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WWW.MMTIMES.COM DAILY EDITION ISSUE 64 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015

500Ks.

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

‘Vote with your heads, not with

your hearts’In an exclusive interview, Union Election

Commission chief U Tin Aye tells The Myanmar Times about his fears for this

year’s election outcome, his continued allegiance to the military and his plans to

ensure the vote is credible. FULL INTERVIEW NEWS 2-3

Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

How will the administration of these elections by the UEC differ from the 2010 election and 2012 by-elections? [There are] many differences. The 2010 election had many weak points because it was organised within eight months. The election was held but with many errors and weaknesses … For 2015 we changed some electoral laws that were not transparent and difficult to follow and revised our sys-tems. For example, previously we set K500,000 as the deposit for a candi-date; now it is K300,000. In the past, we did not reimburse the money if a candidate lost; now we will if he wins one-eighth of the total votes.

Another difference is certainty over advance votes. Previously it could not be known who made advance votes and there was no advance voter list. Now there is a voting list and there is no need to submit a request to see it. The lists are easy to see; they are being posted in the ward and village-tract administration offices. On election day advance vote boxes will be delivered to polling stations before 6am and have to be counted when polls close at 4pm. This is the deadline. No vote can be removed or added. All votes coming in after polls close are disqualified. In past elections advance votes came at night and were accepted even if nobody knew where they were from. One candidate, an ethnic Chin, said he

won before he went to bed, but when he woke up in the morning he found he had lost because of advance votes. I promise it will not happen like this in the 2015 election. We have tried to make sure of it. No one will say, “There is no transparency.”

There are many problems when we collect voter lists … There were many complaints about voter lists in the 2010 and 2012 elections. Some peo-ple could not vote on election day be-cause their names weren’t on the list. For this year’s election I don’t want to face such problems. We have posted provisional voters lists beforehand be-cause we want accurate lists of eligible voters. We have received many com-plaints following the release of lists … That’s why we urged people to come and check whether their names were right or wrong. If something is wrong, they make a claim to correct it.

Another difference is cooperation. In previous elections there was no co-operation between the government, election commission, political parties and civil society organisations. As chair of the election body, I knew we had to cooperate. I meet with parties and CSOs occasionally and discuss the electoral process. The significant point in preparing for these elections is har-nessing people and parties’ strength.

How about the structure of the election body? Has it changed?It is very different … The commission ran the 2010 elections with only 65

staff and some volunteers. I knew I could not manage with a few staff and expanded the structure with approval of the Union government. Now, there are 1411 personnel, including me, working for the UEC, of whom 124 are from the military, 171 from ministries and 1116 civilians appointed by me.

How much money will you spend on this election? Four times more than in 2010, when K10 billion was spent. Now K40 billion will be spent for 2015. Daw Sandar Min [an MP from the National League for Democracy] criticised the UEC in parliament because it used about K4 billion for food … In 2010 and 2012 elections, we paid K1000 to each poll-ing officer per day. They suggested that this was not enough to buy a meal. So this year we have planned K5000 for polling officers, K4000 for deputy polling officers and K3000 for polling station workers. We have to pay this amount to three people for three days. We estimate about 50,000 polling sta-tions will be open. So we explained how we calculated K4 billion for their meal allowance … If possible I would like to give them more.

What have been the major challeng-es in preparing for this election? My main concern is that people’s knowledge of elections is very weak. I would like people to select qualified candidates for parliament. These quali-fied MPs can develop the country. This is the essence of elections. People can vote for brilliant and excellent candi-dates … When they decide who to vote for, people must take into account what they did, what promises they made, who will be reliable. When I contested the 2010 election in Tada Oo constitu-ency, I didn’t say, “Vote for me.” I just said vote for the qualified person, be-cause the country will develop if quali-fied people are leading it. There must be highly qualified candidates in par-ties, including the ruling party.

So you mean your biggest chal-lenge is that the people will not choose brilliant candidates in this election? Of course … In the five elections held in Myanmar, including 1990, people selected candidates using their hearts, not their heads. I’m worried unquali-fied candidates will get into parlia-ment in this election having been chosen by the heart. That’s why I want people to vote with their heads.

How do you define a qualified candidate? A qualified person has a vision for the state. Our country needs people who know how to reform the country. But now I don’t see this kind of person. Our country has been left behind oth-ers and it’s very late in developing. I don’t like those who look east or west. Power must lie in our hands; this is unity. If we cooperate with each other in unity, our country must develop. We don’t need to fear others if we are united. But now the country is not developing – although we have a stra-tegic geographic location and natural resources – because of a lack of unity. The country will never improve if we are criticising and blaming each other.

For me I’m a statesman, not a poli-tician. As a statesman I’m thinking of the next generation, but politicians only pay attention to winning election.

People are concerned whether the election will go ahead or not. There have already been religious and ra-cial conflicts. Some people may in-stigate others into holding strikes to disturb the election. How are you

preparing to safeguard against this? Problems could happen during the election campaign period. The UEC has already announced campaign rules and regulations. All must follow them and also adhere to existing laws, such as the peaceful assembly and peaceful protest law. Moreover, the election code of conducts [COC] will be out soon. We did this in coopera-tion with parties and all must follow them as well.

We understand that problems will probably happen. Some ask if the elec-tion would be postponed if this hap-pens. According to the legal process, we can move the election [to some extent]. Government has a five-year term. The current term will end on March 31, 2016.

According to the law, I have to hold elections within 90 days of the end of the legislature [January 31, 2016]. The elections may be within 90 or 80 or 70 or 60 days. However, there must be po-litical stability in the transitional peri-od. I often exhort parties to cooperate with each other in the campaign peri-od. If they agitate people, conflicts will happen. The elections will pass peace-fully if they cooperate with each other. It depends on them: whether they cooperate or fight each other. When I warn, “Please try to keep stability, if not the country might be in danger,” these words are taken to mean I am warning of a coup. Actually I had much experience serving under the

military. I know very well the negative impacts of a military coup. We worked so hard for many years, but we got no results. The international community blocked us. Now we can see many im-provements in these four years com-pared to 22 years ago. That’s why we don’t want to take power back. The military cannot make a coup when-ever they please, but it will happen if riots break out. I can’t do anything if

the elections don’t happen because of riots. This is [the parties’] karma.

On my side, I’m acting to prevent possible conflict. We held a workshop called Risk Management II. Military, police, administration, immigration and other ministries took part and dis-cussed what problems might happen where. And then we discussed with the parties to find a way to resolve these issues. After that we asked the Union government to form security forces in regions and states based on the

workshop results. The government agreed and ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to deal with security mat-ters. The UEC plans to form a group with political parties, candidates and relevant people. If unrest happens, we are ready to prevent harm to the elec-toral process as much as we can.

How do you arrange voting for mi-grants living and working in others countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia? We cannot make voter lists for those people. Those who live abroad ask for Form 15 from the embassy to have an advance vote. The embassy sends the request to us to check if the name is on the relevant voter list in their vil-lage and township administration. If it is correct, we send a ballot to the embassy. In past elections we deliv-ered Form 15 to the embassies. Now I have already sent a CD to embassies and we will post this form on the web-site. People who want to vote can also download this from and send it to us by mail. But these people must be liv-ing abroad with legal documents.

So illegal migrants cannot vote? Sure, those people have to go back home if they want to vote.

How do you arrange for soldiers to vote? The commander and relevant [ward or] village-tract administrator discuss

the military voter list. The commander has to inform the administrator how many soldiers have to cast advance votes and the list is posted in the vil-lage administrative office. So one can see in advance how many soldiers can vote.

And on election day, will polling stations be open inside or outside military areas? I told the Tatmadaw to come and vote in their village and township polling stations as much as possible. If they can’t, they must allow party represent-atives, candidates, observers and even media to enter military compounds. If they don’t want to allow that, they must open polling booths outside mili-tary areas if they are far from village polling booths.

Has the Tatmadaw accepted this? They cannot object. They must accept. I’ve discussed it with them.

Will all polling stations be open in ethnic areas? We are considering two options. The first is that we will not open some polling stations where there might be conflicts and which are far from towns and lack security. The sec-ond is that we will open all of them, but we will not recognise the result from that station if someone forces voters with weapons to vote how they want.

The census results showed that 11 million people over the age of 10 have no ID. Do people have to have an ID to vote? We check voters based on documents from village-tract and township ad-ministrative office. It is not based on ID. According to the constitution, we have to organise so that every citizen over 18 can vote. This is their right. We can’t break the law. So if a person does not have either ID or documents, but if the village head, elders and relevant people confirm this person really lives in this village for many years, we add him to the voter list. There is no law that a person can’t vote without ID.

White-card holders could vote in the 2010 and 2012 by-elections, but are barred from the upcoming election. Is there a plan between the UEC and the government to scrutinise eligible voters? Minister for Immigration U Khin Yi said the government will issue green cards instead of white cards. Will you al-low green-card holders to vote? The government is still scrutinising white-card holders. The commission cannot allow white-card holders to vote. Also there is no law for green cards yet. If necessary, we will ask parliament whether we should allow those holders to vote or not. We will follow the law. If parliament decides green-card hold-ers are granted citizenship or will be recognised as naturalised citizens in the future, I must allow [them to vote].

There is controversy over the rights of the president and vice presidents related to the election campaign. According to section 64 of the con-stitution, they are banned from party activities while in office. But section 61 says they can serve two terms, meaning President U Thein Sein has the right to run in this election. Can you clarify? There are two related laws. As you said, the constitution bans the president from involvement in party activities under section 64. Meanwhile, section 7 of the Union Government Law allows the president and vice presidents to run for election … and also allows the president to start their election cam-paign when the commission announc-es an election date. So the two laws are contradictory. One allows and another prohibits [campaigning]. So I’ve asked the constitutional tribunal to resolve it. The court will answer at the end of June … I will follow the court’s deci-sion. I will announce the decision when I declare the election date. However, if the president does not run again, he does not have the right to hold an elec-tion campaign as a party chair. So, if he doesn’t run again, he must stay quiet.

Do you allow party chairs to cam-paign across the nation? I think the question is not related to the current president. It might be linked with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Yes, she can. Party chairs may go around the country and talk to people about their party and policies.

MPs have called for changes to the law to stipulate that UEC members must not have been a member of a political party for a set period, for example at least five years. Do you agree with these proposals? I don’t want to argue about it. The com-mission was formed according to sec-tion 399 of the constitution. I ask you which part of the commission does not meet with the law? We do nothing against the law. Although the president nominated committee members, par-liament approved them. There is no need to criticise our qualifications. As

for my personal opinion on this propos-al, it would be fine if the person must not be linked to a party for five or six years, if they can change the law. If not, is the law okay? I think it depends on the individual and his behaviour … If I am not deemed capable, I will trans-fer my duties to someone else. I serve as commission chief with self-respect. One of my seniors told me a thief al-ways thinks of others as a thief … I can’t change their mind. On my side I try to be clear.

People do not have a lot of trust in this election. Why should the pub-lic believe that the UEC is really independent, given that you were a senior military officer? People had to live under a one-party system and military regime for 48 years from 1962 to 2010. So they never trust whatever soldiers do ... I know some criticise me, using impolite words. But I don’t care. I can compete with them in various fields, such as economics, management, politics and defence. It’s funny that some criticise me as biased because I was a general and also a member of the Union Soli-darity and Development Party. Actu-ally I was a USDP member for eight months. I served for 47 years in the military, but I never bullied anyone.

I want people to judge me on my acts and not look at the past. I want to retire; however, I stay to handle this passage of the state. In the constitution it speaks of a democratic state with to-tal discipline, so [we] still control the country. If the country were set totally free now, it might collapse. The plan is to let go step by step based on peo-ple’s awareness of democracy. As you know, Rome was not built in a day. So

if you want clean water, don’t stir up the dirt. We have tried to transfer state power since the 1990 election. If you had been clever, you would have had a better situation in 1995 and 1996. We cannot set [the country] free if you don’t have enough democratic aware-ness. That’s why we still have control, but we don’t want to.

Do you expect this election will win the trust of the people?I will try my best. But elections will not produce a win-win result. The win-ner will say I am good, and the loser will blame me … That’s why I have arranged for observers to decide who will be right or wrong. They will de-cide whether I am biased or not.

Why did you wear your military uniform on Armed Forces Day? Do you think this harmed the reputa-tion or image of the UEC? I wore it last year according to regula-tions; this year also. I don’t know why people criticised me this year. I don’t want to justify if I was wrong to wear my uniform. But I had no objective in doing so. You misunderstand. I could

not do otherwise. I served 47 years in the military, since I was 17. My wish would be to wear my uniform every day. I don’t want you to misunderstand the military.

