Alor Setar, Malaysia (Rohingya Vision) – A human trafficker based in Malaysia has been posing threats to the trafficking victims’ relatives in Malaysia as well as in Myanmar (Burma) for ransom for a few weeks now, according to their statements.
The human trafficker is reportedly well-connected with the authorities in Rakhine state of Myanmar. He is also said to be very rich and have hired local goons as his bodyguards in Malaysia.
“He took a number of people on his boat to traffick them from Arakan (Rakhine) state to Malaysia via Thailand around two years ago.
He took half of the ransom money from them before they got on the boat. However, the boat disappeared in the middle of the sea. No information of them has been heard since then.
Therefore, he could not demand any ransom from their (the boat people’s) family members. As after two years, since their family members now got their information that they have been in Sri Lanka while a few of them have been resettled to US by UNHCR after their boat stranded in the Sri Lankan shore, the human trafficker started to demand the remaining ransom money from their respective family members in Myanmar and in Malaysia. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV)
January 17, 2016
Alan Morison's 30-month battle with Thai authorities ends
Controversial defamation and computer-crime lawsuit brought by the Royal Thai Navy against Australian journalist Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian for their coverage of the trafficking of Rohingya Muslims appears to have ended.
But the 30-month legal battle has forced Morison, 68, to close his award-winning Phuketwan online news site on the Thai resort island of Phuket and cost him much of his life's savings.
"We stood our ground because we knew we had done nothing wrong," Morison, a former senior Age editor said, referring to advice to apologise to escape with a reduced sentence or to flee Thailand.
A deadline passed on Friday evening for prosecutors to appeal Morison and Chutima's acquittal on the charges in September, appearing to leave Thai authorities without any other legal avenue to pursue them. (Courtesy of smh.com.au)
But the 30-month legal battle has forced Morison, 68, to close his award-winning Phuketwan online news site on the Thai resort island of Phuket and cost him much of his life's savings.
"We stood our ground because we knew we had done nothing wrong," Morison, a former senior Age editor said, referring to advice to apologise to escape with a reduced sentence or to flee Thailand.
A deadline passed on Friday evening for prosecutors to appeal Morison and Chutima's acquittal on the charges in September, appearing to leave Thai authorities without any other legal avenue to pursue them. (Courtesy of smh.com.au)
No time for intimidation
An attempt by the national police chief to determine if legal action can be taken against the sister of Koh Tao rape and murder victim Hannah Witheridge for her Facebook posting is counterproductive.
If taken, this will only bring more denunciation of the police force whose reputation has already taken a hit by its controversial handling of the high-profile murder case.
A proper response from the police, as well as the Court of Justice which was also implicated in Laura Witheridge's message, is to look seriously into the accusations and show the public whether they carry any truth. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post: News)
If taken, this will only bring more denunciation of the police force whose reputation has already taken a hit by its controversial handling of the high-profile murder case.
A proper response from the police, as well as the Court of Justice which was also implicated in Laura Witheridge's message, is to look seriously into the accusations and show the public whether they carry any truth. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post: News)
UPC enters day 4; groups discuss 5 topics
A five-day Union Peace Conference (UPC) underway at Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Myanmar, entered fourth day on Friday with representatives from seven stakeholder groups discussing five topics. In today’s session, questions raised on the third day were replied to and individual presentations were made.
Representatives from the respective stakeholder groups prepared papers for submission on the final day of the conference.
Three representatives each will be chosen for the submission of papers on each of the agenda items to the conference, Myanmar News Agency quoted its sources as saying on Friday.
Stakeholder groups of the government and the Parliament are set to send two representatives each while the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organisations and political parties are set to choose three for the submission of papers.
One representative each is set to represent stakeholder groups of ethnic minorities and other invitees.
It may be mentioned that NSCN (K), the only group that did not sign Nation-wide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), is attending the conference an observer. (Courtesy of Nagaland Post)
Representatives from the respective stakeholder groups prepared papers for submission on the final day of the conference.
Three representatives each will be chosen for the submission of papers on each of the agenda items to the conference, Myanmar News Agency quoted its sources as saying on Friday.
Stakeholder groups of the government and the Parliament are set to send two representatives each while the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organisations and political parties are set to choose three for the submission of papers.
One representative each is set to represent stakeholder groups of ethnic minorities and other invitees.
It may be mentioned that NSCN (K), the only group that did not sign Nation-wide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), is attending the conference an observer. (Courtesy of Nagaland Post)
Interview: Chinese investment in Myanmar's SEZ pure business: company official
The interests of Myanmar and its people will be the top consideration of the developers of two projects in Myanmar's special economic zone (SEZ) in the town of Kyaukphyu, a company official told Xinhua recently.
The China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) Construction company, together with four other Chinese companies and one Thai firm, formed a consortium and won the tender for building an industrial park and a deep sea port in the SEZ on Dec. 30, 2015.
"The investment of CITIC and our partners in Kyaukphyu was driven purely by business value," Yuan Shaobin, vice chairman of CITIC Construction, told Xinhua.
