Democratic Voice of Burma |
- Thilawa shares to go on market this year
- Bullet Points: 22 September 2014
- Myit Chae mob ransacks mosque after domestic servant’s dispute
- Burmese public have ‘weak understanding’ of parliament: OMI
- US waives sanctions after Thailand flunks human trafficking test
- Food rations the key to survival for missing climbers
- Women lead Peace Day marches in Rangoon
- Thai cops get fresh evidence of Burmese suspect in tourists’ murder
| Thilawa shares to go on market this year Posted: 22 Sep 2014 04:18 AM PDT Shares of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Rangoon Division will be sold through an over-the-counter stock market, according to a project official. Win Aung, chairman of the Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Ltd (MTSH), said that the shares will be available later this year, pre-empting the stock exchange launch set for 2015. Stock-selling counters will be established in locations easily accessible to the public, he said. Priced at US$10 each, buyers will be limited to 500 shares as demand is more than double the amount of stocks available. Eighteen foreign companies from countries including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United States have already made investment proposals for phase one of the project. The MTSH also announced a plan to provide yearly salaries of $110,000 for the chairman and two chief executives. The director of the board will earn $60,000, Win Aung said. Board members will also each be awarded five percent of shares in the development. Win Aung also serves as the chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
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| Bullet Points: 22 September 2014 Posted: 22 Sep 2014 04:16 AM PDT On today's edition of Bullet Points:
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| Myit Chae mob ransacks mosque after domestic servant’s dispute Posted: 22 Sep 2014 04:13 AM PDT A mosque, a home and a shop were vandalised as mob violence broke out again in central Burma on Saturday. The incident in Myit Chay, near Pakokku in Magwe Division, was sparked by the alleged assault of a Buddhist housemaid by her Muslim employers. After hearing the rumours of the assault, a gang of around 50 local Buddhist men gathered at the house of the alleged perpetrator and ransacked it. They then set about destroying the Muslim man's shop before turning their attention to a local mosque. A Myit Chay administrator has told DVB that the housemaid has been advised to press charges against her employer and his wife, who is also alleged to have beaten the women, and that local authorities have assured the public that action would be swift. It is believed the employer, Moe Win, is now in hiding. Housemaid Cho Thet Mar says she was beaten at her employer's home after going there to confront him about unpaid wages. "I went to ask for my money, but the boss' wife told me they would not pay me," she told DVB. "I told her that the matter wasn't her business and demanded to speak to her husband." She said that when she began raising her voice and making a scene, both the employer, his wife and a manservant dragged her by the hair into the house and beat her. Cho Thet Mar said that she screamed for help, but although some neighbours heard her and saw the incident, they did not intervene. Later on Saturday evening, a 50-strong gang of men attacked Moe Win's home and shop. The mob then vandalised a local mosque, before finally being dispersed by police at 11pm. Police estimate the damage to be in the region of US$400. Myint Kyaw, a local administrator in Myit Chay, said, "I immediately informed the township administrator and he instructed me to take swift action against the couple, so I brought the police station chief along and advised the victim to press charges against them." Related StoriesHe said he and the police chief assured the mob that swift action would be taken and charges brought against the Muslim couple. The mob dispersed at first, he said, but later reappeared, threatening to seek further revenge. The incident is the latest in a string of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma. Mosques, Muslim homes and businesses have frequently been the targets of rumour-fuelled anger, most recently in Mandalay in July.
