Saturday, July 29, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Myanmar Robotics Team Makes Top 10 at Competition

Posted: 29 Jul 2017 06:44 AM PDT

YANGON — A team of Myanmar engineering students who landed a top 10 ranking at the world's first international robotics competition hope their achievement will inspire young people to practise science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in order to improve the country.

The team finished six out of 163 teams across six continents at the FIRST Global Robotics Olympics, held in Washington DC in the United States from 16-18 July with the aim of fostering passion in young people for scientific and technological innovation.

The group of seven students aged 17-18 met with the media in Yangon on Friday to share their experiences of building the robotic kit and taking part in the competition, which was themed on addressing the issue of clean water.

The team comprised students from Yangon Technological University; the University of Information Technology; the University of Computer Science; Bursa Orhangazi Üniversitesi, Turkey; and the International Language and Business Centre. Hardware and robotics expert Ko Kyi Zaw Win mentored the group.

Team leader Phone Thiha Kyaw said, "We didn't expect to be in the top 10 at all," adding that all members learned plenty from their counterparts across the globe during the competition.

Team spokesperson Kyaw Za Zaw encouraged young people to use opportunities not only for their own development, but also for the development of their communities.

"I hope other young people across the country participate in such robotics competitions or any other STEM fields using all the available resources they could find in their environment," Kyaw Za Zaw told The Irrawaddy.

Ma May Pyae Sone Kyaw, 17, an engineering student at the University of Information Technology, was one of the two young women on the team.

Seeing all-female teams from other countries inspired her to believe in her own strength, she said.

"The whole idea that girls are not very relevant in building robots disappeared when I saw other all-female robotics teams at the competition," she said.

The Myanmar team won five out of six matches at the competition. Team Europe won the whole contest, followed by Poland, Armenia, Israel, and Germany.

Supported by USAID, Yangon innovation lab Phandeeyar in February called for applications to partake in the competition and formed the team of high school and university students, which it coached, said Myint Myat Aung Zaw, Phandeeyar associate and assistant mentor for the group.

Inspired by their achievement, he said the team hopes to pave the way for an annual regional robotics competition in the coming years.

Scot Marciel, US Ambassador to Myanmar, said at the event on Friday he was "surprised and not very surprised" to hear about the team's triumph, and praised Myanmar's youth as talented and hard working.

"This competition provides an environment where young, innovative thinkers can develop and fortify their ideas," he said, adding that his government was proud to have supported the team and the next generation of thought leaders.

The post Myanmar Robotics Team Makes Top 10 at Competition appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

This Week in Parliament (July 24 – July 28)

Posted: 28 Jul 2017 09:30 PM PDT

Monday (July 24)

In the Lower House, Dr. U Tin Aung of Kyaukse Township asked if the Ministry of Education would enable students enrolled in distance programs at universities to submit their assignments online. Deputy Minister for Education U Win Maw Tun replied that a pilot survey would be implemented in 2018, but that for the time being, the ministry would be unable to establish a website through which assignments could be accepted and assessed.

In the Upper House, Daw Ei Ei Pyone of Irrawaddy Division Consituency (8) asked if the government had plans to prevent citizens from seeking employment illegally in foreign countries as domestic workers. Union minister for labor, immigration and population U Thein Swe said the government would take measures to legally send migrant workers to "appropriate foreign countries at an appropriate time," and ensure that they received the protection and entitlements afforded by the laws of the countries in question.

Tuesday (July 25)

Daw Khin Saw Wai of Rathedaung Township asked in the Lower House if the government would translate laws which were written in English language and enacted in the colonial period, and are still enforced, into Burmese. Deputy Attorney-General of the Union Attorney-General's Office U Win Myint said that according to the law, his office is only responsible for translating laws written in Burmese into English.

Thirteen Lower House lawmakers discussed—and the legislature approved—an urgent motion put forward by Daw Thandar of Einme Township objecting to the end-of-mission statement issued by UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee on July 21.

Upper House lawmakers debated draft amendments to the controversial Telecommunications Law, and the military resisted the proposed reforms. Speaker of the Upper House Mahn Win Khaing Than assigned the bill committee to review the draft changes.

Wednesday (July 26)

The Union Parliament approved the list of nominees they had presented on Friday for three vice-governor positions and five director positions within the Central Bank of Myanmar, which will soon be vacant when existing terms expire.
The Union legislature also approved the draft law amending the Special Commodities Law.

Twenty lawmakers discussed the annual report from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission for 2016, and Daw Zin Mar Aung of Yankin Township pointed out that the government's responses continue to be weak in addressing domestic violence, child rape, and the abuse of housemaids.