Located in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, Kyaukphyu is known for its tropical sceneries and backward infrastructure. (Courtesy of Xinhua)
The China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) Construction company, together with four other Chinese companies and one Thai firm, formed a consortium and won the tender for building an industrial park and a deep sea port in the SEZ on Dec. 30, 2015.
"The investment of CITIC and our partners in Kyaukphyu was driven purely by business value," Yuan Shaobin, vice chairman of CITIC Construction, told Xinhua.
Located in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, Kyaukphyu is known for its tropical sceneries and backward infrastructure. (Courtesy of Xinhua)
Anti-Chinese sentiment casts shadow over SEZ development
As Chinese companies begin developing Myanmar's Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone, an area important to Beijing's energy security, concerns linger that anti-Chinese sentiment could stymie the project.
Grand plans
A public-private partnership devised a basic plan in summer 2014 for the SEZ, which was envisioned as a way to attract foreign investment in underdeveloped western Myanmar. Myanmar's government granted development rights in the zone at the end of last year to a consortium of Chinese state-owned companies, including Citic Group and China Harbor Engineering. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
Grand plans
A public-private partnership devised a basic plan in summer 2014 for the SEZ, which was envisioned as a way to attract foreign investment in underdeveloped western Myanmar. Myanmar's government granted development rights in the zone at the end of last year to a consortium of Chinese state-owned companies, including Citic Group and China Harbor Engineering. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
In Myanmar's Kachin, Families Uprooted by War Pin Hopes on New Government
For more than six months in 2011, Ywe Ja refused to leave her village in Myanmar's Kachin State despite heavy fighting. It was where she was born, and she had built a life there as a teacher with a farmer husband and a young child.
Fighting between the ethnic insurgent group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar army in the country's north erupted that year after the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire.
"Then the authorities started seeing Kachins as part of the KIA," Ywe Ja said. "Business and social rivals could accuse you of having links with the KIA and the army would arrest you without any investigations."
Worried that her husband would fall prey to these suspicions and heavily pregnant with her second child, she finally left Tar Law Gyi, a village about two hours' drive from Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital, in March 2012.
Two weeks after arriving at the St. Paul Jan Mai Hkawng camp, she gave birth.
"I never thought I'd end up staying here so long," she said, sitting in the thatched-walled meeting room of the camp that she now helps to manage with the support of local group Karuna Myanmar Social Services, run by the Catholic Church. (Courtesy of Jakarta Globe)
Fighting between the ethnic insurgent group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar army in the country's north erupted that year after the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire.
"Then the authorities started seeing Kachins as part of the KIA," Ywe Ja said. "Business and social rivals could accuse you of having links with the KIA and the army would arrest you without any investigations."
Worried that her husband would fall prey to these suspicions and heavily pregnant with her second child, she finally left Tar Law Gyi, a village about two hours' drive from Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital, in March 2012.
Two weeks after arriving at the St. Paul Jan Mai Hkawng camp, she gave birth.
"I never thought I'd end up staying here so long," she said, sitting in the thatched-walled meeting room of the camp that she now helps to manage with the support of local group Karuna Myanmar Social Services, run by the Catholic Church. (Courtesy of Jakarta Globe)
Myanmar border guards kill fisherman on Bangladesh border
A Rohingya fisherman was shot dead by Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) while he was fishing on the Naff River at about 9.30 pm on 10 January, according to a report by Burma News International, published on January 15.
According to BNI, another fisherman said the dead man was Mohammed Raffique (19), son of Sayed Alam, from Shweza village in Maungdaw Township.
A fisherman, on condition of anonymity, said that some of the people fishing on the Naff River had received permission to do so from the BGP, but others had not, BNI reports. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
According to BNI, another fisherman said the dead man was Mohammed Raffique (19), son of Sayed Alam, from Shweza village in Maungdaw Township.
A fisherman, on condition of anonymity, said that some of the people fishing on the Naff River had received permission to do so from the BGP, but others had not, BNI reports. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
National identity, tolerance, and technology in the new Myanmar
U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell and Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski will host a discussion on national identity, tolerance, and technology in the new Myanmar with youth, civil society, interfaith leaders, and technologists from 4:00-5:30 p.m. Yangon time (4:30am EST) on Tuesday, January 19 at Phandeeyar in Yangon. Follow the conversation live on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/usembassy.rangoon/ or on twitter using #ONEMYA:https://twitter.com/hashtag/ONEMYA.
How can you participate in this important discussion? We’re soliciting questions from our Facebook and Twitter audience! Do you have a question or comment about national identity and tolerance in the new Myanmar? Use the comment section below or #OneMYA to submit a question or tell us what you think by 5:00 p.m. Myanmar time onMonday, January 18. Then follow the conversation live on the same platforms, and Ambassador Mitchell and Assistance Secretary Malinowski will feed in a few of your advance questions to the discussion on Tuesday. Check back during the event and next week for their responses! (Courtesy of humanrights.gov)
How can you participate in this important discussion? We’re soliciting questions from our Facebook and Twitter audience! Do you have a question or comment about national identity and tolerance in the new Myanmar? Use the comment section below or #OneMYA to submit a question or tell us what you think by 5:00 p.m. Myanmar time onMonday, January 18. Then follow the conversation live on the same platforms, and Ambassador Mitchell and Assistance Secretary Malinowski will feed in a few of your advance questions to the discussion on Tuesday. Check back during the event and next week for their responses! (Courtesy of humanrights.gov)
Rampaging elephants force Myanmar villagers into tree-top refuges
Pushed from their forest home by encroaching farm land, wild elephants are driving fearful villagers in a Myanmar township to seek refuge in tree houses while the animals storm their rice paddies looking for food.