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| Burmese public have ‘weak understanding’ of parliament: OMI Posted: 22 Sep 2014 03:05 AM PDT The Open Myanmar Initiative (OMI), a non-profit organisation that advocates the right to information and monitors parliamentary activities, said the Burmese public has a "weak knowledge and understanding of their country's legislative process". Presenting its third Parliamentary Monitoring Report at a conference in Rangoon over the weekend, the Burmese NGO also called on lawmakers to improve the quality of debates and discussions in parliament. One MP at the event responded by saying that one of the reasons the public are failing to hear about parliamentary motions is that the country's media do not report or have self-censored coverage of parliamentary debates. Related StoriesThe OMI previously issued Parliamentary Monitoring Reports in April and June this year. Ko Ko Gyi, an advisor to the OMI, is quoted on the OMI website saying: "We want the public to know the important role of parliament in nation-building. [This] discussion brings together internationally renowned experts to exchange views and focus on the process of parliament session in respective eras. If the process of parliamentary mechanism is strengthened, the problems of the country’s federal system, economic and social sectors would be dealt effectively and successfully." |
| US waives sanctions after Thailand flunks human trafficking test Posted: 22 Sep 2014 01:38 AM PDT The United States has waived sanctions against Thailand that could have been imposed as a result of the country's insufficient efforts to combat human trafficking. Thailand, which is home to an estimated two to three million migrant labourers, most of them from Burma, was recently downgraded in the US State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. Thailand was listed as a "Tier 3" country, the lowest rank, indicating that the government has not met minimum anti-trafficking standards and could face restrictions on non-humanitarian and non-trade-related assistance. US President Barack Obama is, however, authorised "to waive the restrictions if he determines that doing so would promote the purposes of the TVPA [Trafficking Victims Protection Act] or is otherwise in the US national interest", according to a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Bangkok.
Also of concern were continued reports that Thai officials abetted the smuggling of stateless Rohingya Muslims from western Burma and Bangladesh. The number of stateless Muslim asylum seekers traversing Thai waters en route to Malaysia or Indonesia has reached alarming new heights in recent years, prompting urgent warnings from the UN and rights advocates. Malaysia, which borders southern Thailand and was also designated as a Tier 3 country, was likewise granted a presidential waiver on TIP-related restrictions. Related StoriesSince 2011, Thailand has idled on the State Department's "Tier 2 Watchlist", which means that the country has a significant number of severe cases of trafficking but is making efforts to become TVPA compliant. The TVPA requires that Tier 2 Watchlist countries demonstrate efforts to improve or be downgraded to Tier 3, which subjects them to restrictions. The act allows, however, for two consecutive waivers for downgrade. Thailand did not show adequate improvement during 2012 and 2013 assessments, but was granted the consecutive waivers based on a written plan to achieve compliance. Failure to do so resulted in their demotion in June. "A Tier 3 ranking indicates that serious and sustained efforts are needed, and is intended to motivate governments to implement swift action," the Embassy spokesperson told DVB on Saturday, adding that "We [the State department] look forward to working with the Thai government to implement these recommendations." While the State Department, which is among the most active anti-trafficking bodies in the world, has demonstrated a harsh stance towards Thailand's trafficking record, the decision not to impose sanctions revealed some flexibility in terms of policy. "Actually it's not that surprising," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, "since the US frequently waives TIP-related sanctions against countries, especially ones that it shares historically close relations with." Obama also waived sanctions for Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Yemen, all of which share Thailand's disposition as trafficking hubs. Robertson warned that while waiving the sanctions may strike some as a soft move, "no one should make the mistake of thinking that this diminishes the seriousness of the TIP problem in Thailand", adding that the US was and remains "strongly critical" of Thailand's as yet unconvincing efforts. "The question is when, if ever, Thai officials are going to finally figure out that more anti-trafficking posters at the airport, and big seminars with public pronouncements of 'commitment', are not convincing anyone that Thailand is serious about systematically addressing the trafficking problem," he said. Thailand is currently subject to some economic sanctions by the US as a result of the coup that installed a military government on 22 May. The Embassy said that US agencies still fund numerous anti-trafficking programmes in Thailand which remain unaffected.
