Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), will meet the NLD’s Speakers and Vice-Speakers in Nay Pyi Taw on February 22.
Saw Chit Khin, Speaker of Kayin State Parliament, announced the meeting.
Rakhine and Shan states' Speakers and Vice-Speakers are not NLD members and have not been invited.
A separate meeting of the Myanmar Parliament Union for Speakers and their deputies from across the union will be held in Nay Pyi Taw on February 23. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
February 20, 2016
Myanmar activists stopped from destroying of opium fields
Anti-drug activists said on Friday the military and local police are preventing them from destroying fields of opium poppies in northern Myanmar, a major cultivation area for the drug that can be made into heroin.
The Pat Jasan group has more than 1 000 members engaged in the current eradication campaign and is affiliated with Christian churches of the Kachin ethnic minority. The effort it started in late January is opposed by farmers and militias that profit from drug trafficking.
Three Pat Jasan activists have been injured by land mines and one 19-year-old member has been shot dead. The group claims to have destroyed many hectares of poppies. They say they were told that the military would not provide security for any future attempts at clearing the poppies because Pat Jasan is not a registered organisation. (Courtesy of News24)
The Pat Jasan group has more than 1 000 members engaged in the current eradication campaign and is affiliated with Christian churches of the Kachin ethnic minority. The effort it started in late January is opposed by farmers and militias that profit from drug trafficking.
Three Pat Jasan activists have been injured by land mines and one 19-year-old member has been shot dead. The group claims to have destroyed many hectares of poppies. They say they were told that the military would not provide security for any future attempts at clearing the poppies because Pat Jasan is not a registered organisation. (Courtesy of News24)
Chinese Company to Begin Controversial Copper Mining Operation in Myanmar
A Chinese mining company will begin copper production at a controversial site in central Myanmar in May, a month after the new government led by the opposition party comes to power, a corporate spokesman said Friday.
The large mine project operated by China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar an army-owned conglomerate, in the town of Letpadaung in Sagaing region has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area.
“We will start copper production in May, a month after the new National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government takes power,” Dong Yunfei, Wanbao’s spokesman, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
He added that Wanbao expected to benefit from good relations with the NLD government because party leader Aung San Suu Kyi would make policy decisions based on the rule of law and national reconciliation.
“So we believe the country will be more developed,” he said. (Courtesy of RFA)
The large mine project operated by China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar an army-owned conglomerate, in the town of Letpadaung in Sagaing region has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area.
“We will start copper production in May, a month after the new National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government takes power,” Dong Yunfei, Wanbao’s spokesman, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
He added that Wanbao expected to benefit from good relations with the NLD government because party leader Aung San Suu Kyi would make policy decisions based on the rule of law and national reconciliation.
“So we believe the country will be more developed,” he said. (Courtesy of RFA)
MPs say student release a priority
MPs have formed the parliamentary education committee and named Dr Tin Aung as chairman, who has promised that a solution would be found for the students who have been detained for almost a year.
“These matters are the responsibility of the current government and Parliament can do little until it comes to power. Under the new administration, we will devote utmost effort to this matter,” said Tin Aung, MP for Kyaukse.
The union-level committee is responsible for the development of education policy and oversees large projects and monitors other significant factors. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
“These matters are the responsibility of the current government and Parliament can do little until it comes to power. Under the new administration, we will devote utmost effort to this matter,” said Tin Aung, MP for Kyaukse.
The union-level committee is responsible for the development of education policy and oversees large projects and monitors other significant factors. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
Scarred by trafficking abuses, Rohingya stay put in Myanmar camps
After Husaina’s 20-year-old son fled poverty and discrimination in Myanmar’s Rakhine State by boat, she heard nothing from him for seven months.
Then, in a shocking phone call, she was told the young Rohingya Muslim was in the hands of people smugglers in Thailand, and had fallen severely ill. The only way for him to be released was to somehow find the money to pay a ransom.
“The man said: ‘If you don’t pay money, he will die… I was so upset. How did he get into the hands of the brokers? How did he become so ill?’” she said, her eyes downcast while sitting in her dank and crumbling one-room temporary home in Thet KelPyin displacement camp, a few kilometres outside Sittwe.
They found an employer in Malaysia willing to pay about $1,600 in exchange for Mamed Rohim’s labour. That was over a year ago and Rohim is still working to repay the debt. He only manages to send over about $50 every two to three months, which the family uses to repay their own debts. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
Then, in a shocking phone call, she was told the young Rohingya Muslim was in the hands of people smugglers in Thailand, and had fallen severely ill. The only way for him to be released was to somehow find the money to pay a ransom.
“The man said: ‘If you don’t pay money, he will die… I was so upset. How did he get into the hands of the brokers? How did he become so ill?’” she said, her eyes downcast while sitting in her dank and crumbling one-room temporary home in Thet KelPyin displacement camp, a few kilometres outside Sittwe.
They found an employer in Malaysia willing to pay about $1,600 in exchange for Mamed Rohim’s labour. That was over a year ago and Rohim is still working to repay the debt. He only manages to send over about $50 every two to three months, which the family uses to repay their own debts. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
NLD blasts U Ye Htut’s comments on presidency bid
In an interview with Voice of America during an ASEAN gathering hosted by President Barack Obama in California, U Ye Htut said the outgoing military-backed government was opposed to any attempt to “suspend” article 59(f) of the constitution which bars the NLD leader from the presidency because her sons are foreign nationals.