So you didn’t take into account the impact on the image of the UEC be-fore donning your uniform? Actually I didn’t. I would give up my life to wear my uniform. I wear it because I want to. That’s why I wear it even if I have to quit [the UEC] because of that. But there is no law saying I should re-sign for wearing uniform. But I must quit if I am biased and if I am biased I would be sent to prison.

People worry the election outcome will be like 1990. Will there be at-tempts to change the result if the opposition party wins by a land-slide this year? Will you really rec-ognise the result? Why would I change the result? There is no way to change it. The result must be recognised. But the transfer of power is not connected to me. If the military tries to stage another coup, I would not accept it. I would say trans-fer power to the winning party. They must accept and recognise this. Don’t worry too much. This era is not the era of rule by dictatorship.

My last question is about what you will do after the elections. Will you retire?My term lasts until the next chair is se-lected. I will work until parliament as-sembles and a government is formed. However, my wish is to retire. If my seniors ask me to serve again, there is a 5 percent chance I will accept. But it is quite certain I won’t be chair of the UEC.

News 3www.mmtimes.com2 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

U Tin Aye, chair of the Union Election Commission and a retired lieutenant general, talks to chief political correspondent Ei Ei Toe Lwin about the forthcoming elections – on his hopes that people will vote with their heads not hearts, why he does not see the right person to reform the country, how the Tatmadaw must accept the results of the vote, and on his life-long attachment to his military uniform

Union Election Commission chair U Tin Aye speaks to

The Myanmar Times in Yangon last week. Photo: Thiri Lu

‘If you want clean water, don’t stir up the dirt’

The winner will say I am good, and the loser will blame me … That’s why I have arranged for observers ... They will decide whether I am biased or not.

If the military tries to stage another coup, I would not accept it. I would say transfer power to the winning party.

1411Workforce of the Union Election

Commission, up from just 65 in 2010

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4 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

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Fighting persists in Kokang despite rebels’ ceasefire offer

FIGHTING persisted in the Kokang border region over the weekend de-spite a unilateral ceasefire declared by ethnic Chinese rebels, with little sign so far that Myanmar intends to heed China’s calls on both sides to ne-gotiate a settlement.

A source close to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) told The Myanmar Times yesterday that the Tatmadaw had continued its offensives on June 12 and 13, using artillery and infantry.

“The Tatmadaw don’t want peace. They responded by fighting although we declared a unilateral ceasefire on our side,” the source said.

The MNDAA declared a unilat-eral ceasefire on June 11 after four months of intense fighting and said it had pulled back from some positions

close to the border with China’s Yun-nan province. The group said it would defend itself if attacked.

China, which denies assisting the re-bels, welcomed the ceasefire announce-ment. A foreign ministry spokesperson said on June 12 that Beijing supported all sides in Myanmar who would “solve their disputes through negotiation, re-alise peace and national reconciliation at an early date and jointly maintain stability in the border areas … in the interests of both countries”.

Tens of thousands of mostly ethnic Chinese civilians have sought refuge in China from the conflict which has on occasion spilled across the border. Both the Tatmadaw and the rebels are reported to have suffered heavy casualties.

Yang Houlan, China’s outgoing ambassador to Myanmar, revealed the extent of Beijing’s role in the ceasefire during a farewell meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on June 12. Myawady, the army newspaper, quot-ed the envoy as telling the Tatmadaw commander-in-chief that the Chinese government had contacted MNDAA

leader Phone Kyar Shin to urge him to stop military operations and solve problems through political means.

But in a reflection of the tensions between the two neighbours, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was re-ported to have urged the ambassador to take measures to control the bor-der peacefully in accordance with the law. Senior Myanmar officials have previously voiced suspicions that the MNDAA obtains food and weapons across the border as well as hospital treatment for casualties.

However, the commander-in-chief was quoted as saying that relations between the two countries had flour-ished despite problems caused by individuals and organisations, while the Chinese ambassador said rela-tions would remain steady.

A source close to the government told The Myanmar Times last week that he believed the Tatmadaw, which has driven back the rebels close to the mountainous border, intended to pursue operations to secure the en-tire region ahead of national elections in November.

The fighting in Kokang and the government’s refusal to include the MNDAA and its allies in a nationwide ceasefire agreement have contributed to a deadlock in attempts to finalise a draft pact signed on March 31 with negotiators representing 16 armed ethnic groups. The government has not made clear whether it is willing to meet with a new negotiating team set up by leaders of the armed groups at an eight-day conference in Law Khee Lar in Kayin State that ended on June 9.

GUY DINMORE WA LONE

‘The Tatmadaw ... responded by fighting although we declared a unilateral ceasefire on our side.’

Source close to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army

No comment as NLD chief returns from China

DAW Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon yesterday following her first visit to China, including talks with President Xi Jinping. However, few details about her five-day tour, which also took the NLD leader to Shanghai and Kunming, have been released.

Over 500 National League for De-mocracy members from branches around Yangon came to the airport to greet her, some holding banners de-manding that she “must be the 2015 president”. She made no comment to reporters and hurried to her car, ac-companied by party patron U Tin Oo and parliamentarian U Win Htein.

U Win Htein told The Myanmar Times there was no time for a press conference as the NLD leader had to go straight to Nay Pyi Taw to attend a parliamentary session today. He said a statement on the visit would be

released, although it would not be de-tailed and he did not know when.

China was one of the few staunch defenders of the former military junta while Daw Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest until her re-lease in 2010. But the NLD leader was given VIP treatment during her trip to China, as it seeks to build a relation-ship with the politician who could play a pivotal role in the formation of the next government after November’s parliamentary elections.

Much speculation over her visit fo-cused on whether she would use her international status as a democracy icon to speak out on behalf of Chinese writer and fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who has been in prison since 2009.

Her last stop was in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, where she met pro-vincial party secretary Liu Jiheng. The official Yunnan Daily quoted her as saying that Yunnan’s economic devel-opment was a model Myanmar should

consider emulating. Mr Liu stressed the two neighbours shared ethnic pop-ulations, a possible reference to the ethnic Chinese community in conflict-torn Kokang.

The official Xinhua news agency ran an editorial last week raising the sensitive issue of major Chinese-led infrastructure projects, including the Myitsone dam and the Letpadaung copper mine that had been “brought to a standstill”.

“China welcomes anyone with friendly intentions and it bears no grudge for past unpleasantness. It is hoped the … visit by Suu Kyi will enhance mutual understanding and promote cooperation and friendly re-lations between China and Myanmar,” Xinhua said.

U Win Htein said he believed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could help strengthen ties with China. Mention-ing the Myitsone dam project, which President U Thein Sein suspended in 2011, he said the NLD leader would

have urged China to pay attention to the welfare of people.

A source close to the President’s Of-fice said China would have invited her earlier but had been afraid of the gov-ernment’s reaction. “China knows it is the right time to invite her while she criticises Western countries’ favours to [our] quasi-civilian government, and also elections are coming,” he said, adding that he did not expect Myan-mar-China relations to change much.

Political commentator U Yan Myo Thein, an expert on relations between Myanmar, China and the US, said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi understood the important role of neighbours, especial-ly China.

“When the NLD won the 1990 elec-tion by a landslide, the first ambas-sador who said congratulations and recognised the result was the Chinese ambassador,” he said. “Now whatever result comes out of these elections, the trip showed the revival of relations be-tween the NLD and China.”

EI EI TOE LWIN MRATT KYAW THUnewsroomtimes.com

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is greeted by National League for Democracy supporters at Yangon International Airport yesterday. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

6 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

Anti-UN banners dropped from Rakhine State protests

PROTESTERS in Rakhine State yes-terday responded to requests from Chief Minister U Maung Maung Ohn by agreeing not to use banners attacking the United Nations’ per-ceived support for Muslims, local monks told The Myanmar Times.

Angry Rakhine State residents marched through the rain in nine townships to protest the govern-ment’s decision to offer shelter to boat people rescued by the Myan-mar navy.

Almost 1000 people on two ves-sels were rescued off the coast of Ayeyarwady Region in late May after they were abandoned by

human traffickers, whose usual route through Southeast Asia had been disrupted by a crackdown in Thailand.

The Myanmar and Bangladesh governments are verifying their nationality, with 150 repatriated on June 8. The remainder are thought to be held in camps in the Taung Pyo area of Maungdaw township, across the border from Bangladesh.

Demonstrations were yesterday reported in Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-Oo, Minbya, Mye-bon, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, with the largest taking place in Sittwe, where about 1000 people, led by almost 100 monks, braved heavy rain to take part in the march demanding a deadline for the ex-pulsion of what they called the “Bengalis”.

“I think the Sittwe protest was the biggest. Some townships also protested with almost 500 people,”

Settkal Sayadaw of Sittwe told The Myanmar Times.

On June 11, five prominent monks including Sarsana Ranthi Sayadaw met with U Maung Maung Ohn to discuss the protests. Accord-ing to the monks, U Maung Maung Ohn requested they not threaten UN agencies and other internation-al organisations during the protests and marches. Photos showed them holding banners reading “INGO/NGO respect the truth”.

“We agreed to his request and removed the slogan critical of UN-HCR,” said Sarsana Ranthi Sayadaw, one of the protest leaders.

The decision to protest was reached on June 6 at a meeting be-tween a prominent monk organisa-tion and Rakhine social and philan-thropic organisations. They agreed to demand the expulsion of all res-cued boat people being temporarily sheltered in Rakhine State.

Despite the attempts of organis-ers, no demonstrations were held in southern Rakhine State.

“We couldn’t reach southern Rakhine, although we planned pro-tests all around the State, because there are no leaders to organise protesters there,” said Sarsana Ran-thi Saya-daw, one of the protest leaders.

U Than Tun, a member of the Emergency Coordination Centre of Rakhine State, which was set up last year to coordinate aid provi-sion and dialogue, said demonstra-tors wanted the government to ex-plain its strategy for handling those rescued.

“We are confused about what the government is going to do about these 700 Bengalis,” he said. “We want to know what their plan is. We’re concerned about our security now that these Bengalis are living so close to us.”

New travel law to give region govts more power

Ministry of Health takes steps to avert MERS spread

AS the death toll of the virus MERS-CoV edges toward 500, Myanmar health authorities have been tight-ening up their border procedures to protect the country from infection. In a June 9 statement, the World Health Organization put the num-ber of dead at 449 in the 25 coun-tries affected, including South Korea, China, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The disease, first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is a severe and highly contagious respiratory complaint.

Measures to prevent infection within Myanmar are being coordi-nated by Minister for Health U Than Aung, who led an interdepartmental meeting on the subject on June 11.

Health workers have been check-ing incoming travellers at interna-tional airports, ports and border crossings including Myawady, Tachi-leik, Muse and Tamu 24 hours a day since last September. Disease-control information and related equipment have been placed at all entry points.

“We are particularly checking people returning from countries af-fected by the disease. People return-ing from [South] Korea are checked if they are coughing or experiencing breathing difficulties,” said Dr Than Tun Aung, director of epidemiology in the Ministry of Health’s Depart-ment of Public Health.

Suspected carriers may be hospi-talised for at least 14 days, and are released only if laboratory tests de-tect no sign of the disease. “If symp-toms are found, everybody in close

contact with the patient is hospital-ised for 14 days for observation, and released if they show no symptoms,” he said.

There is no vaccine or cure for MERS, which, according to WHO data, has a fatality rate of around

35 percent. Health staff can only try to alleviate the symptoms. “We can provide oxygen and antibiotics,” Dr Than Tun Aung said.

Apparatus to test the tempera-ture of incoming travellers at air-ports was first installed in 2009, after the outbreak of H1N1 bird flu. Since the Ebola outbreak of 2014, people entering Myanmar walk past fever-testing apparatus at airports. Myanmar has hired more health staff and acquired equipment to check people since the start of the outbreak of MERS-CoV.

“Though many people come here from South Korea, nobody has been detected carrying the disease,” said Dr Than Tun Aung.

MERS-CoV originated from cam-els in the Arabian Peninsula, and occurs in the United Arab Emirates,

Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.Dr Than Tun Aung advised peo-

ple with a cough to wear a face mask, and said others should keep at least 2.7 metres (9 feet) away from anyone with a cough to avoid infection. People should also wash their hands thoroughly and often, and eat only properly prepared and cooked food.

“If people follow such instruc-tions, Myanmar can be free of the disease,” Dr Than Tun Aung said.

South Korea has been hard-hit by the virus, with almost 5000 peo-ple put under quarantine since the first case was reported to the WHO on May 20 and 15 deaths recorded. It is thought the first victim, a 68-year-old man, had travelled to Saudi Ara-bia, Qatar, UAE and Bahrain.