Thursday (July 27)

U Aung Sein of Dawei Township asked in the Lower House if the Parliament planned to enact a mediation law to help reduce possible lawsuits over civil cases both between people and between people and government departments. Judge U Mya Thein of the Union's Supreme Court said they were still conducting a feasibility study of court-led mediation for civil cases, and currently had no plan to enact a mediation law.

The Upper House approved the new Myanmar Companies Law. The draft law combines elements of the Myanmar Companies Act of 1914 and the Special Companies Act of 1950, reworked in hopes of attracting foreign investment, according to the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Friday (July 28)

U Thein Htun of the Union Solidarity and Development Party submitted an urgent proposal urging the Union government to conduct a widespread awareness campaign about the H1N1 virus. The Lower House approved the proposal.

In the Upper House, lawmakers discussed the Myanmar Gems Bill 2017.

The post This Week in Parliament (July 24 – July 28) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 29)

Posted: 28 Jul 2017 09:19 PM PDT

Grab Announces Expansion, New Initiatives

The Grab Myanmar taxi-ride platform is introducing a new phase of expansion with investments in technology, driver care and local partnerships, the company announced this week.

Following a four-month beta trial, there are now more than 5,000 drivers on the Grab platform and driver-partners have reported a 30 percent improvement in monthly income on average, according to a company statement. Drivers also have access to banking and financial services through the company's partnerships with CB Bank and Wave Money, it added.

"The next phase for Grab in Myanmar is focused on bringing a five-star experience to driver-partners and passengers, while supporting the government in upgrading its transport infrastructure. This includes making the Grab app more user-friendly, upskilling and improving the well-being of driver-partners on our platform, and creating more job opportunities for locals," said Hooi Ling Tan, co-founder of Grab, which is headquartered in Singapore.

The Myanmar arm of the company said that new initiatives include the introduction of a Zawgyi- and Unicode font- enabled app with more safety and tech features, a 'Driver Care' program and partnerships with local firms to improve traffic management and driver welfare.

Yangon chief minister U Phyo Min Thein presided over a launch this week of Grab's new phase, where he encouraged the company to build the language, business and other skills of drivers in order to provide the best service to passengers.

Mini Grids Aim to Boost Electricity Access

The use of 'mini grids' to improve electricity connectivity in Myanmar is growing, according to a report in the Nikkei news website.

Trial operations are due to begin this year for one mini grid operation in about 10 locations in Sagaing Region, it reported.

The project is being operated by the Yoma Micro Power venture, a joint operation between Yoma Strategic Holdings and a Norwegian government fund, and will build small power stations that generate electricity with solar panels and diesel generators.

Excess power output will be stored in batteries and payments will be collected from customers, with mobile service companies as core customers. Each site will have at least one mobile service station.

The Parami Energy Group also sees opportunities in electricity for villages, according to the report.

Parami signed an MOU last year with French state-owned utility EDF and the Magway Region government to supply mini grid electricity to 8,000 households. It is working to introduce similar projects in other regions and hopes to expand the business to one million customers in four years, according to CEO Pyi Wa Tun.

Just 32 percent of households in Myanmar use electricity from the grid as a main source of lighting, according to the 2014 census.

Improvements to the national electricity grid will likely take decades, according to analysts.

CITIC in Deal to Raise Rice Sector Standards

Two Myanmar organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding with China's China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC) Construction to implement an agronomics service center project, according to reports.

The deal between the Myanmar Rice Association and the Myanmar Agronomics Public Corporation and CITIC was signed in Naypyitaw last weekend, Xinhua and the Myanmar News Agency reported.

The project is due to work to boost rice production per acre production rate, enhance rice quality, mitigate production costs and increase internal and external investment in production, milling and trading.

Myanmar exports a variety of Emata rice, Ngasein rice, sticky rice, parboiled rice and broken rice to international markets including China, Sri Lanka, the European Union and South Africa. But productivity is low compared to the production of neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.

China is by far the largest market with about 1.5 million tons of rice exported to the country through border gates during the fiscal year 2016-2017, according to the report.

CITIC already has a significant footprint in Myanmar as the lead partner in a consortium that has proposed taking a 70-85 percent stake in the US$7.3 billion Kyauk Pyu deep sea port, part of China's One Belt, One Road Initiative. CITIC also won the right to nearly run a nearby industrial park and an oil refinery.

In June The Irrawaddy reported that farmers were demanding compensation for land selected by CITIC to be part of the industrial park. Earlier this year a report by the International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) urged the government to ensure human rights in the Kyauk Pyu SEZ development.