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| Food rations the key to survival for missing climbers Posted: 22 Sep 2014 12:56 AM PDT Burma's two missing mountaineers, Aung Myint Myat and Wai Yan, may still be alive if they have located enough of the food rations stashed for the descent of Hkakabo Razi, said Myo Thant, the chairman of the Thabawa Khawthan (Nature's Call) Foundation, organiser of the expedition. The two climbers went missing 23 days ago after reaching the summit of Southeast Asia's highest mountain, a feat confirmed by the GPS coordinates on their communications devices. However, either faulty satellite phones or a lack of battery power left them incommunicado from the other six members of the expedition who returned to the base camp without their colleagues. Food rations were stationed at points along the intended route for descent in case of such an emergency, Myo Thant said. Related StoriesMyo Thant was speaking at a press briefing on 21 September as a search and rescue mission involving helicopters and aircraft got underway. A team of Chinese rescuers have also set off from the Tibetan side of the mountain. The rescue mission has been delayed and set back by inclement weather and an apparent lack of coordination between the Burmese sponsors and international rescue teams. Meanwhile, as hopes fade for the two mountaineers, a 27 September deadline has been set to find the climbers alive. |
| Women lead Peace Day marches in Rangoon Posted: 21 Sep 2014 09:33 PM PDT Activists from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society's women's wing and other women's rights organisations led a march through Rangoon on Sunday to mark International Peace Day. The activists gathered early at a football pitch near the Mya Yeik Nyo Hotel. Many arrived wearing sky blue shirts, the colour of UN peacekeepers, and sported bandanas and placards reading slogans such as "No War" and "Equal Rights for Women!" Others invoked messages calling for the Burmese government to recognise ethnic rights and urging the establishment of a federal union. The marchers, said to number several hundred persons from a range of backgrounds, made their way to Rangoon's central park at Kandawgyi Lake, all the while chanting slogans and waving banners and placards. No arrests or incidents were reported. Another group of civil activists organised a peace march at Rangoon's Hledan overpass and another at Kyeikkasan Pagoda Road. Peace Day marches led by women's groups were also held in other towns around the country. In Bassein [Pathein] at least 100 turned out to mark the occasion, while some 700 marchers took to the streets in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State. International Peace Day has been observed on 21 September since 1981, when the date was marked by a resolution of the United Nations' General Assembly. The annual event is intended "to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace," the UN says. |
| Thai cops get fresh evidence of Burmese suspect in tourists’ murder Posted: 21 Sep 2014 09:23 PM PDT Thai police have obtained fresh clues about a Thai man and a Burmese migrant worker suspected of killing two British tourists on Koh Tao early last Monday, said a police source Surat Thani provincial police chief Pol Maj-Gen Kiattipong Khaosam-ang yesterday held a meeting of investigators responsible for handling the murder case. The source said police have made considerable progress in their investigation, ruling out issues that had nothing to do with the murder and narrowing the scope of their inquiry. The source said investigators have obtained fresh clues about two suspects — a Thai man and a Burmese migrant worker. The Thai police will link the new information with evidence which they had previously gathered. Related StoriesPol Maj-Gen Kiattipong from the Thai police department said yesterday [21 September] that they have managed to find an Asian-looking man who was captured by a security camera not far from the crime scene. The man, whose identity has been withheld, has now been held for questioning, Pol Maj Gen Kiattipong said, adding that the man worked at a night entertainment venue. In the video footage, captured by a camera installed at AC Bar, where Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, had been seen, the man can be seen walking back and forth near the crime scene. The man was seen about 4am wearing a pair of shorts walking toward Jor Por Ror cape — the same route Miller and Witheridge took before they were found dead. The same man returned about 50 minutes later, running back in a suspicious manner, said Pol Maj Gen Kiattipong in previous interviews. A team of 10 forensic officers yesterday took a boat out to sea to collect DNA samples of fishermen as part of the probe into the murders. More than 50 Thai marine police officers were also sent to inspect fishing boats near Koh Tao and check the records of migrant workers who are fishing crew, as well as examine ferries carrying tourists to hunt for any suspects. Thai officials on Koh Tao were also installing more lighting in “black spots” in a bid to reduce crime. Pol Col Chaisak Uaekrissadathikarn, deputy chief of the Office of Police Forensic Science Region 8, in Thailand, said forensic officers were stepping up efforts to collect DNA samples of as many people as possible on Koh Tao to send to the Office of the Police Forensic Science in Bangkok.
This article was originally published in the Bangkok Post on 22 September 2014 |
The 2014 TIP report identified Thailand as "a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected 
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