– Translation by Thiri Min Htun

PYAE THET PHYOpyaethetphyo87@gmail.com

EI EI THU91.eieithu@gmail.com

MRATT KYAW THU

mrattkthu@gmail.com

Buddhist novices hold posters that read ‘INGO/NGO respect the truth’ during a protest against migrant boat people in Sittwe yesterday. Photo: EPA

A NEW tourism law is to be submit-ted to parliament later this year, the government says. The text of the law is to be circulated for comments to the tourism industry before being fi-nalised, but operators say they are yet to see a draft.

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism di-rector U Tint Wai told The Myanmar Times the new law would replace out-dated sections of the existing legisla-tion, which was enacted 20 years ago.

“For example, the fine for infrac-tions [in the old law] is only K5000,” he said.

The new law will also speed up and simplify the process of getting government permission for tourism activities.

“States and regions have to seek permission from the Union govern-ment for any changes, which is a source of delay,” U Tint Wai said.

The attorney-general’s department is reviewing the 52-section draft in light of suggestions from interna-tional organisations over definitions. The ministry will consider input from tour operators and then submit the law to parliament, U Tint Wai said.

“We also accepted suggestions from the Myanmar Tourism Federa-tion while preparing the law to bring it up to international standards and improve the climate in which tour op-erators function.”

But Daw Sabei Aung, of Nature Dream travel and tours, said tour operators were in the dark about the law’s contents and were still waiting to be consulted.

She said the private sector wants to work with the ministry to en-sure the law is up to international standards.

“We want to know what is in the draft before it is formally submitted to parliament but the ministry hasn’t shared it with us yet,” she said. “We also don’t know which international organisations are helping with the law.”

But she said operators welcomed efforts to improve the legal framework for the industry, and urged the govern-ment to stick to the published Tourism Master Plan, released in 2013.

“We don’t have any protective laws, especially for outbound travel-lers. What will happen to them if a natural disaster occurs while they are travelling abroad? The law should protect travellers, operators and the industry.”

4856People quarantined in South Korea

as of yesterday following a MERS outbreak on May 20

Thousands protests in nine townships, with largest demonstration held in state capital Sittwe amid heavy rain

News 7www.mmtimes.com

Views

NICHOLAS FARRELLY

nicholas.farrelly@glenlochadvisory.com

Do you ‘like’ the Tatmadaw?

DURING almost 50 years of military dictatorship, the Tatmadaw didn’t ask to be liked. Its power grew from the barrels of a million guns

and the steady march of those who wore its uniforms.

It crushed dissent in the cities, kept rebels on the run in the mountains and sought to build high walls around one version of Myanmar culture. Even those who served the old regime often tired of its inefficiency, brutality and narrow-mindedness. While some may have grudgingly respected the senior military leadership, they never com-manded much genuine affection.

In recent times, the Tatmadaw’s public image has been boosted by the upbeat reception of political change. Retired Senior General Than Shwe, and his former subordinates like U Thein Sein, Thura U Shwe Mann and U Khin Aung Myint, now benefit from the idea that positive changes have re-sulted from their late-career creativity.

Many Myanmar citizens still resent the incompleteness of reform, and the ongoing guidance of serving and retired military figures, but they usu-ally accept that today’s liberalisation would not have happened without the imprimatur of top military figures.

We can also be thankful that those

in power have created a system where it is increasingly possible to gauge the popular mood. This is especially so online, where Myanmar citizens are emboldened to broadcast their feelings.

We saw this back in 2011 when the Kachin Independence Army’s ceasefire with the government broke down. On Facebook, KIA sympathisers began changing their avatars from the standard happy snaps to the defiant crossed-swords flag of the rebel group. In certain corners of the Jinghpaw-speaking internet, hundreds of these martial flags fluttered as symbols of digital solidarity.

Earlier this year when a new round of fighting erupted with the Kokang in northern Shan State, we saw another outpouring of public support for an armed group. This time it was the Tat-madaw’s Northeast Region Command that received the positive attention.

People quickly switched their pro-file pictures to reflect their encourage-ment for Tatmadaw units slugging it

out with the Myanmar National Demo-cratic Alliance Army.

Tatmadaw personnel themselves, including some serving on the frontlines, took to social media to share their stories and perspectives. In cities and towns across Myanmar, people have tuned in to these largely unfiltered versions of events. Judging by the comments, many feel common cause with the Tatmadaw’s ordinary fighting men.

At the elite level, it is also possible to see the military’s workings up-close online. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing maintains a busy Facebook presence: Just shy of 200,000 people “like” him, with thousands more added every week. They all receive semi-reg-ular updates on what the Tatmadaw’s top general has been doing. His Face-book page is filled with the predictable visits to temples, command inspections and meetings with foreign delegations.

There are also trips to see wounded Tatmadaw personnel convalescing in military hospitals, ribbon-cuttings for gleaming military facilities and reviews of shiny imported equipment.

With so many Myanmar internet users curating their lives through their Facebook feeds, it makes sense for the senior general to provide such snapshots. He joins former military

figures like Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann (73,000 “likes”) and Minister for Information U Ye Htut (who has already broken the 200,000 “likes” barrier), who have cultivated large Facebook followings.

Still, they each have work to do to catch Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose relatively subdued Facebook presence – her last post was on January 26 – has more than 1 million “likes”.

As well as managing expectations in the shadow of Myanmar’s most famous political figure, there are other challenges for the Facebook generation of military leaders.

First of all there are the risks that an accessible online presence entails. A misstep could quickly lead to public backlash, which has the potential to

run away in the unregulated spaces of the internet. The mocking presenta-tion of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s inspection photos shows what a meme can do to deride the powerful.

But those risks are clearly being tolerated, especially as the internet now gives the Tatmadaw a chance to tell its story in fresh ways.

For decades military leaders could rely on the sanitised television, radio and print media for their public statements. But their voices were rarely heard and personalities almost never glimpsed; people came to ignore what was readily dismissed as abject propaganda.

The internet offers directness and immediacy, mixed up with all manner of anarchic possibilities. Deft use of these platforms might generate a new level of popular support, but it is just as likely to reinforce the idea that the top generals remain a caste set apart.

In this election year, the Tatmadaw will need to be careful that its hunger for attention does not create a sense that its leaders are simply using the tools of the Facebook age to reinforce their 20th-century dominance.

Nicholas Farrelly is the director of the Australian National University’s Myanmar Research Centre.

The military’s budding foray into social media, particularly Facebook, will need to be carefully managed to avoid a backlash

The risks are being tolerated, especially as the internet now gives the Tatmadaw a chance to tell its story in fresh ways.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

Business

NATURAL gas exports earn Myanmar US$170 million each month, with a to-tal of 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exported to Thailand and China, according to the Ministry of Energy (MoE).

“Gas exports earn over US$170 million every month, including taxes and other charges. This represents 40 percent of the country’s income,” said U Min Min Oo, a director of the In-ternational Relations and Information Division under the MoE, at a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw on 11 June.

Myanmar has four offshore gas fields. Roughly 700 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) is exported from the Yadana project and 325 from the Yetagun field, both of

which are located in the Andaman Sea. Around 360mmcfd is exported from the Shwe Gas project in the Bay of Bengal and 240 from the Zawtika project in the Gulf of Mar-taban, according to the ministry.

The average monthly income is based on the average sales for the year, said U Min Min Oo. He did not provide any information on gas export figures in previous financial years.

“We will disclose our yearly income from natural gas exports in our first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [EITI] report, which we will submit in March 2016,” he said.

Myanmar was officially recognised as a candidate for the EITI last year. The initiative is a global standard to promote open and accountable man-agement of natural resources.

Myanmar is the largest gas exporter

in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 70pc of its output pumped to Thailand. Natural gas has been the country’s larg-est export commodity for years, and has been a crucial revenue driver for national coffers.

But the gas export sector has been affected by falling internation-al crude oil prices, which have been in decline since mid-2014. Myan-mar’s losses from gas exports could be as much as $1.5 million a day as a result, according to a senior official from the MoE.

“Gas imports will be impacted by the international crude oil price, but we have new offshore gas fields – Shwe and Zawtika – that began exporting gas in the last year,” said the official.

Myanmar adjusts its gas prices on a quarterly basis, using regional prices as a reference.

The price of gas exports was $11.7321 per million British Thermal Units in the third quarter, dropping to $11.6516 in last quarter of 2014, ac-cording to data from MoE.

While gas traded at $2.60 on in-ternational markets, the way local contracts are structured and trans-portation is calculated means the price is much higher from domestic production – though this price is also falling.

An official from Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) told The My-anmar Times a few months ago that “the price has now dropped to $10.90 and is likely to drop further.”

Aside from gas exports, the country also earned $19.5 million as a signa-ture bonus from eight onshore blocks as a result of the 2011 bidding round.

Following the 2013 bidding rounds,

the government will also be paid $95 million as a data fee and $67.01 million as a signature bonus for 16 onshore blocks, as well as an $8.83 million data fee and a $233.1 million signature bonus when international companies begin the exploration period.

“Currently these international companies are still in the environ-mental impact assessment and social impact assessment process. We will receive the data fees and signature bonus once they start the exploration stage after the surveys,” said U Min Min Oo.

“I am speaking about our income from gas exports, to let you know how much the country is earning, because of rumours from outside that the government doesn’t have enough foreign currency [US dollar] reserves,” he said.

Govt earns US$170 million monthly from gas exportsAUNG SHINkoshumgtha@gmail.com

Yangon residents ask for a stable local currencyU Phay Myint Electronics shop ownerThe Myanmar currency has been fall-ing not only against the US dollar but also other currencies from Thai-land and China. Almost all electronic items come from these two countries, and that’s what I sell. With Myanmar currency falling, the goods increase in price for import, so I am losing mon-ey. It is important the price of curren-cy exchange stabilises in Myanmar. If the kyat weakens, it’s a problem for importers, but if it strengthens it is no good for exporters.

Ma Su Thandar HlaingOnline shop ownerA stronger dollar is not good for peo-ple in my business. When dollars are not stable and become more expen-sive, customers cannot buy clothing or order goods. They wait for dollar prices to decline, so they can afford more with their kyat. It is important to have a stable price and that we can buy dollars from the banks. The dollar is now stable in official banks, according to the official price, but of-ten they will not sell us dollars.

Ko Thu Ta ZawEngineering studentWhen the dollar is strong, it works out well for people paid in foreign countries. Many Myanmar people work in places like Singapore. But for me, when the dollar strength-ens, the computer accessories and phones I want to buy become more expensive, so it is not good. I’m an engineering student, and we need many computer accessories. When the dollar is expensive, all these ac-cessories become expensive too.

Ma Hnin Yee WintPhone sellerThe cost of every good climbed when Myanmar’s kyat depreciated in value. But now things are okay for phone shops. If the dollar is cheap, we can get lots of profit, as we have to buy lots of phones [from overseas]. One problem is we are stuck with the phones at the price we pay. So if the kyat depreciates while we have the phones, we cannot sell at a cheap price. But there are many phone shops and we have to make a profit.

– Tin Yadanar Htun

THE dollar has been strengthening in value for much of the year against the kyat, though this accelerated rap-idly in June – until the afternoon of June 11, following intervention from the authorities.

The Central Bank of Myanmar stepped in to the market to reverse the kyat’s slide against the US dollar, decisively ending kyat’s steady losses since the start of the year.

At a June 12 meeting of industry, government and experts at the Cen-tral Bank, a range of initiatives aimed at ending exchange rate volatility were discussed, including an ongoing program to buy up kyat with dollars.

Demand for US dollars is being driven by both actual demand for for-eign currency as well as speculation, according to a Central Bank official.

“The Central Bank has planned to fulfil the actual demand by selling the foreign currency that is needed for the import of essential items, such as fuel, oil, construction and agricul-tural products,” he said.

The kyat had started June at K1137 per US dollar on informal mar-kets. It had rapidly depreciated to a low of K1267 on June 11, before re-versing back below K1200 a day later. Industry website naungmoon.com placed the rate at K1183 on June 13. Exchanges canvassed yesterday had a range of different exchange rates on offer, though most outwardly dis-played rates at about K1113.

The Central Bank official said the Ministry of Finance and state-owned banks have reinforced the Central Bank by transferring hundreds of millions into its coffers, with more to come.

Some of these funds are being used to intervene in the foreign ex-change market to buy up kyat, there-by strengthening its value against the dollar.

The June 12 meeting attended

by senior officials generated three main points of discussion, includ-ing the need to fulfil the demand for foreign exchange to import essential items, as well as approving more offshore loans and encouraging foreign banks to lend more foreign exchange to local banks through the interbank market.

Myanmar had previously been keeping stringent checks on incom-ing foreign loans, with the Central Bank scrutinising them and often pushing for lower interest rates. This drew the ire of the business commu-nity, many of whom had their loans held up for months or in some cases rejected entirely.