The elephants have trampled crops, destroyed homes and even, villagers say, killed people in their path -- forcing families in Kyat Chuang to build new shelters made of wood and bamboo on higher ground.
"We have had to move our huts into the trees, so we are safe," explained San Lwin, who dashes several metres up a tree to his thatch-roofed shelter when the elephants are near.
Villagers in Kyat Chaung, a farming community 100 kilometres north of Yangon, told AFP they yearned for the days before the elephant rampages started three years ago. (Courtesy of AFP)
The elephants have trampled crops, destroyed homes and even, villagers say, killed people in their path -- forcing families in Kyat Chuang to build new shelters made of wood and bamboo on higher ground.
"We have had to move our huts into the trees, so we are safe," explained San Lwin, who dashes several metres up a tree to his thatch-roofed shelter when the elephants are near.
Villagers in Kyat Chaung, a farming community 100 kilometres north of Yangon, told AFP they yearned for the days before the elephant rampages started three years ago. (Courtesy of AFP)
Myanmar releases new environmental impact rules
The Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry has issued new procedures for evaluating the environmental impact of local projects, as well as new guidelines on emissions.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure – approved by the cabinet in November – was drafted with support from the Asian Development Bank and based on guidelines from the International Finance Corporation. They are tailored for Myanmar, with the government also drawing conclusions from the experiences of its neighbours, the Myanmar Times reported on Friday. The procedures were issued in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday, it added.
Deputy Environmental Conservation and Forestry Minister Thet Then Zin said the EIA process helps identify possible consequences of projects on socioeconomic development and minimise their impact on the environment. EIA systems would be applied in Myanmar as they have been across Asean countries, she added. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post: News)
The Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure – approved by the cabinet in November – was drafted with support from the Asian Development Bank and based on guidelines from the International Finance Corporation. They are tailored for Myanmar, with the government also drawing conclusions from the experiences of its neighbours, the Myanmar Times reported on Friday. The procedures were issued in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday, it added.
Deputy Environmental Conservation and Forestry Minister Thet Then Zin said the EIA process helps identify possible consequences of projects on socioeconomic development and minimise their impact on the environment. EIA systems would be applied in Myanmar as they have been across Asean countries, she added. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post: News)
The Litmus Test of Leadership
It was no small feat at the Panglong Conference in February 1947 when Bogyoke Aung San united the country's ethnic minorities behind his vision of a federal Burma. In one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world he convinced them to subscribe to the concept of one Myanmar family, comprised of several constituent elements.
Even though Aung San was only 32 at the time, he showed a capacity for leadership beyond his years.
Aung San formulated a far-reaching vision on the fabric of his country and his compatriots chose to follow him on the path to an independent and peaceful Myanmar. Sadly, the Bogyoke was assassinated six months before the country gained the independence for which he fought so hard. Aung San had the ability to bring people together and unite them and after his death there was no one to uphold the Panglong Agreement. Myanmar descended into civil war.
aung san’s insights are relevant to this day. Every ethnic leader and aspiring politician in post-conflict Myanmar should re-read his speeches and comments on federalism, a concept with many faces that few in Myanmar fully grasp. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
Even though Aung San was only 32 at the time, he showed a capacity for leadership beyond his years.
Aung San formulated a far-reaching vision on the fabric of his country and his compatriots chose to follow him on the path to an independent and peaceful Myanmar. Sadly, the Bogyoke was assassinated six months before the country gained the independence for which he fought so hard. Aung San had the ability to bring people together and unite them and after his death there was no one to uphold the Panglong Agreement. Myanmar descended into civil war.
aung san’s insights are relevant to this day. Every ethnic leader and aspiring politician in post-conflict Myanmar should re-read his speeches and comments on federalism, a concept with many faces that few in Myanmar fully grasp. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
Myanmar: Inland port Mandalay to be handled by Singapore and local company
Myanmar is building up new inland rail terminals to have an alternative to transport of goods and services. Kerry Logistics Network that provides integrated logistic services across Asia and Myanmar’s Resources Group of Logistics will be handling the inland port work near Yangon’s Ywar Thar Gyi station and Mandalay’s Myit Nge Gone station, according to a report in 7day news.
The ports which is responsible to Myanma Railway opened for tender in September 2014 to both local and foreign companies.
The trade port will be mainly be for the rail terminal that would be an alternative to a bus terminal that could face high traffic.
The construction will take place from January 2016 to end of 2017 with a build, operate and transfer system on a 50 year lease. (Courtesy of dealstreetasia.com)
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