About 50,000 Myanmar have found a new life in Ruili, a busy Chinese trading town of 140,000 people across the border from Muse in northern Shan State. Most of the Myanmar are Muslims involved in the jade business, who left their homeland to escape religious violence. They have rebuilt their lives, learned to communicate in Chinese and formed relationships with the locals. They never stray too far from the centre of the Myanmar community on Zhubao (Jewellery) Street, where they can gossip at teashops, eat mohinga for breakfast and buy betel at every corner.
This is their story.
When U Phone Kyaw moved to Ruili from Yangon in 1990, the Myanmar community numbered about a hundred. “Back then there was no Zhubao Street and it was very difficult to do business,” said U Phone Kyaw, 52. “The border control, the police, everyone is trying to give you trouble, but you have no choice but to sell jade on the street and risk getting caught,” he said in Chinese with a heavy Yunnanese accent. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
March 24, 2016
Myanmar finance minister nominee Kyaw Win has fake degree
Kyaw Win admitted buying the bogus PhD from a fictitious online university - Brooklyn Park in the US - which sold fake qualifications from Pakistan.
He was caught when the National League for Democracy party, which is forming the new government, made his CV public.
It remains to be seen if Kyaw Win remains on the list of cabinet ministers to take office next week.
A party spokesman told the BBC that the fake degree did not matter.
Confronted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Kyaw Win admitted the degree was fake. (Courtesy of BBC)
He was caught when the National League for Democracy party, which is forming the new government, made his CV public.
It remains to be seen if Kyaw Win remains on the list of cabinet ministers to take office next week.
A party spokesman told the BBC that the fake degree did not matter.
Confronted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Kyaw Win admitted the degree was fake. (Courtesy of BBC)
Protesters in Western Myanmar Demand The Right to Choose Chief Minister
About 500 protesters in western Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state demanded on Wednesday that they be allowed to choose their own chief minister from the state's strongest local ethnic political party, in an expression of discontent with the incoming government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The protestors marched through the state capital Sittwe, demanding that the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which Aung San Suu Kyi chairs, respect the Rakhine people’s wishes and not set up what they called a one-party dictatorship in the state.
The Arakan National Party (ANP), which represents the interests of the predominantly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine majority living in the state and in the Yangon region, won 22 seats in the country’s National Assembly in general elections last November that swept the NLD to victory over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
It also won 23 of 47 state parliament seats, but failed to gain a majority in the Arakan State legislature because a quarter of seats automatically went to military representatives, as they do in other state and regional parliaments as well as in the National Assembly. By contrast, the NLD won only eight seats in Rakhine’s legislature in the election.
“The Rakhine people’s votes were for the ANP,” Aung Ko Moe, one of the protest leaders, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We want an ANP government for Rakhine state because the ANP won in Rakhine in the last election.” (Courtesy of RFA)
The protestors marched through the state capital Sittwe, demanding that the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which Aung San Suu Kyi chairs, respect the Rakhine people’s wishes and not set up what they called a one-party dictatorship in the state.
The Arakan National Party (ANP), which represents the interests of the predominantly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine majority living in the state and in the Yangon region, won 22 seats in the country’s National Assembly in general elections last November that swept the NLD to victory over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
It also won 23 of 47 state parliament seats, but failed to gain a majority in the Arakan State legislature because a quarter of seats automatically went to military representatives, as they do in other state and regional parliaments as well as in the National Assembly. By contrast, the NLD won only eight seats in Rakhine’s legislature in the election.
“The Rakhine people’s votes were for the ANP,” Aung Ko Moe, one of the protest leaders, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We want an ANP government for Rakhine state because the ANP won in Rakhine in the last election.” (Courtesy of RFA)
Who’s who: Myanmar’s new cabinet
Take a look inside the National League for Democracy's new proposed government with insider profiles of the party's 18 candidates for ministerial posts:
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (foreign affairs; president’s office; education; energy and electric power)
The National League for Democracy leader needs little introduction. Has vowed to rule “above the president”, and with a reported four portfolios will hold a fair chunk of executive power. The only woman in the cabinet, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won the Pyithu Hluttaw seat of Kawhmu in November.
U Aung Thu (agriculture, irrigation and livestock)
A former rector of Yangon University, U Aung Thu served as a government officer for several decades before retiring in August last year to contest the election. He won a seat in the lower house for Yangon’s Latha township. He has worked in several universities across Myanmar, including a professor of mathematics at Taungoo University. Under his tenure, Yangon University boosted its cooperation with international educational institutions and expanded undergraduate teaching. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (foreign affairs; president’s office; education; energy and electric power)
The National League for Democracy leader needs little introduction. Has vowed to rule “above the president”, and with a reported four portfolios will hold a fair chunk of executive power. The only woman in the cabinet, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won the Pyithu Hluttaw seat of Kawhmu in November.