A Central Bank official said the conditions for approval of incoming loans to foreign companies in Myan-mar, from both banks and within the same corporation, will be relaxed.

“However, we still plan to control shareholders’ loans or inter-compa-ny loans of some smaller companies, because some of them had brought in very little investment as equity and plan to bring in a large amount as inter-company loans – at a higher interest rate,” he said. “Their inten-tion is to show losses on paper and take the before-tax profit out of the country as interest payments and loan repayments.”

These moves appear to have had an effect on the kyat. Some money changers also say there had been a crackdown on businesses exchanging money outside the legal band of plus or minus 0.8 percent of the Central Bank’s official exchange rate, which

last week was K1105 per dollar.However, the Central Bank official

said it had not given any instructions at all on this, adding measures would be under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

As of yesterday’s deadline, no charges for changing outside official rates had been filed with the Yangon Region Police Office, though officials said it was possible charges were still being processed at the township level.

Yesterday, money exchanges said they were still assessing the impact of the reversal in the kyat’s fortunes.

Several shops approached by The Myanmar Times were only buying US dollars within the Central Bank’s band, at K1113, and not selling dollars.

One shop on Bogyoke Aung San Road only had one half of their LED sign board lit up, that for a buying rate of K1113 – and no “sell rate” on display.

“We don’t have any dollars to sell,” said the young woman behind the counter.

“If you’re not in a hurry, you should wait a day or two, because the dollar rate has dropped so much.”

At another exchange counter on Anawrahta Road, there was no signboard up at all, and the shop appeared deserted.

An employee said that it was not doing business, though did offer to sell kyat and buy dollars.

“We are only buying dollars today, at K1130. We are not selling dollars and there’s no money for now,” said the employee. “We don’t trade dol-lars much these days, because the ex-change rate is changing so fast.”

Ko Thein Htaw, manning the counter at an exchange on Bo Aung Kyaw Road, said most exchanges have stopped their business due to the sudden drop in the dollar.

“We’ve heard authorities are tak-ing action against people trading on the black market,” he said. “We heard that, and paused our trade.”

He reckoned today’s rate was around K1180 to sell a dollar, while he is buying dollars at K1150.

“Whatever the rate is now, the market is tame,” he said. “Maybe to-morrow it will open again.”

Central Bank steps in to stop the forex slide

JEREMY MULLINS MYAT NYEIN AYE

‘Whatever the rate is now, the market is tame. Maybe tomorrow it will open again.’

Ko Thein Htaw Money changer

9BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com

Exchange Rates (June 14 close)

Currency Buying SellingEuroMalaysia RingittSingapore DollarThai BahtUS Dollar

K1241K298K813

K33K1113

K1260K311K827

K36K1117

Trucking company takes to the road with view for the long haul

Taxi apps in India gain fans but face tough regulatory reception

BUSINESS 10 BUSINESS 12

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Seiko SeiSakuSho Co., Ltd. of 14-14, 2-Chome, Misaki, Suminoe-Ku, Osaka, Japan is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following trademark: -

SNOWMAN(Reg: No. IV/742/1994)

in respect of:- “Stationery” – Class: 16

Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademark or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win Associates for Seiko SeiSakuSho Co., Ltd. P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.Phone: 372416Dated: 15th June, 2015

AUNGSHIN

koshumgtha@gmail.com

RESPONSIBLE mining was under the microscope as government, private sector and civil society groups met on June 12 in Nay Pyi Taw to discuss strik-ing a balance between economic devel-opment and environmental protection.

The Ministry of Mines has been permitting mining projects under a 1994 law, while an amendment to the law has been delayed several times in parliament. The government has also announced far-reaching social and environmental protections, though progress on this front has also been uneven.

Establishing quality rules is particu-larly important in mining, as the regu-lator oversees every step of the process, said Ministry of Mines director general U Win Htein.

“Mining is not like other extractive industries in this regard,” he said. “Li-censing is essential for each step in this non-renewable resource sector.”

The government is keen to discuss improving domestic mining practices.

Yet what constitutes responsible mining is often confused in the public mind. U Win Myo Thu, president of the Association of Advancing Life And Re-generating Motherland (ALARM), said there must be a focus on sustainability for the sector. Some companies try to cloud their actions, but simply donat-ing a portion of the company’s profit does not offset the harm that can be caused by industry.

“I would like to highlight that there is a difference between mining respon-sibly and corporate social responsibil-ity,” he said. “Corporate social responsi-bility usually means some donation of profits, but investors must think about social equality and environmental is-sues when they are beginning their business.”

Participants at the June 12 meeting said there is much to do to improve the sector.

The ministry has permitted a total of 2410 mining operations up to 2015, over 60pc of which are local, small-scale projects.

Mining is to be a key part of Myan-mar’s first Extractive Industries Trans-parency Initiative report, which is due early next year. The initiative is volun-tary to join, with compliant countries maintaining a specific level of transpar-ency in their extractive industry sectors.

President U Thein Sein has made joining the initiative a centerpiece of his reforms, though meeting its

standards will not be easy.Yet while Myanmar is preparing its

first Extractive Industries Transpar-ency Initiative report, the law govern-ing mining is due for a shake-up. The Ministry of Mines still permits projects through existing rules and regulations that date to the 1994 Myanmar Mining Law. A planned set of amendments to the 1994 law have been discussed in parliament for several years, though so far have not been passed.

U Win Htein claimed the ministry is completely prepared for amending the new mining law.

“It is now in parliament for final ap-proval,” he said. “At the same time, we are working with entrepreneurs and civil society groups to try to make the sector more responsible.”

Mining businesspeople say there are negative social and environmental impacts for mining, but also positive spin-offs for the economy and local people.

“We have to think in both negative and positive ways when we think about the Environmental and Social Im-pact Assessment reports,” said U Khin Maung Han, vice chair of the Myan-mar Federation of Mining Association. “We can recover from some impacts of mining, but others we won’t be able to recover from. We don’t need to permit projects which can cause permanent environmental damage.”

Still, there are also economic funda-mentals to the business.

“Without any profit, no one will in-vest,” he said. U Khin Maung Han said the first consideration for the sector is profit. If a business feels it can make a profit at a site, it will then look at the possible effect on people and the planet.

Investors in the mining sector must

also submit Environmental and Social Impact Assessments separately from their mining licences, though the qual-ity of the reports are thought to vary significantly.

They are assessed by a team of 39 experts from related ministries, ac-cording to an official from the Min-istry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.

The Environmental Conservation Law was put in place in March 2012, but detailed rules and regulations following the law are still in draft form and have not been released to the public.

ALARM’s U Win Myo Thu said the discussion between prioritising eco-nomic development or environmen-tal issues has been ongoing since the 1960s.

“The two are always confronted in every country. People decide to go for development first and then care about the environment second,” he said.

“But nowadays most developed countries understand that develop-ment and environmental protection must go together.”

How well the two will work togeth-er in Myanmar remains to be seen.

Taking stock of responsible miningThere is room for improving environmental standards on some local mining sites. Photo: AFP

‘I would like to highlight that there is a difference between mining responsibly and corporate social responsibility.’

U Win Myo Thu Mining industry observer

10 Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015 TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Revlon (Suisse) S.A. a company organized under the laws of Switzerland and having its principal office at Badenerstrasse 116, 8952 Schlieren, Switzerland is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following trademarks:-

BOTAFIRM(Reg: Nos. IV/4079/2004, IV/1389/2009, IV/3374/2012 &

IV/2311/2015)

REVLON COLORSTAY(Reg: Nos. IV/1581/2006, IV/1397/2009, IV/3384/2012 &

IV/2319/2015)The above two trademarks are in respect of: - “Cosmetics” – Class: 3

COLORSILK(Reg: Nos. IV/1575/2006, IV/1392/2009, IV/3377/2012 &

IV/2314/2015)in respect of:- “Hair care products” – Class: 3

FLEX(Reg: Nos. IV/1759/2006, IV/1393/2009, IV/3380/2012 &

IV/2315/2015)in respect of:- “Hair care and styling products” – Class: 3

CHARLIE(Reg: Nos. IV/621/2001, IV/993/2009, IV/3383/2012 &

IV/2312/2015)

(Reg: Nos. IV/1574/2006, IV/1391/2009, IV/3378/2012 & IV/2313/2015)

The above two trademarks are in respect of:- “Fragrances” Class: 3

MITCHUM(Reg: Nos. IV/1576/2006, IV/1394/2009, IV/3385/2012 &

IV/2316/2015)in respect of:- “Antiperspirants and deodorants” – Class: 3

REVLON(Reg: Nos. IV/1580/2006, IV/1398/2009, IV/3386/2012 &

IV/2317/2015)in respect of:- “Manicure implements; utility scissors; tweezers; eyelash curlers” – Class: 8

REVLON(Reg: Nos. IV/599/2001, IV/1400/2009, IV/3381/2012 &

IV/2321/2015)in respect of:- “Cosmetics; nail care products; skin care products; hair care products” -Class: 3

REVLON AGE DEFYING(Reg: Nos. IV/1572/2006, IV/1396/2009, IV/3373/2012 &

IV/2318/2015)in respect of:- “Cosmetics and non-medicated skin care preparations.” – Class: 3

SUPER LUSTROUS(Reg: Nos. IV/616/2001, IV/1390/2009, IV/3379/2012 &

IV/2320/2015)in respect of:- “Cosmetics and hair care products” – Class: 3

Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademarks or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win Associates for Revlon (Suisse) S.A.P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.Phone: 372416Dated: 15th June, 2015

ON June 10, executives from CEA Pro-ject Logistics ventured to the outskirts of Yangon to kick the tires on – well, not literally – two massive trucks gleaming in the monsoon sun.

Upon inspection, the company’s managing director noted one or two issues with his company’s new assets – one being that the trailer attached to one cab was white instead of blue, making it the wrong colour. “That’s me being nitpicky,” said Kevin Fisher.

He and his staff wear crisp white shirts with the company’s logo on the left breast pocket, building a brand image for the company in Myanmar, which they entered a few years ago. Since then, Mr Fisher said the firm has completed a massive learning curve.

Yoma Fleet general manager Allan Davidson said the firm, CEA Project Logistics, is a top-quality player in the domestic industry. “They understand what makes money over the long haul.”

For CEA Project Logistics, that term could have a double meaning – one around long-term business deal-ings and the other around the 2500 km range of the twin trucks that just became theirs to operate after a recent handover ceremony at a showroom in Hlaing Tharyar township.

CEA’S Myanmar business began in 2013 – 13 years after Mr Fisher started Cranes & Equipment Asia in Thailand – and in its early days ran out of a suite at the Park Royal Hotel downtown. About a year elapsed with-out the company gaining meaningful traction. Its Thai operations kept the lights on as the firm completed its first few projects. Country manager John Hamilton initially had his doubts.

“There was a point after the first 11 months I questioned whether [we] did the right thing,” he said. “You just knew something had to happen.”

And it did. The company now oper-ates out of Pearl Condo in Yangon, do-ing about 25 percent of its projects in Myanmar with three-quarters still oc-curring in Thailand and Laos – though an even split could be on the horizon.

Mr Hamilton describes the firm as a “projects company”. CEA leases three warehouses in Yangon, and owns a fleet of 25 forklifts. Past jobs have in-cluded bringing a 100 megawatt pow-er plant in to Myanmar, he said, and logistics work around a tall antenna that, when assembled, would look like a pine tree.

Mr Hamilton said the company dif-ferentiates from others as assets back CEA Project Logistics. While some

“live in a little cubicle ... we want to operate our own equipment and be as self-sufficient as much as we can be as we grow”, he said.

That collection of equipment grew in number by two last week, adding to a portfolio which CEA’s website values at more than US$10 million. On June 10, Mr Hamilton and managing direc-tor Kevin Fisher drove out to a Volvo and UD showroom in Shwe Than Lwin industrial zone to visit the firm’s first fresh trucks for Myanmar – two sparkling white cabs, one with a trail-er attached, bedecked in bows.

They’re supposed to be able to make it from Yangon to Mandalay and back again, approximately, on the gas in their tanks. CEA will lease the trucks from Yoma Fleet, affiliated with Serge Pun and Associates, and a com-pany official describes them as long-term with the option to buy.

As Yoma guarantees servicing, CEA must only bring drivers and fuel to the table – minimising risk “in a country where the roads are so variable [and] there’s no such thing as roadside as-sistance”, she said.

The Myanmar market, though lu-crative as a near-greenfield in many respects, does present major issues.

The company, through its subcon-tractors, has not been immune to dis-turbance on the road. Mr Hamilton said there have been exceptional cases where its “subbies” have been held to

ransom – a challenge the subcontrac-tor takes care of.

