February 26, 2016

Rakhine top job tussle about more than politics

The closely watched appointment of the Chief Minister in Myanmar’s Rakhine state would have implications on both the humanitarian situation for Rohingya Muslims and the country’s parliamentary composition, said a prominent Rohingya activist.

In an interview with TODAY earlier this week, Mr Maung Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, noted that the political jockeying for Rakhine state’s top post was being played out between the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), the ultra-nationalist Arakan National Party (ANP), and the country’s military — which remains a potent political opposition in Parliament.

“The ANP is saying that if the NLD is really democratic, (the latter) has to select someone from ANP,” he said, referring to the fact that the ANP beat the NLD at the state-level polls last November. (Courtesy of TODAYonline)

British Ambassador discusses the massive change in Myanmar

British Ambassador Mr. Andrew Patrick hopes to see Myanmar “firmly on the road to democracy” before he finishes his tenure in the country next year.

In a wide-ranging interview with Mizzima Editor-in-Chief Soe Myint, Mr. Patrick discussed a range of issues including his hopes for the country, the democratic transition, and Britain’s aid commitment and programmes.

The interview was carried out on February 22 at the British Embassy in Yangon.

Mizzima: What are the key elements with the British relationship with Myanmar?

British Ambassador: I think the key elements of Britain’s relationship with this country obviously go back a long way. There were a lot of difficult things in that relationship and more recently a lot of positive things. At the moment our engagement is mainly about supporting the reform process here, supporting the peace process and helping people address the situation in Rakhine. So those are the main thing that we do as part of the relationship. There are people to people contacts, education is a very big element of what people in this country see as what is important about the UK. And of course there is the trade relationship which is still very small but it is growing. (Courtesy of Mizzima)