Bus Firm Seeks Foreign Investors

A local US$10 million bus assembly and production facility is keen to enlist 50 percent foreign investment, according to DealStreet Asia.

Yangon-based Myanmar Motor Corporation Public Company (MMC) is keen to expand with an eye to export to mainly Asian markets, its president Htay Aung told the website. The company is in talks with two foreign enterprises, he added.

MMC is an exclusive dealer of the German commercial vehicle MAN. Currently, it orders parts and assembly of the vehicles in China which are then imported into Myanmar as finished buses.

The firm expects to roll out its own MAN buses from Yangon soon, after it gained a license to manufacture the buses locally in January this year. The vehicles will be assembled at a facility in Mingaladon Township which will be able to produce around 100 buses a year.

Started in 2012, MMC is a consortium of 31 local companies including Sakura Trade Center, Sakura Engineering and Construction Development, Sakura Technical Services and Sakura Auto which imports new and reconditioned cars.

Marriott in Deal for Downtown Yangon Hotel

The Hotel Sule Square and the Naing Group have signed a deal with Marriott International to open a hotel in downtown Yangon, it was reported this week.

The 200-room Courtyard by Marriott will be located in Yangon's Sule Square as part of a mixed-use development including retail outlets and cafes.

Karl Hudson of Marriott International said, "Myanmar holds immense potential as a new tourism destination in Southeast Asia given its rich history and natural beauty. Demand is expected to grow as the government and economy are stabilizing," according to a report in a trade website.

Forum on Small Business Development

A forum on the development of small and medium sized enterprises will be held by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) at its Mingalardon Hall facility in Yangon on the morning of Saturday July 29 (today). The event is due to bring economists, government officials and private sector interests together and all are invited.

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 29) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘Prospects For Peace Are Not Good’

Posted: 28 Jul 2017 07:58 PM PDT

Ye Ni: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we discuss the latest developments in Shan and Kachin states and their impacts on politics and the country's peace process. The Irrawaddy news crew members Ko Kyaw Kha and Ma Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint join me to discuss this. I'm Irrawaddy Burmese editor Ye Ni.

Speaking of the latest developments in the peace process in Shan State, Lt-Gen Yawd Serk of the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) has said that the prospects for peace now look dim. Shan politicians raised objections when they were asked to promise not to secede at the recent talks on federalism. U Harn Yawnghwe, a Shan politician living abroad and the son of [Myanmar's first president] Sao Shwe Thaik, was blacklisted [from entry to Myanmar]. And clashes have recurred between government troops and the SSA-S, though it has signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

The news reports we've heard about Shan State are more and more discouraging. Ko Kyaw Kha, do you agree with what Lt-Gen Yawd Serk has said? And you've talked to the Shan politicians who attended a recent discussion in Thailand's Chiang Mai. What did you hear from them?

DATELINE IRRAWADDY: This week, The Irrawaddy discusses developments in Shan and Kachin states and their impacts on the peace process.

Posted by The Irrawaddy – English Edition on Friday, July 28, 2017

Kyaw Kha: The Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU)—composed of Shan political parties, particularly the SNLD (Shan Nationalities League for Democracy) and SNDP (Shan Nationalities Democratic Party), and Shan armed groups SSA-N and SSA-S, and Shan local civil society organizations—planned to hold a meeting in Chiang Mai. The committee's main objective is to engage in Shan national politics and promote the rights of ethnic Shan people. However, the military attaché of the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand banned their meeting. So, the meeting was disrupted. They think their meeting was banned because one of the participants, the SSPP [Shan State Progress Party, the political wing of the SSA-N], is not an NCA signatory, as well as because of the news that U Harn Yawnghwe would attend the meeting, and because [the government] did not want to see political solidarity among Shan stakeholders. Currently, there have been renewed clashes between the RCSS [Restoration Council of Shan State—the political wing of the SSA-S] and the Tatmadaw. The RCSS held talks on this issue with joint ceasefire monitoring committees at state and Union levels, but there is still no clear answer. Both the RCSS and the Tatmadaw said clashes took place because there are still no clear lines of demarcation between the territories of the two sides.

YN: Let's talk about Kachin State. As you know, there have been clashes in Kachin State since 2011. Though they are not that frequent today, there are still sporadic clashes. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) was previously leading the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), but has partnered with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) now. This has upset ethnic allies and raises question among them and the Kachin people about the KIO's leadership role. We have covered a report about KIO leadership as analysts have said that the political views of KIO leaders differ from one another. I've heard that the KIO leaders explained their stances and political developments in Kachin State at a meeting in Laiza. What will be the future political steps of KIA [Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of KIO]?