But bigger problems start even higher up in Myanmar.

“The challenge ahead for us is the lack of infrastructure here in the coun-try and the way that the government can’t settle on their rules and regula-tions, where they’re constantly chang-ing their minds and moving the goal posts,” Mr Fisher said.

“With all the new blocks coming online in the oil and gas companies, there’s going to be a lot of people hit-ting this town and it’s going to be hard and fast ... I just really don’t know how the infrastructure is going to cope.”

The company will continue to ex-pand its assets and head toward the power and oil-and-gas industries while continuing to operate in telecoms.

A case study on the company’s website said the firm had been given three distinct telecommunications contracts to deliver holistic project logistics to put up more than 5800 tel-ecom towers.

“The Myanmar government has pledged to install over 17,000 telecom towers throughout the country, [and] CEA Myanmar will be responsible for 34pc of these,” the website said.

For now, the company is ready to get the engines revving on their new trucks. And as for the colour of the trailer – Mr Fisher said it’s growing on him.

Trucking company plans for the long haul

A newly arrived truck for CEA Projects is parked, complete with ribbons. Photo: Catherine Trautwein

CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN

newsroom@mmtimes.com

TRAUTWEIN

THE hacking of millions of US govern-ment employees is likely part of an effort by Chinese intelligence for long-term profiling – and possibly more ne-farious things, experts say.

Security analysts say considerable evidence points to China, and that the cyber-intrusion shows the long and patient efforts in Beijing to collect and compile data which may be useful in the future.

“It’s normal for big intelligence agencies to create large biographic databases on their opponents,” said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International

Studies, a Washington think tank.Mr Lewis said that while data on

individuals may not seem signifi-cant on the surface, analysis of huge amounts of information can provide a strategic advantage.

“They get the same kinds of big data insights that companies use for targeted advertising,” he said.

Reports last week indicated some 4 million current or former govern-ment employees were hit, but a un-ion letter said many more – every federal employee every federal re-tiree, and up to 1 million former fed-eral employees – could also have had

personal data compromised.These types of cyberattacks are

troublesome because they involve stealth access that allows intruders to remain on computer networks for long periods of time, analysts say.

“It’s the difference between a ‘smash-and-grab’ and a long-term per-sistent” operation, said Ryan Kazanci-yan, chief security architect at Tanium, a California-based security firm.

“If you think about what you can do from the perspective of espionage instead of fraud, that data is incred-ibly valuable,” Mr Kazanciyan said.

– AFP

WASHINGTON

US intel breach a boon for China

International Business 11www.mmtimes.com

THAILAND’S Revenue Depart-ment will submit a list of 14 ad-ditional officials suspected of involvement in a fraudulent value-added tax (VAT) refund scam in re-cent years to the Finance Ministry.

They were allegedly involved in fraud that cost 4.3 billion baht (US$128 million) in lost revenue from 2012-13 in the Revenue De-partment’s Bang Rak district of-fice, department director-general Prasong Poontaneat said.

Earlier the Finance Ministry decided to oust Siripong Riyakarn-theerachote, whose former name was Supakij Riyakarn, for serious misconduct, as a probe found he colluded with groups in VAT re-fund fraud while he was head of the Bang Rak office.

The ministry at that time said it was mulling the fate of three or four more high-ranking officials as well as those at the operational level, or below C-9, who were alleg-edly involved in the case.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently ordered the removal of the first batch of 45 officials and local administrators under

investigation for corruption by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, shunting them to inactive posts.

Among them is Finance Minis-try chief inspector-general Sathit Rangkhasiri, whose transfer is be-lieved to be linked to the VAT re-fund scam.

The ministry launched the probe in 2013 and found 30 instances where people had set up bogus metal export companies and filed falsified documents with the Rev-enue Department’s Bang Rak of-fice to claim VAT refunds. Various people were named as shareholders or directors, and some of the “com-panies” had offices that were found to be empty rented rooms.

Moreover, all the transactions were made by the same six buyers, who did not run any businesses.

Separately, the department is investigating two groups of indi-viduals suspected of involvement in another VAT refund fraud, Mr Prasong said without elaborating further.

A draft bill authorising the Revenue Department to freeze the

assets of those allegedly involved in tax fraud is pending delibera-tion by the Office of the Council of State, he said, adding that it had already won cabinet approval.

Under the bill, the department will be able to block all finan-cial transactions of suspects at domestic financial institutions, offering the department greater flexibility so it can chase after unpaid tax from fraudsters and their accomplices.

He said the department also wanted to amend the law to allow financial institutions to inform it of financial transactions from those suspected of tax dodging or fraud, but several parties opposed the idea since it would give the de-partment too much power.

The department can ask for fi-nancial data from financial institu-tions now on a case-by-case basis.

In another development, the Revenue Department will join with the Government Lottery Office to backdate tax payments of lottery vendors found selling tickets for more than the capped price of 80 baht a pair. – Bangkok Post

Big Thailand tax fraud snares more officials

BANGKOK

PALAU

THE small Pacific island nation of Palau has set fire to four Vietnamese fishing vessels caught illegally operating in its waters, and delivered a stern warning that it will not tolerate poaching.

The 77 crew members were trans-ferred to two other arrested fishing boats with enough fuel and provisions to get back to Vietnam.

“This message goes to the captain and crews of these vessels. Palau guar-antees you will return with nothing,” President Tommy Remengesau said after the boats were burned on June 12.

“Captains will be prosecuted and jailed. Boats will be burned. Nothing will be gained from poaching in Palau. From one fisherman to another, respect Palau.”

The Vietnamese boats were caught in a protected area with more than 8 tonnes of sea cucumbers and reef fish on board. Since last year, 15 boats from Vietnam have been seized with more than 25 tonnes of Palau’s marine spe-cies destined for the black market in Asia. “We have a simple message for those who try to steal Palau’s marine re-sources: We will not tolerate poachers in our ocean,” Mr Remengesau added.

“Palau is working with our military, diplomacy and NGO partners from around the world to get tough on illegal fishers and protect our food security.”

Palau hosted workshops last month involving maritime surveillance au-thorities from the United States, Aus-tralia, Japan and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, designed to develop a comprehensive marine en-forcement plan.

“Illegal fishing is a major threat to Palau, given its location as a critical gateway to the Pacific,” said Seth Hor-stmeyer of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Global Ocean Legacy program. “With a no-tolerance policy and growing en-forcement capabilities, illegal fishing will be stopped in Palau.” Palau, in the western Pacific, has a fishing-reliant economy for its population of 21,000 people spread over 250 islands. – AFP

Palau burns Vietnamese fishing boats

INDIA’S inflation rate rose in line with analysts’ expectations as in-dustrial output quickened, official figures showed on June 12, the latest data to suggest government reforms were helping to revive eco-nomic activity.

Consumer prices increased to 5.01 percent in May from a year ear-lier and up from a four-month low of 4.87pc in April. A poll of analysts by Bloomberg had predicted a 5pc rise.

Analysts said the inflation rise would reduce the chance of a fourth interest-rate cut this year, until at least the end of monsoon rains around September.

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan cut the central bank’s key borrowing rate by 25 ba-sis points last week, resisting calls for a bigger snip until the monsoon had passed.

India’s inflation rate is expected to rise during the three-month sum-mer monsoon, which is just start-ing, if rains are weak as predicted.

“If the RBI moves on rates again,

it will be in October,” Ashutosh Da-tar, an economist with IIFL Institu-tional Equities, said on June 12.

Inflation has cooled in recent months thanks largely to plummet-ing global oil prices, leading India’s central bank to slice 75-basis points off the benchmark repo rate.

A recent recovery in crude prices has raised concerns of higher infla-tion in India, which is heavily de-pendent on imported oil.

Inflation is presently well within the Reserve Bank of India’s target range of below 6pc.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power little over a year ago, pledging to stimulate the economy and boost foreign direct investment.

In May, India posted growth of 7.5pc for the first three months of the year, overtaking China.

On June 12, data showed that production at India’s factories, mines and utilities soared to 4.1pc last month, well ahead of analysts’ predictions of 1.5pc.

– AFP

MUMBAI

Indian inflation on the rise, latest sign of economic growth

12 International Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

INDIA’S ultra-competitive app-based taxi-hailing market has quickly become a multi-billion-dollar industry, but con-troversy surrounding safety, rejected licences and protesting cabbies threat-ens to slam the brakes on its spectacu-lar rise.

Domestic company Ola Cabs and US-based Uber are booming, fuelled by a rising number of professionals want-ing an easy-to-book, clean and air-con-ditioned cab in India’s rapidly growing and congested cities.

“We have barely scratched the sur-face. We need to be in every corner of India and it is a huge country, so the potential is huge,” Ola spokesperson Anand Subramanian said.

But it hasn’t been a completely smooth ride, with Indian authorities rejecting Uber and Ola’s applications to operate in New Delhi, even impound-ing their cars, and both firms facing angry protests from traditional taxi drivers.

Ola Cabs has soared from fledgling internet startup to the leader of India’s smartphone taxi-hiring industry in just five years and is now worth an estimat-ed US$2 billion.

It recently bought up domestic com-petitor TaxiForSure for a reported $200 million and is also outperforming web and mobile app-based rival Meru Cabs in a crowded marketplace.

Private but often shoddy and un-comfortable cabs have long plied In-dia’s notoriously vehicle-and-animal-congested roads, filling a void created by patchy and unreliable public trans-port networks.

But in 2010, two young entrepre-neurs in Mumbai – Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati – decided that India’s tech-savvy and wealthy middle-classes wanted the convenience of a comfort-able ride with just a couple of clicks of their smartphones.

They founded Ola and started op-erating with only a handful of vehicles before increasing the number of cars on its network to 10,000, across 10 cit-ies, by last year.

An aggressive recruitment drive over the past 12 months has resulted in its operations rising more than tenfold and Ola now operates 150,000 vehicles

in 100 cities stretching the length and breadth of India.

Ola notched 200,000 rides a day in January and predicts it will record over 1 million a day this month. They have also started to offer auto-rickshaws for hire and are to start delivering grocer-ies too.

It doesn’t own the majority of the cars itself but helps drivers acquire loans which are then repaid in small sums.

Some of those drivers joined hun-dreds of others working for Ola and Uber at a demonstration in New Delhi, saying the city government’s

crackdown on the industry had forced them off the roads.

Drivers said police had been im-pounding their cars, forcing them to pay fines and go to court to get them back, ruining their livelihoods after lo-cal authorities started to put pressure on the companies following their defi-ance of a state-wide ban.

The companies were banned in the capital in December after an Uber driv-er was accused of raping a woman pas-senger in a case that sparked uproar.

But they resumed operations in January even though the government rejected their applications for a licence to operate.

“We are doing an honest job. There is 100 percent transparency here. Why are we being treated like criminals?” said Petrick William, 35, whose car was impounded.

Drivers told of borrowing heav-ily to buy their cars so that they could drive for Uber and Ola, allowing them to build their own business and earn more money than working for regular

Indian taxi companies. “This is honest money that we are

making. And for the first time in our lives, we can send our children to good schools, pay our rent on time, some-thing we have never had before,” Mr William said. “Why are they taking that away from us?”

Delhi’s Ola and TaxiForSure drivers were given an reprieve last week when the High Court overturned the govern-ment’s ban. Uber has now filed a simi-lar petition in the court in the hope of winning a similar ruling.

Mr Subramanian, Ola’s spokesper-son, said his company planned to hire 50,000 women drivers over the next three years to ease safety fears among female passengers.

“It would also create work for those women who otherwise do not get those opportunities,” he added.

Ola already uses an investigative agency to look into candidates’ back-ground to ensure their suitability while Uber has also tightened up its security checks following the alleged rape.

While Mr Subramanian is bullish about Ola’s future, some analysts are sceptical about its long-term viability.

“From a customer convenience an-gle, startups which deliver services at your doorstep on demand are great, but from an investor angle they do not appear to be that impressive since they do not give returns,” said Paras Aden-wala, head of Mumbai-based Capital Portfolio Advisors.

“Once interest rates start rising they are going to start facing money prob-lems,” he added. – AFP

Commuters wait for a train below an advertisement for an app-based taxi-hailing service on a railway platform in Mumbai. Photo : AFP

MUMBAI

India’s taxi-app industry on bumpy ride‘This is honest money that we are making ... Why are they taking that away from us?’

Petrick William Owner of an impounded car

International Business 13www.mmtimes.com

EGYPT will inaugurate a “new Suez canal” shipping route in August aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and boosting rev-enues, officials said on June 13.

Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-kilometre (45-mile) project will run part of the way alongside the existing canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

It involves 37km of dry digging and 35km of expansion and deepen-ing of the Suez Canal, in a bid to help speed up the movement of vessels.

