February 14, 2016

Another FB users nabbed in Myanmar

Owner of the Facebook account ‘Kyat Pha Gyi’ has been arrested by the police for doctoring images of President Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The accused was identified as sailor Hla Bhone, 38, from Mayangone Township. He allegedly posted manipulated pictures that depicted the senior general wearing a sarong as a turban, Thein Sein putting on footwear for the general as well as other personal attacks.

The case against Hla Bhone under the Electronic Communications Law Section 66(d) was opened by the Yangon military command. The investigation was conducted by the military before the police were asked to arrest him.

"According to his passport, he is a sailor making frequent overseas trips. We have confiscated his computer and are investigating the claims," said Deputy Superintendent Zaw Htun. (Courtesy of The Nation)

Chinese Investors are Rushing to Myanmar

China has been increasing their investments in Myanmar over the past few years and has just won two more contracts to do so. However, despite attaining the parliament greenlight to go ahead with the projects, China may face some resistance from the local populace.

Overseas foreign investments from China into Myanmar go a long way back. China has played a big role in developing Myanmar’s Special Economic Zones, cooperating closely to build the Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone specifically. In fact, in 2009, Myanmar’s Ministry of Energy established a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corp to jointly build an oil pipeline linking the Maday Island in Kyaukpyu and the Yunnan province in China. (Courtesy of InvestAsian)

Fire ruins 600 houses in Myanmar southern region

A fire has destroyed 600 houses in Myanmar's southern Tanintharyi region, an official report said on Sunday.

The fire was triggered by a child playing with a lit candle in Palaw town, local police was quoted as saying.

As the village area was not accessible by fire engines, firefighters had to battle the blaze with water pumps.

The fire caused a total loss of property to 75 million kyats (over 585,000 U.S. dollars), the police said. (Courtesy of Xinhua)

In Myanmar, slum eviction highlights Suu Kyi's military challenge

Days before democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi led her lawmakers into parliament as Myanmar's government-in-waiting, Ei Than watched bulldozers sent by the military destroy her house in a slum on the outskirts of Yangon.

Ei Than was one of around 2,500 people thrown off military-owned land at Mingaladon in a mass eviction that gives a glimpse into the challenges Suu Kyi faces in sharing power with the armed forces after nearly 50 years of iron-fisted junta rule. The land, on the edge of the commercial capital, is owned by Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a sprawling military-owned conglomerate that entrenches the armed forces' grip over swathes of one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies. Suu Kyi's party won a resounding election victory last November, but must still work with the military because of its continued hold over key cogs of the government machinery. During the 20 years Ei Than had lived on the land, she had no idea it was owned by the military: like many migrants to the country's biggest city, she built her house on vacant land. "It was just scrub and bushes when we moved here," she said, breastfeeding an infant in a flimsy shelter covered in plastic sheeting that was erected nearby after the eviction. Colonel Tin Aung Tun, minister of security and border affairs for the Yangon Regional Government, said he did not know what the land, surrounded by an industrial park housing many military-owned manufacturing plants, would be used for. (Courtesy of dailytimes.com.pk)