thilawa.

Plans for SEZs at Dawei on the southeast coast and Kyaukphyu, where China has already invested in an oil transhipment port, are unlikely to progress much until Thilawa is completed and working, said BMI.

Burma's Offshore Oil, Gas Auction Involves 'Mysterious' Firms

The Naypyidaw government's still-not-finalized auction of offshore oil and gas blocks lacks real transparency, a business report said.

The criticism, in the London Financial Times, comes as Burma's application to join the Norway-based international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative was given candidate status on July 2.

Winning bids for the blocks include major international companies such as Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, but also a "clutch of foreign and local companies about which little has been revealed," said the Financial Times.

It named two foreign firms as having "mysterious" backgrounds: Berlanga Holding of the Netherlands and Caog of Luxembourg, both linked to Shyngys Kulzhanov, a Kazakhstan energy entrepreneur.

It also raised questions about the true ownership of Burmese firms IGE and UNOG, which "have historically been controlled by Pyi Aung and Nay Aung, sons of a hardline pro-military politician."

"Critics say the sell-off is a worrying regression from a widely praised mobile phone license round last year. One [Burma] analyst who asked not to be named describes the oil auction as 'second rate' and a 'missed opportunity,'" the business paper said.

Although winners of the offshore blocks were announced in March, each is still privately negotiating terms with the Ministry of Energy and the state Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise.

The Financial Times quoted Matthieu Salomon, Asia-Pacific program manager of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, as saying: "You do not change a political culture of decades of secrecy and no communication overnight."

EITI has given Burma 18 months to submit a first report on the state of transparency in its oil and gas sector after which a decision on membership of the body will be made.

French Oil Search Firm Opens Rangoon Base for 'Substantial' Prospects

French hydrocarbons survey specialist CGG has opened an office in Rangoon to "service and support anticipated growth in [Burma's] oil and gas exploration sector," the firm said in a statement.

CGG carries out below-surface electronic surveys to map out potential oil and gas reservoirs.

The Paris-based firm said it was the first international geoscience company to open up in Burma.

"With the [Burma] government's recent award of 16 onshore and 20 offshore blocks to international and local oil and gas companies, we foresee a quickening in the pace of exploration activity over the next 18 months," CGG Executive Vice President Sophie Zurquiyah said.

The firm said it was employing a "team of highly experienced Burmese geophysicists" in its Rangoon center.

River Dams Main Solution for Electricity Shortage, Says Power Ministry

The government has given a strong indication that it intends to permit more hydroelectric dam development despite popular public opposition.

Electricity generated from hydropower projects will provide 37 percent of the country's energy needs by 2030, Deputy Minister for Electric Power Maw Tar Htwe reportedly said.

This would amount to the largest share of a proposed electricity generating capacity of 23,500 megawatts by 2030, the minister was quoted by Myanmar Business Today as saying on July 1.

That capacity would be more than five times today's level of 4,360 megawatts, which is enough to provide electricity to barely 30 percent of Burma's population, and then intermittently.

"Hydroelectricity will produce over 37 percent of the [ministry's planned] power output, with 20 percent coming from natural gas, 33 percent from coal and more than 9 percent from other renewable energy sources," said Myanmar Business Today, quoting Maw Tar Htwe.

A controversial Chinese-financed 6,000-megawatt hydro dam project on the Irrawaddy River at Myitsone in Kachin state remains suspended by the Naypyidaw government due to public opposition.

Several hydro-dam project proposals, involving Chinese and Thai business interests, are still in the pipeline for the Salween River.

Rice Production Must Rise and Home Use Fall if Exports to Grow: Expert

Poor productivity and high domestic demand stand in the way of Burma becoming a major international rice exporter again, an industry expert said.

"[Burma] has huge natural resources for growing rice like the Irrawaddy Delta, however, average rice yields have been flat and actually dropped slightly over the last decade," said Adam John of the Agricultural and Food Policy Studies Institute.

"Domestic rice consumption is still very high," John said in an assessment for the rice industry publication Oryza.

Although Burma is a substantial rice producer—ranked seventh in the world—export trade volumes are "not consistent year to year," John said. "It may be argued that Burma sees international rice markets as a way of getting rid of surplus rice stocks."

But John noted that more rice might become available for export if Burmese continue a trend to eat less of the crop.

"Domestic rice consumption is still very high with 50 percent of daily calorie consumption per person coming from rice, but there has been a decreasing trend where locals are substituting rice for other foods," he said.

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 5, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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