“The digging and dredging opera-tions will be completed on July 15,” Suez Canal Authority chief Mohab Mameesh told reporters in the canal city of Ismailiya.

A ceremony will be held on August 6 to inaugurate the project, he said.

“Once the president inaugurates it, vessels will start moving through the new waterway,” Mr Mameesh said. He said 85 percent of the project that is being executed by the army has been completed so far.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the project last August and set an ambitious target of dig-ging the new canal in one year. The project is part of a plan to develop the zone around the canal into an industrial and commercial hub, which would include the construc-tion of ports and provide shipping services.

“The entire project is Egyptian ... the idea, the planning, and the fund-ing” and will “once again put Egypt on the world investment map,” said Mr Mameesh.

Authorities raised US$9 billion to build the new canal by selling shares in the project to domestic investors, with private Egyptian companies tasked with its construction.

The new canal is expected to more than double Suez revenues from $5.3

billion expected at the end of 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2023, according to of-ficial estimates.

The new canal is considered a “national project” that aims to kick-start an economy battered by years of political turmoil since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Of the roughly 250 million cubic metres (8.8 billion cubic feet) of soil to be dredged, 219 million has already been dealt with, officials said. – AFP

ISMAILIYA, EGYPT

Suez expansion to be finished in August

A dredger puts the finishing touches on the new waterway of the Suez Canal in the Egyptian port city of Ismailiya, east of Cairo. Photo: AFP

Greek leader warns of compromise after default threat

ATHENS

GREEK premier Alexis Tsipras warned Greece on June 13 to prepare for a “dif-ficult compromise” with its EU-IMF creditors as his closest advisers deliv-ered a last-chance proposal to avert a catastrophic default by Athens.

Cash-starved Greece is under huge pressure to strike an agreement to un-lock vital bailout funds in the coming days, if not hours, after top eurozone of-ficials turned the screws on June 12 and said they were preparing the ground for an Athens default.

The Tsipras envoys brought his lat-est bid to end a five-month standoff with the EU and the IMF, who are de-manding tough reforms in exchange for giving Athens 7.2 billion euros (US$8.1 billion) still remaining in its interna-tional rescue package.

“If we arrive at a viable accord, even if it is a difficult compromise, we will take up the challenge because our only criteria is to get out of the cri-sis,” Mr Tsipras was quoted as telling Greek officials on June 11 in a govern-ment statement.

Whatever needs to be done “needs to be done quickly”, deputy finance minister Dimitris Mardas told Skai TV in Athens. He predicted there would be a deal. A European source close to the negotiations said that the meeting was “under way” with its resolution “open-ended”, and it would possibly take sev-eral days.

Across the table from the Greeks were the three institutions responsi-ble for overseeing their bailout, the second since 2010: the EU’s Commis-sion, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The latter are the most pro-austerity of Greece’s creditors.

A German media report said “ten-sions” had arisen between the European Commission and the IMF in recent days.

Citing a “negotiator” as its source, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in its edition yesterday that the IMF had “torpedoed” a recent attempt by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker to offer Athens a compromise deal.

The proposal would reportedly have allowed Athens to postpone some 400 million euros in pension cuts in return for making similar savings on military spending.

The urgency for a deal increased ex-ponentially on June 11 when Europe’s top economic officials said they had for the first time ever discussed the pros-pects of Athens defaulting on its debts.

“In discussions, a default was men-tioned as one of the scenarios that can happen when everything goes wrong,” a eurozone official said on condition of anonymity after talks in Bratislava.

The bombshell came a day after the IMF said it pulled its technical team from Brussels because it was dissatisfied with the state of the negotiations. – AFP

Italy demands Europe help on migrant crisisWORLD 19

International concern over Bangladesh’s Rohingya resettlement schemeWORLD 16

14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015 15

World WORLD EDITOR: Kayleigh Long

BEIJING

China confirms ship sinking death toll

PHNOM PENH

Cables shed light on cartels’ reachHONG KONG

Pro-democracy campaigners ramp up pressure ahead of June 17 vote

TRADEMARK CAUTIONBayer Intellectual Property BmbH, a company registered under the laws of Germany, which is located at Alfred-Nobel-Str. 10, 40789 Monheim am Rhein, GERMANY, is the sole owner of the following trademark:

FLUDORAReg. No. 6017/2015

In respect of Class 1: Chemicals used in agriculture, horticulture and forestry; preparations for treating seeds (include in class 1); plant growth regulating preparations; genes of seeds for agricultural production; fertilizers.

In respect of Class 5: Preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides; herbicides.

Bayer Intellectual Property BmbH claims the trademark right and other relevant Intellectual Property right for the mark as mentioned above. Bayer Intellectual Property BmbH reserves the rights to take legal measures against any infringer who violates its Intellectual Property or other legal rights in accordance with the concerned laws of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

U Kyi Naing, LL.B., LL.M., (H.G.P.)

For Bayer Intellectual Property BmbH

Tilleke & Gibbins Myanmar Ltd. No. 1608, 16th Floor, Sakura Tower, 339 Bogyoke Aung San Road, Kyauktada Township, Yangon, Myanmar

Email address: myanmar@tilleke.com

Dated: 15th June, 2015

THE death toll from a cruise ship which sank on China’s Yangtze River was confirmed as 442 over the week-end, state media reported, as the final bodies were found from Communist China’s worst shipping disaster.

Only 12 people survived when the “Eastern Star” cruise ship capsized dur-ing a storm on June 1, Tang Guanjun, the director of the river’s navigation au-thority, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

All of the dead have now been iden-tified using DNA testing and the bodies have been transferred to relatives, he said. So far 426 bodies have been cre-mated, in line with Chinese custom.

A total of 454 people, mainly tour-ists in their 60s, were on the ship when it sank in Jianli in China’s central Hubei province in what witnesses said was a matter of seconds. Weather offi-cials said a freak tornado hit the area at the time.

Mr Tang said earlier reports that 14 people had survived out of 456 had been revised after “further check-ups and verifications”, Xinhua reported.

The final toll comes after search and rescue personnel last week held a solemn ceremony for the dead after distraught relatives from across China gathered near the disaster site.

Information about the sinking, and media access to the site and to relatives of passengers, has been tightly controlled and online criticsm of the search quickly deleted.

Teams scoured the sunken ship for days, going room to room underwater before finally lifting the body of the vessel from the water using vast cranes,

but poor weather and visibility ham-pered rescue efforts.

The search scope was also extended to 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) of the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river, in the hope of finding those still unaccounted for.

Search and rescue operations have now been ended but an investigation into the sinking is still underway, Mr Tang was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

A petition posted by family mem-

bers on the social media service We-Chat has called for the death penalty for the ship’s captain – one of the few survivors of the disaster – who is in po-lice custody.

Reports have said the 76.5-metre-long (250 foot) and 2200-tonne ship overturned in less than a minute.

The vessel was cited for safety in-fractions two years ago, and state broadcaster CCTV had said investiga-tors would probe its structure for any flaws.

In operation for nearly 20 years, the ship had undergone an annual mainte-nance late last year and was fit to cruise until April 2016, Xinhua said. – AFP

A woman stands in front of yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, stuck on a tent outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on June 13. Pro-democracy campaigners took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday ahead of a vote on the political reform package that has divided the city and sparked mass protests. Photo: AFP

PRO-DEMOCRACY campaigners took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday, but in far smaller num-bers than expected, before a vote on a political reform package that has divided the city and sparked mass protests.

The controversial electoral roadmap, which lays out how Hong Kong’s next leader should be chosen, goes for debate at the legislature on June 17 and will be voted on by the end of the week.

It is the culmination of a fraught chapter which saw tens of thousands of pro-democracy pro-testers bring parts of the city to a standstill late last year.

Those rallies were sparked by a ruling from Beijing that candi-dates in the city’s first ever public vote for its leader in 2017 must be vetted.

Pro-democracy lawmakers in the semi-autonomous Chinese city have vowed to vote down the

election package, which sticks to Beijing’s ruling.

Currently the chief executive is elected by a 1200-strong pro-Beijing committee.

More than 1000 people set off from the city’s Victoria Park yes-terday afternoon, heading toward the legislative council building where they are due to rally into the evening.

With temperatures soaring to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahren-heit) and humidity at almost 80 percent, numbers were well below organisers’ hopes as the march be-gan – they had said they expected 50,000 to join.

Yesterday’s gathering is the first of a series of rallies which ac-tivists say will take place each day until lawmakers vote on the bill.

Despite fragmentation in the pro-democracy camp, all the key players from last year’s protests, which became known as the

Umbrella Movement, are set to take part.

“Vetoing [the bill] is not some-thing to be happy about,” said Labour Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk Yan, addressing the crowd yesterday.

“It shows Hong Kong people have the courage to veto the rotten proposal, but it doesn’t mean we have won.”

Latest figures from one joint university poll showed those against the reform package taking the lead for the first time with 43 percent, versus 41.7 in support.

“People may feel exhausted and directionless, but we need to fight on to get back our Hong Kong, and our basic political rights,” added Johnson Yeung of Civil Human Rights Front, which organised the march.

Marchers held placards de-manding “true universal suffrage” and yellow umbrellas, symbol of

the pro-democracy movement.“Coming out is an expression of

our stance. There is nothing else we can do other than this,” said Lam Sum-shing, 73.

Authorities have warned activ-ists to distance themselves from “troublemakers” and said they have heightened security at the government complex.

Police cleared what they called “dangerous objects” including bot-tles and wooden planks from a small protest camp outside the leg-islature on June 12.

Last year’s mass protests saw sporadic violence, with thousands joining the demonstrations after police fired tear gas.

With the reform package ex-pected to be blocked by pan-dem-ocrats, who have enough votes to stop it, analysts say there is little hope of a quick resolution to the political impasse.

“If the Beijing and Hong Kong

governments continue to adopt hostile attitudes towards the opposition, it will be difficult for them to change the situation,” said Ma Ngok, associate professor at Chinese University’s depart-ment of government and public administration.

There is also pressure on the democracy movement, said Mr Ma.

“What they can do to bring gen-uine democracy is a challenging question for them.”

Hong Kong’s deputy leader Carrie Lam appealed yesterday to lawmakers to pass the bill.

“They should take into account the broad and long-term interest of Hong Kong and change their mind,” she told reporters.

Hong Kong, which was handed back to China by Britain in 1997, has much greater freedoms than the mainland but there are fears that these are being eroded.

– AFP

A SEX-TRAFFICKING network that included “high-ranking” government officials and infiltrated Cambodian law enforcement agencies and NGOs for years worked to cover up Vietnamese sex rings and collect payoffs from il-legal prostitution establishments in Phnom Penh.

However, four years after a court finally convicted the police official at the network’s head, the same man still works as a high-ranking official in the Phnom Penh Municipal Police.

The group was first revealed when several of its members were convicted in 2011. But a confidential US State Department cable obtained by The Phnom Penh Post under a Freedom of Information Act request and inter-views with top anti-trafficking officials and a senior member of the organisa-tion have shed new light on the reach of this cartel.

The network appears to have lost much of its power since its front man at the time, the former chief of Phnom Penh’s anti-human trafficking police, Eam Rattana, was in 2011 sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison for attempting to hire informants in the police and anti-trafficking NGOs. How-ever, that conviction has since failed to stick, and Mr Rattana now works as the deputy chief of staff in the office of the Phnom Penh police commissioner.

According to one senior anti-traf-ficking police official – who spoke on condition of anonymity, and who was himself once approached to become an informant for Mr Rattana’s group – the network smuggled women and girls from Vietnam to work in front busi-nesses in Phnom Penh, such as coffee shops and video stores, which doubled as brothels and pornographic cinemas.

“A majority of the prostitution was females over the age of 18, but there were also a number of those who were below 18. They are all Vietnamese. The facade of the brothels was coffee shops with DVD films on sale, but the inside was for [screening] porn,” the officer said. “There are some foreign clients who would just call to the girls and then the girls would go to their apart-ments for the services.”

A raid on one such establishment in 2011 netted a Vietnamese-Cambodian pimp, Sok Heng, while two of his ac-complices escaped the Daun Penh dis-trict brothel. In his testimony to the court, Mr Heng alleged that the current anti-trafficking police chief, Keo Thea, was also on the take, an allegation Mr Thea denied this week. The senior anti-trafficking officer believes the network has now lost much of its power and been pushed out of top law enforce-ment positions.

“I believe that network has col-lapsed and no one in that network will dare to do it again. But I am not sure if there is a new network or not.”

Its members were known to use violence and threats to get what they

wanted.In fact, the anti-trafficking officer

who was once approached by Mr Rat-tana requested his name be withheld because a member of the network re-cently threatened his family.