It was the first time that a senior government figure had expressly ruled out such a move, which NLD MPs have said they are considering in parliament.
In his interview, carried by state media yesterday, the minister also said, “If the two sons want their mother to become president, they and their wives can apply for Myanmar citizenship according to the 1982 Immigration Law. This is in fact their family matter.” (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
It was the first time that a senior government figure had expressly ruled out such a move, which NLD MPs have said they are considering in parliament.
In his interview, carried by state media yesterday, the minister also said, “If the two sons want their mother to become president, they and their wives can apply for Myanmar citizenship according to the 1982 Immigration Law. This is in fact their family matter.” (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Political corruption or transparency
The biggest threat to Myanmar's democracy and development efforts is political corruption. As stated on Wikipedia, political corruption is the use of the powers of government by officials or politicians for illegitimate private gain.
An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done illegally or involves trading in influence.
Forms of corruption vary but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, influence peddling, graft and embezzlement.
Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking, although it is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is also considered political corruption. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning "rule by thieves".
Some forms of corruption – now called "institutional corruption" – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done illegally or involves trading in influence.
Forms of corruption vary but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, influence peddling, graft and embezzlement.
Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking, although it is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is also considered political corruption. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning "rule by thieves".
Some forms of corruption – now called "institutional corruption" – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
Myanmar's secret frontline in medical education
Zalattni Press sits in a low, nondescript building behind a simple family-run restaurant in Yangon's Seven Mile district. Below its front step, chickens scavenge around the base of tangled jasmine bushes and ever-increasing amounts of traffic block the main road metres away.
Until late 2015, the operation had only a single, old-fashioned printing press, often run in the dead of night. Buddhist scripts bundled with string now commonly leave the building, but, in the kleptocratic Myanmar of military rule, the press – partly funded by the small Sydney-based charity, Myanmar Australia Conolly Foundation (MACF) – became a secret frontline in the medical education of the country's most poorly served. (Courtesy of smh.com.au)
Until late 2015, the operation had only a single, old-fashioned printing press, often run in the dead of night. Buddhist scripts bundled with string now commonly leave the building, but, in the kleptocratic Myanmar of military rule, the press – partly funded by the small Sydney-based charity, Myanmar Australia Conolly Foundation (MACF) – became a secret frontline in the medical education of the country's most poorly served. (Courtesy of smh.com.au)
Myanmar worker killed, 15 hurt in van crash
A woman was killed and 14 other Myanmar workers and a baby injured when a passenger van taking them from Phuket to the Tak border crashed into a roadside tree and overturned in Muang district of this central district of this central province on Friday morning.
The accident occurred on the Liang Muang-Wang Yang route in tambon Ban Pho, said Pol Lt Somchet Nutchanart, a duty officer at Muang police station. It was reported to police around 8am.
The van was carrying 15 Myanmar migrant workers and a one-year-old child. They were heading back to Myanmar, travelling from Phuket to Tak’s Mae Sot district. (Courtesy of Bangkok post: news)
The accident occurred on the Liang Muang-Wang Yang route in tambon Ban Pho, said Pol Lt Somchet Nutchanart, a duty officer at Muang police station. It was reported to police around 8am.
The van was carrying 15 Myanmar migrant workers and a one-year-old child. They were heading back to Myanmar, travelling from Phuket to Tak’s Mae Sot district. (Courtesy of Bangkok post: news)
ADB ‘keen’ on Bangladesh-Myanmar railway network
The project to set up rail communication with Myanmar was approved in 2010 but has been on hold due to lack of funds.
“The ADB has been prioritising Bangladesh’s policy for development through regional connectivity,” said Economic Relations Division (ERD) joint secretary (ADB branch) Saifuddin Ahmed.
“The project under Trans-Asian Railway corridor will set up rail links with Myanmar. The ADB wants to fund it because of its tremendous prospect.”
About 100 km of tracks will connect Dohazari, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar and another 28 km will go until Ukhia’s Ghumdhum under the project.
“We’ve had two meetings with the ADB mission on this project. The ADB has agreed to give $1.5 billion in loan at two percent interest.”
The ADB in its conditions said the tracks needed to be dual gauge and underpasses must be built to make sure elephant corridors were not disturbed. (Courtesy of bdnews24.com)
“The ADB has been prioritising Bangladesh’s policy for development through regional connectivity,” said Economic Relations Division (ERD) joint secretary (ADB branch) Saifuddin Ahmed.
“The project under Trans-Asian Railway corridor will set up rail links with Myanmar. The ADB wants to fund it because of its tremendous prospect.”
About 100 km of tracks will connect Dohazari, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar and another 28 km will go until Ukhia’s Ghumdhum under the project.
“We’ve had two meetings with the ADB mission on this project. The ADB has agreed to give $1.5 billion in loan at two percent interest.”
The ADB in its conditions said the tracks needed to be dual gauge and underpasses must be built to make sure elephant corridors were not disturbed. (Courtesy of bdnews24.com)
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