U Aung Thu (agriculture, irrigation and livestock)
A former rector of Yangon University, U Aung Thu served as a government officer for several decades before retiring in August last year to contest the election. He won a seat in the lower house for Yangon’s Latha township. He has worked in several universities across Myanmar, including a professor of mathematics at Taungoo University. Under his tenure, Yangon University boosted its cooperation with international educational institutions and expanded undergraduate teaching. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
March 23, 2016
US can't see ‘genocide’ when it might benefit: Analyst
The United States will not determine that the persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar is genocide because its priorities are to eventually make the Southeast Asian nation a client state as part of its long term strategy of confronting China, an international lawyer and political analyst says.
Barry Grossman, who is based on the Indonesian island of Bali, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday, after the State Department acknowledged that Myanmar is persecuting Rohingya Muslims, but failed to call it genocide.
"While it's without question that they continue to face persecution, we did not determine that it was on the level of genocide," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. (Courtesy of Press TV)
Barry Grossman, who is based on the Indonesian island of Bali, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday, after the State Department acknowledged that Myanmar is persecuting Rohingya Muslims, but failed to call it genocide.
"While it's without question that they continue to face persecution, we did not determine that it was on the level of genocide," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. (Courtesy of Press TV)
Myanmar - and the road to Mandalay
Myanmar, formerly Burma, is in transition to "guided" democracy. I spent a week there this month to see how it was progressing. I had not been to Myanmar before so had no real idea what to expect. The main arrival airport is Yangon (formerly Rangoon) International Airport. The three letter airport identifier is still RGN.
Money changing at an airport and the taxi fare to town are usually good indicators of how an economy is progressing. At the airport there are several bank foreign currency exchange booths offering competing exchange rates, with preference for US dollars. There was little interest in Australian dollars unless one is prepared to accept a very poor exchange rate. US dollars have to be in mint condition to be accepted, which is somewhat paradoxical given the local kyat notes are invariably torn and grubby.
The taxi to the hotel was a fixed rate of 9000 kyat for the one-hour ride to downtown Yangon. That is about $A12 at the unfavourable exchange rate, or about $US7 at the favourable one. Getting around Yangon is cheap but slow because of the heavy traffic. A 10-kilometre taxi journey can take an hour. Taxis do not have meters so you negotiate the fare beforehand which means the passenger is not out of pocket for any delays. (Courtesy of TheAge)
Money changing at an airport and the taxi fare to town are usually good indicators of how an economy is progressing. At the airport there are several bank foreign currency exchange booths offering competing exchange rates, with preference for US dollars. There was little interest in Australian dollars unless one is prepared to accept a very poor exchange rate. US dollars have to be in mint condition to be accepted, which is somewhat paradoxical given the local kyat notes are invariably torn and grubby.
The taxi to the hotel was a fixed rate of 9000 kyat for the one-hour ride to downtown Yangon. That is about $A12 at the unfavourable exchange rate, or about $US7 at the favourable one. Getting around Yangon is cheap but slow because of the heavy traffic. A 10-kilometre taxi journey can take an hour. Taxis do not have meters so you negotiate the fare beforehand which means the passenger is not out of pocket for any delays. (Courtesy of TheAge)
Rohingya: Myanmar's ethnic timebomb
Myanmar’s newly-elected president has proposed the creation of a ministry aimed at solving the country's long-standing ethnic issues, but on a list of the country's 135 official ethnicities one minority is nowhere to be seen.
For years, the country's Muslim Rohingya community has been branded one of the most persecuted in the world, but Aung San Suu Kyi's election winning National League for Democracy (NLD) rarely dares to breath its name.
“If we talk about Rohingya Muslims, people won't listen to us,” a Western diplomat who did not wish to be named as he was not authorized to talk to media told Anadolu Agency this weekend. (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)
For years, the country's Muslim Rohingya community has been branded one of the most persecuted in the world, but Aung San Suu Kyi's election winning National League for Democracy (NLD) rarely dares to breath its name.
“If we talk about Rohingya Muslims, people won't listen to us,” a Western diplomat who did not wish to be named as he was not authorized to talk to media told Anadolu Agency this weekend. (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)
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