“It was not just me; my whole fam-ily was also threatened by them,” he said this week.

However, Mr Rattana chiefly main-tained the viability of the network by cultivating a host of informants in both law enforcement and the NGO sector, paying them between US$200 and $300 a month to provide information on impending raids.

One of the NGO workers Mr Rat-tana sought to enlist secretly record-ed a 2011 conversation at a “popular Khmer restaurant in Phnom Penh” that was later used as evidence in Mr Rattana’s conviction, a copy of which was obtained by the US embassy. In the tape Mr Rattana seemed to “attempt to recruit [the NGO worker] into a net-work of informants tipping off corrupt police and brothel owners to upcoming anti-[trafficking] operations”.

“Colonel Eam indicates that the network includes informants within most anti-[trafficking] NGOs operating in Cambodia as well as high-ranking [government] officials who remained unnamed,” the 2011 cable reads.

Other anti-trafficking police named as alleged members of the network were Police Brigadier General Ten Bo-rany, then-deputy director of the anti-trafficking police, and Police Colonel Prum Vutha, chief of the juvenile pro-tection unit. Both have since died.

However, the cable notes, there was “no concrete evidence against [Bo-rany and Vutha]”, and it is not clear whether the evidence that did exist was pursued.

Although a Supreme Court decision overturned the 2011 verdict against Mr Rattana, a senior anti-trafficking officer confirmed allegations against him.

“I was told to be an informant with-in a criminal network protecting those involved in human trafficking and sex-ual exploitation with payments of up to US$200 or $300 per month. But I refused the offer,” he said.

“Besides Ten Borany and Prum Vutha, who each got $300 per month, there are a number of officials who are involved in this, but Mr Rattana did not reveal their names.”

Several anti-trafficking NGOs con-tacted over the past week said that they were aware of similar allegations, or had knowledge of some of the cartel’s operations, but none knew of the full scope of the operation.

Ruth Elliott, director of local NGO Daughters of Cambodia, said one of the organisation’s senior staff had “heard about this [network] several years ago whilst working for another NGO. We have been aware of the issue ever since Daughters started.”

Seila Samleang, country director of

child protection NGO Action Pour les Enfants, said in an email on June 12 that he was unaware of such large-scale operations.

Helen Sworn, founder of Chab Dai, said that the group had “been fortu-nate that we have not experienced this within our organisation but we also know that no organisation or entity is immune to these types of situations”.

All of the NGOs said they employed stringent background checks and monitored staff to ensure they did not become involved in trafficking or pros-titution, and it is unknown whether there is any continued influence of the trafficking network in the NGO sector.

Ultimately the sex-trafficking ring was at least partially dismantled.

In 2009 separate allegations against Mr Rattana had already led to his de-motion to deputy chief of staff for then-Phnom Penh police commissioner Touch Naruth, but no criminal pro-ceedings were initiated.

But on March 27, 2011, Mr Rattana was arrested on suspicion of corrup-tion after allegations surfaced that he had attempted to recruit an investiga-tor from a major anti-trafficking NGO and two senior National Police officers as informants into a “criminal network protecting those involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation”, ac-cording to the 2011 US cable.

Despite substantial evidence that he had offered between $200 and $300 per month to the potential informants, he was released four days later.

Mr Rattana then went into hid-ing. He never served time, and his conviction in December 2011 was qui-etly overturned last year in an unan-nounced ruling by the Supreme Court. He is now working for the police once more and has also become a “business-man”.

The senior anti-trafficking officer who requested anonymity said, “As I understand it, Mr Rattana has gone back to his position as deputy chief of staff for the Phnom Penh Municipal Po-lice Commissioner and keeps working until now.”

Mr Rattana on June 10 pleaded his innocence and said that he had moved on from the “unfortunate” episode.

“I do not want to be reminded of the past. It was so unfortunate for me that I was working for so long but was accused like that. I am now a business-man with a business mind. So I do not want to be reminded of it again.”

Mok Chito, deputy supreme com-missioner of the National Police, who was sent the evidence against the net-work in 2011, declined to comment on Mr Rattana’s case.

National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun said the investigation into Mr Rattana’s case was still ongoing, before hanging up the phone

The US Embassy in its 2011 cable noted that the episode “speaks volumes about the protection individual officers expect from within their own organisa-tion and illustrates how far the [gov-ernment] and [National Police] have to go in rooting out corruption”.

The embassy at the time of Mr Rat-tana’s impending trial expressed hope that the move against the trafficking network was a step in the right direc-tion, but in an email this week it high-lighted the Supreme Court’s decision as a clear example of the ongoing climate of impunity for trafficking offenders.

“The US embassy encourages the Royal Government of Cambodia to take all necessary steps to eliminate trafficking-in-persons, including by cracking down on corruption.”

– Phnom Penh PostSex workers wait outside a brothel in Phnom Penh in 2013. Photo: AFP

442Death toll from June 1 cruise ship

sinking on the Yangtze River

16 World THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

DHAKA

Outcry over island resettlement scheme

SYDNEY

Australia in hot water over allegedly paying people smugglers

THE remote Bangladeshi island of Thengar Char disappears completely under several feet of water at high tide, and has no roads or flood defences.

But that hasn’t stopped the govern-ment from proposing to relocate thou-sands of Rohingya refugees living in camps in the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar which borders Myanmar to its marshy shores.

Bangladesh said last month it was looking to move the around 32,000 reg-istered refugees, in part because they were hampering tourism in the coastal resort district – home to the world’s longest unbroken beach.

The proposal has been met with alarm from leaders of the Rohingya, who began arriving more than two decades ago after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, and whose desperate search for a secure homeland has recently been thrown into the spotlight by a re-gional smuggling crisis.

The UN refugee agency, which has been helping them since 1992, said a move would be “logistically challeng-ing” – an assessment confirmed by a recent visit to the area by AFP.

Police on the neighbouring island of Hatiya prevented the boat AFP was travelling on from going to Thengar Char, saying they could not guarantee its safety.

But accounts from local people and a forest department official who over-saw the 2011 planting of mangroves on Thengar Char gave an indication of the challenges.

“At high tide the entire island is un-der 3 to 4 feet (about 1 metre) of water,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It is impossible to live there,” he said, comparing the plan to “compel-ling a guest to sit on a spiked chair af-ter inviting him to your home”.

Low-lying Thengar Char, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Hati-ya island, only emerged from the sea around eight years ago and does not appear on Google Maps.

The 10,000-acre island is adminis-tered from Hatiya, which has a popula-tion of 600,000, but local boat opera-tors told AFP they rarely went there.

Such a journey would in any case be impossible during the monsoon

months of June to September, when the seas are perilous – and the island would be completely cut off.

The island, around two hours away from the mainland by speedboat, is in an area frequently hit by cyclones, which have killed thousands in Hatiya and Bangladesh’s southern coast in the past.

Hatiya’s top government official AHM Moyeenuddin said the island had been chosen by a team of government surveyors dispatched to the area on the orders of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He admitted that relocating thou-sands to the island would be challeng-ing, but said the construction of cy-clone shelters, a barrage and a hospital would be enough to “make the place liveable”.

Hatiya police chief Nurul Huda de-clared it an “ideal place for Rohingya relocation” – even though it is “isolated and frequented by pirates”.

“All we need is a police station to maintain law and order,” he told AFP.

But residents of Hatiya remain to be convinced by the proposal.

“We are already tired of Bengali

pirates and river erosion. We don’t want our peace disrupted any further,” said Abdul Halim, who took part in a recent protest by scores of islanders.

Rights groups have expressed con-cern at the proposed relocation of the refugees living in Cox’s Bazar, which comes as Bangladesh is under scrutiny over its treatment of the Rohingya.

The Muslim minority Rohingya are denied citizenship and face a raft of restrictions in Myanmar, including on their movement, family size and jobs, leading thousands to flee every year.

The exodus was largely ignored until a crackdown on the people-smuggling trade in Thailand last month caused chaos as gangmasters abandoned their human cargoes on land and sea.

Thousands are now living in tents on scrubland on the frontier between the two countries, wanted by neither.

Most of Myanmar’s 1.3 million Roh-ingya have no citizenship and are con-sidered by the government to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Those living in the Bangladesh camps have refugee status and receive support from the United Nations, meaning they have access to food, shel-ter and other basic necessities.

But as Bangladesh and Myanmar face international scrutiny over the fate of the stateless Rohingya, some fear a plot to move them as far from scrutiny as possible.

“There are other islands nearby, habitable for humans,” said the forest department official.

“But somehow, this island, which becomes inundated during every single high tide, was proposed as the reloca-tion site.” – AFP

Thengar Char, shown here in January, is the proposed place to relocate Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar camps. Photo: AFP

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Tony Abbott has again refused to deny al-legations an official paid thousands of dollars to turn back a boatload of asy-lum seekers, despite calls from Indone-sia for answers.

The claims – that the captain and five crew of the boat were each paid US$5000 by an Australian immigra-tion official to turn back to Indonesia – were made to Indonesian police on Rote Island in the country’s east.

The row risks damaging already strained relations. Australia’s ambassa-dor to Indonesia Paul Grigson resumed his post last week after being recalled

over the April execution of two Austral-ians for drug-smuggling.

Mr Abbott said the key message for Indonesia as well as Australian voters was that his government was “pre-pared to do what’s necessary” to stop people-smugglers from transporting asylum seekers by boat to Australia.

“I think it’s very important that the Australian public are reassured that there is a government in charge which will not waver for a second in our de-termination to ensure that the boats stay stopped,” he told reporters.

“And it’s very important that the Indonesians know that the Austral-

ian government is absolutely resolute in our determination never to see this evil [people-smuggling] trade start up again.”

Mr Abbott said keeping the boats stopped was good for both countries and had helped prevent asylum-seek-ers from risking their lives on treacher-ous sea journeys.

“We will do whatever is reasonably necessary, consistent with the princi-ples of a decent and humane society, to keep the boats stopped,” he added.

Greens senator Larissa Waters said her party would move in the upper house Senate on Monday for an order

“for a production of documents to try to get to the bottom of whether money has changed hands, potentially ille-gally”.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokes-person Arrmanatha Nasir said on June 13 Jakarta was seeking clarification from its neighbour and the payments, if true, “will be a new low for the way that the Australian government is han-dling this issue”.

A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, James Lynch, told the British Broadcasting Corporation Friday that UNHCR staff interviewed the 65 pas-sengers on board “and they have said

that the crew received a payment”.The asylum seekers – from Bang-

ladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka – ar-rived on RoteIsland in late May after being intercepted by the Australian navy en route to New Zealand.

Mr Abbott’s conservative coalition implemented a tough immigration policy after coming into power in Sep-tember 2013 that included military-led efforts to turn back such boats, which mostly come from Indonesia.

The hardline policy also involves sending asylum seekers that arrive by boat to camps on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. – AFP

World 17www.mmtimes.com

SANAATHE HAGUE

EAST Timor has officially dropped its case against Australia before the UN’s International Court of Justice, after Canberra returned sensitive docu-ments relating to a controversial oil and gas treaty.

However, a parallel case behind closed doors before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which is in the same building as the Hague-based ICJ, is set to continue.

East Timor announced earlier this month it will drop charges in the bit-ter spy row that saw Canberra seize documents in 2013 in an Australian intelligence services raid on the office of a lawyer representing Dili in the case at the PCA.

It then dragged Australia to the ICJ in January last year to get back secret documents relating to a con-troversial multi-billion-dollar oil and gas treaty which Dili wants torn up.

In a letter to the ICJ requesting the case be scrapped, East Timor said Australia gave back the documents on May 12.

“Timor-Leste has successfully achieved the purpose of its applica-tion to the court,” it said, referring to the tiny half-island nation by its pre-ferred name.

At the heart of the dispute is the treaty signed in 2006 between Dili and its southern neighbour, four years after East Timor’s independ-ence from Indonesia.

Australia allegedly used an aid program as cover to bug East Timor’s cabinet offices so it could listen to dis-cussions about the treaty. – AFP

East Timor drops caseAirstrikes hit

Sanaa ahead of Geneva talksWARPLANES from the Saudi-led coa-lition struck rebel positions in Yemen on June 13, witnesses said, as warring parties from the impoverished nation prepared for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva.

Air raids targeted Shiite Huthi re-bels in the central province of Dhamar, as well as air defence positions of allied troops loyal to former president Ali Ab-dullah Saleh, witnesses said.

Rebel positions in their northern Saada stronghold were also hit, they added.

A wave of intensive overnight air strikes targeted arms depots around the capital and residences of people close to Mr Saleh, including his broth-er’s home, south of Sanaa.w

Saudi Arabia launched the air war on March 26, as the rebels and their allies among forces loyal to Mr Saleh advanced on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s refuge in the southern city of Aden.