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint: Kachin people have criticized the KIO's switch from the UNFC to the FPNCC (Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee) led by the UWSA. They criticize out of their concerns about the uncertainties over political developments in Kachin. They asked if the KIO would not try for peace. But from July 15-17, the KIO invited people's representatives from inside and outside the country, community leaders, and locals to Laiza and explained their political shift. They explained that the UNFC had reached a dead end, and that Kachin was hit hard as the KIA has lost many outposts and hills in the large-scale assaults by the military since August 2016, and displaced persons had had to flee from place to place.

They explained that they had no other choices but to cooperate with UWSA to demand federalism and ethnic rights from the government. According to KIO leaders, some people understood the KIO's decision after the explanation, though they criticized KIO before, and they said that they would wait and see to what extent the KIO leaders can do this.

Another criticism is that there are divisions in the party. KIA spokespersons and sources close to them have said that there are groups who have moderate views and want to hold talks on the NCA with the government, as well as groups who want to demand autonomy and ethnic rights together with the UWSA. Chinese analysts have said that Gen Gun Maw, who continuously engaged in the peace process with U Thein Sein's government, has moderate views, and Gen N'Ban La is a hardliner who would demand autonomy for Kachin State. Sources close to the KIA said that there are always members who have different views in a family, but that the divisions do not amount to a power struggle; and that the ones who have greater support from Kachin locals will take the leading role in engaging in the peace process with the government. Gen N'Ban La has cooperated with UWSA as it is also pressing the same demand—autonomy.  Again, there have been continuous clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the Kokang group in northern Shan State. So, from a geopolitical perspective, the KIA feels unsafe remaining a member of the UNFC. For these reasons, the KIA has decided to cooperate with UWSA.

YN: It can be said that the main stakeholders in peace process now are the military, the NLD (National League for Democracy) government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the UWSA and ethnic armed groups based in northern Myanmar, the CSSU or Shan political forces, UNFC—the ethnic alliance of NCA non-signatories—and the eight NCA signatory groups, including the KNU (Karen National Union). And Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said peace prospects look dim. Ko Kyaw Kha, how do you think these players will end the show on the peace process stage?

KK: As we have consistently covered the peace process, what we see is that the prospects for peace for the time being are not good. The peace process is down. In the case of the joint ceasefire monitoring committees, discussions have stalled as territories haven't been designated yet [between the military and ethnic armed groups].

We can look at the peace talks with NCA non-signatories as two parts—groups led by UNFC in the southern part of Myanmar and groups led by the UWSA in northern part. The northern groups want to hold talks with the government as a bloc under the name of FPNCC. But the government has said that it would only meet with them separately. So, there is no negotiation at all. Despite the fact that China is mediating, the two sides still have not been able to meet, and discussions could not take place.

In the case of the UNFC, it has insisted that it would hold talks based on the nine points it has presented to the government; and the government is set to meet the UNFC next week.  But there are no talks between the government and the other stakeholders. In the case of the NCA signatories, some of them have not been able to hold a national-level political dialogue, and there is no progress in discussions about the renewed clashes between the government and NCA signatory groups [like the SSA-S]. NCA signatories are now just reviewing their dissatisfactions at 21st Century Panglong. There is almost no progress in the peace process, except that the UNFC will meet the government next week. It is suffice to say that the prospects look dim. That's why SSA's Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said that 2017 won't be the year of peace at all, as was claimed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Htin Kyaw.

YN: So, it seems that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has shifted her focus to the issue of IDPs (internally displaced persons), as the peace process has reached an impasse. She has met with the KBC (Kachin Baptist Convention) recently. Ma Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint, what have you heard about the meeting?

NLHP: They held talks for an hour and a half on July 24. They had some discussions about peace, but according to those who attended the meeting, before the second session of the 21st Century Panglong conference, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged Kachin leaders in Myitkyina to sign the NCA. But as it didn't happen, this time she asked KBC leaders if they would help children in areas controlled by the KIA to be able to go to school, and that the government would cooperate with the KBC.

The talks also focused on cooperation in returning IDPs to their homes. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked what the barriers were in peace process, and KBC leaders replied that the assaults of Tatmadaw were barriers to peace, and they urged her government to handle this seriously. And she replied that as the government was still trying to amend the 2008 Constitution, they only had formal relations with the Tatmadaw according to the Constitution, and the government therefore was not in a position to exercise direct control over Tatmadaw. She said the government wouldn't neglect the Kachin and the IDP issue, and the two sides agreed to cooperate on those issues as well as on the peace process.

YN: Thank you for your contributions!

The post Dateline Irrawaddy: 'Prospects For Peace Are Not Good' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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