Mr Hadi had fled the capital, which the rebels seized unopposed in Septem-ber, and was rushed to safety in Saudi Arabia as the Huthis closed in on Aden.

Clashes continued on June 13 in the port city of Aden, as well as in nearby Daleh, and in the provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, where southern fighters al-

lied with Mr Hadi have been fighting advancing rebels.

The exiled government said its del-egation flew on June 13 to Geneva for the UN talks due to open on Monday.

But representatives of the Huthis and Mr Saleh’s General People’s Con-gress refused to board a UN plane from Sanaa to Geneva on June 13 because it was scheduled to stop off in Jizan, in Saudi Arabia, a Huthi official told AFP.

The delegations have asked not to travel to the kingdom, the official said, insisting that the rebels’ position on participating in the talks had not changed.

The talks had been scheduled to start yesterday but the United Nations said they would be delayed by a day due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the talks were aimed at securing a cease-fire, agreeing on a withdrawal plan for the Huthis and stepping up humanitar-ian aid deliveries.

A five-day truce last month allowed aid agencies to reach civilians caught in the fighting but UN efforts to prolong the ceasefire failed.

The World Health Organization said on June 12 that 2584 people had been killed in fighting in Yemen as of June 7, with 11,065 wounded.– AFP

Yemenis clear the rubble of houses in the UNESCO-listed heritage site in the old city of Sanaa on June 12. Photo: AFP

18 World THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

JOHANNESBURG

Calls for Bashir arrest

TEHRAN

Tehran sounds off on deal pressure

TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Needle Industries (India) Private Limited, of P. O 643 243, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, do solemnly and sincerely declare that we are the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following trade marks in Myanmar.

1. NEPLUS ULTRA 2. DIAMOND NEPLUS ULTRA

The said marks are used in respect of:-‘Hand sewing Needles, Hardware Needles, Knitters Needle, Needles of all kinds, Gramaphone Needles, Needle Threader, Knitting Needles, Knobbed Knitting Pins, Double Ended Knitting Pins, Crochet Hooks, Crochet Hooks with handle, Tunisian Hooks, Total Knitting System, Flexible Knitting Pins, Circular Knitting Pins, Hairpin Crochet Staple, Stitch Holder, Cable Stitch Needles, Circular Stitch Holder, Knitters Gauge, point Protector, Yarn Bobbins, Flat Ring Markers, Split Ring Markers, Knit Counter with pegs, Row Counter, Tatting Shuttle, Daisy Knitters, Tatting Shuttle with Crochet Hooks, Knitters Marking Pins, French Knitter, and all knitting accessories, Snap Fasteners, Press type Fasteners, Buttons, Bars, Buckles and Eyelets, Jeans Buttons, Hooks, Hooks & Eyes; Safety Pins, Dress Makers’ Pins, Pins of all kinds, Seam Rippers, Tape Measure, Thimbles, Tailors Chalk or Marker, Tracing Wheel, Tailors’ Scale for Measuring and Cutting Cloth, Lubricating oil, Lint Brush, Feed Cover (Embroidery) Plate, Screw Drivers and Spanners for Sewing Machine Maintenance, Bobbins, Bobbin Case, Scissors, Lace and Embroidery, Ribbons and braids, Artificial flowers, All Haberdashery & Passementerie Articles for Tailoring and all goods included in Class 26’

The said trade marks are the subject of Declaration of Ownership recorded with the Registrar of Deeds and Assurances, Yangon, Myanmar, in Book under No. IV/18730/2014 dated 12th December, 2014, IV/18732/2014 dated 11th December, 2014, IV/18733/2014 dated 11th December, 2014, and IV/18731/2014 dated 12th December, 2014.

Any infringement or colourable imitation thereof or other infringement of the rights of the said Corporation will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win AssociatesFor Needle Industries (India) Private LimitedRemfry & Sagar Attorneys-at-lawIndia Dated: 15th June, 2015

3. 4.

TRADE MARK CAUTIONNOTICE is hereby given that Fujitsu General Limited a company organized under the laws of Japan and having its principal office at 3-3-17 Suenaga, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki 213-8502, Japan is the owner and sole proprietor of the following trademark:-

(Reg: Nos. IV/14155/2012 & IV/6091/2015)in respect of :- “air conditioners, room coolers, air circulators, ventilators, air cleaners, electric fans, electric refrigerators, hot-water heaters, solar water heaters, filters for air conditioning apparatus, air deodorizing apparatus, electrically heated carpets, electric freezers and parts and fittings for the aforesaid goods In Class: 11”

Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademark or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win Associatesfor Fujitsu General LimitedP.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.Phone: 372416 Dated: 15th June, 2015

THE International Criminal Court called for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir to be arrested at a summit of African leaders in Johannesburg.

The African Union conference – which was to focus on the migration crisis and unrest in Burundi – now looks set to be dominated by the pres-ence of Mr Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Darfur conflict.

Since his indictment in 2009, Mr Bashir has mostly travelled to countries that have not joined the ICC, but South Africa is a signatory of the court’s statutes.

“South Africa has an obligation to arrest him,” Johannesburg-based rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba told AFP.

“Failure to do so puts them in the same bracket as other African regimes who have no respect for human rights. It’s actually a test for South Africa.”

A South African government official at the summit confirmed media reports that Mr Bashir had arrived, but he de-clined to give further details.

“There’s no point denying it now,” said official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The ICC said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that it “calls on South Africa ... to spare no ef-fort in ensuring the execution of the ar-rest warrants” against Mr Bashir.

The summit is chaired by Zimba-bwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who has urged African leaders to pull out of the ICC, but human rights groups ex-pressed outrage that Mr Bashir could openly defy arrest.

“Allowing President al-Bashir into South Africa without arresting him would be a major stain on South Af-rica’s reputation for promoting justice for grave crimes,” said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch.

“South Africa’s legal obligations as an ICC member mean cooperating in al-Bashir’s arrest, not in his travel plans,” she added.

Darfur erupted into conflict in 2003 when insurgents mounted a campaign against Mr Bashir’s government, com-plaining their region was politically and economically marginalised.

More than 300,000 people have

been killed in the conflict and fighting has forced some 2.5 million people to flee their homes, the United Nations says.

Khartoum, however, disputes the figures, estimating the death toll at no more than 10,000.

Two days of discussions among the 54 member states are set to focus on the political unrest in Burundi and the migration crisis across the continent.

Burundi has been plunged into a period of instability by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s push to run for a third five-year term.

Violent protests have left some 40 people dead and 100,000 people have fled the country, raising peace and se-curity concerns in the region.

Other crises such as the threat posed by Islamist militant groups are also on the agenda.

Mr Mugabe and South African Pres-ident Jacob Zuma were among those scheduled to speak yesterday.

Also attending is Nigeria’s newly-appointed President Muhammadu Bu-

hari, whose country is battling the on-slaught of Islamist group Boko Haram.

The leaders of two of Africa’s other major economies, Egypt and Angola, are absent.

The summit in South Africa’s eco-nomic capital comes two months after a wave of xenophobic violence swept parts of Johannesburg and Durban as African immigrants were hunted down and attacked by gangs.

At least seven people died in the unrest, which badly strained relations between South Africa and many coun-tries in the region that complained at the targeting of their citizens.

The subject of xenophobia will be tackled in a closed morning session on June 21 before the opening ceremony.

The session will also discuss migra-tion – and will address the flood of Af-rican and Middle Eastern migrants try-ing to cross the Mediterranean.

Mass drownings have claimed near-ly 1800 lives so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. – AFP

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir participates in an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa in January 2013. Photo: AFP

IRAN’S president has warned that haggling by world powers could jeopardise the deadline for a nuclear agreement, admitting many differ-ences remain on the details of a po-tentially historic deal.

Hassan Rouhani, who has placed his credibility on ending more than a decade of international concern that the Islamic republic is developing a nuclear bomb, also acknowledged sanctions would not be lifted immedi-ately under the accord, which is due by June 30.

He made the remarks in Tehran on June 13, a day after Russia’s senior negotiator spoke of a “very worrying” slowdown in progress in painstak-ing diplomacy which has lasted 21 months.

With the finishing line in sight, Mr Rouhani, speaking at a press confer-ence marking two years since his un-expected election victory, accused the other side of agreeing terms in one meeting only to try and improve on them during later discussions.

“If the other party respects the agreed framework and does not add other demands, the differences can be resolved but if they choose the path of haggling then it can prolong the nego-tiations,” he added.

Iran and the P5+1 group – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United

States plus Germany – agreed the out-lines of the nuclear deal on April 2 af-ter intensive talks went past a March 31 deadline.

In Washington on June 12, State Department spokesperson Jeffrey Rathke admitted the talks were prov-ing “complicated”, but the US believes a deal can still be reached by the end of June.

And on June 11, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius – seen as something of a hawk in negotiations – said the issue of tighter UN inspec-tions of Iran’s nuclear facilities was not yet sewn up.

With deputy foreign ministers and technical experts currently meeting in Vienna in the run-up to the proposed final talks in late June, Russia’s senior negotiator spoke of slow progress.

Alluding to those concerns, Mr Rouhani said there are still “many differences over details that must be addressed” under the deal, which aims to guarantee that Iran’s nuclear ac-tivities are peaceful, but he remained “hopeful” of an agreement.

The proposed accord would moth-ball large parts of Tehran’s atomic program in exchange for a lifting of extensive sanctions that have severely damaged its economy.

But the process of implement-ing each side’s obligations under a

complex agreement lasting at least a decade dominated the talks since April 2 remains unsettled.

Mr Rouhani has come under pres-sure from lawmakers and hardlin-ers who say sanctions must be lifted when the deal is signed, despite most experts agreeing it will take significant time to do so.

“We are currently discussing it,” he said, when asked about the timing of sanctions being removed, noting “weeks or even months will pass” be-tween signing and implementing the deal.

A UN Security Council resolution to cancel previous resolutions on nu-clear matters “will be the first major step and a guarantee” for delivering the accord, he said.

The sanctions, implemented in 2012, targeted the oil and financial sectors of Iran and plunged the coun-try into a deep economic crisis which led to inflation above 40 percent.

Mr Rouhani hit out at those in Iran who sought to downplay the effect of sanctions, saying they had halted for-eign investment.

“OK, the country can survive ... but if we want to compete in the world we need them removed,” he said. “No big country can thrive behind closed doors.”

– AFP

World 19www.mmtimes.com

WASHINGTON

Italy issues ultimatum over migrant crisis

LONDON

Major intelligence concerns over alleged Snowden data breach

ITALIAN Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatened yesterday to go to a Plan B which would “hurt Europe” if Italy is not given greater help with the migrant crisis.

The country is struggling to ac-commodate an endless wave of boat migrants and a crackdown on security at the French and Austrian borders over the past few days has excerbated the situation, causing a bottleneck at Italy’s train stations.

The crisis “should not be underesti-mated. It is a serious issue and, let me be clear, Europe’s answers so far have not been good enough,” Mr Renzi said in an interview published in the Cor-riere della Sera daily.

The EU is having difficulty get-ting consensus for its proposed mi-grant distribution plan – under which 24,000 refugees would be taken by other countries – but Italy is hoping an EU summit on June 25 will go even further.

“Redistributing just 24,000 people is almost a provocation,” Mr Renzi said.

“If Europe chooses solidarity, good. If it doesn’t, we have Plan B ready. But it would first and foremost hurt Europe,” he said, without providing details.

Over 57,000 migrants and asylum seekers have been rescued at sea and brought to Italy so far this year, up from 54,000 at the same time last year, he said.

The PM will raise the immigra-tion issue with his British and French counterparts when they travel to Mi-lan this week, and said he would also speak to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and German

Chancellor Angela Merkel.Under the Dublin convention, refu-

gees must apply for asylum in the first country of entry to Europe – a rule which Italy says is unfair as it leaves Rome to deal with the thousands of migrants washing up on its shores.

Greece has also long complained of

being left with the same problem.The Schengen open borders ac-

cord has until now meant those land-ing in Italy can usually easily travel through neighbouring France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia as they seek to make it to Britain, Germany and Scandinavia.

But border controls have been temporarily reintroduced due to a recent summit of G7 leaders in Ger-many, sparking migrant protests at the frontier with France on June 12 when French police refused entry to more than 200 people hoping to head to northern Europe.

The Dublin convention “should be changed”, Mr Renzi said, insisting the current chaos in Libya – from where many of the boats depart – is “Europe’s responsibility in light of the (military) intervention four years ago” by NATO to help rebels unseat dictator Moamer Kadhafi. – AFP

Migrants protect themselves with emergency blankets on the rocks off the coast of Ventimiglia, Italy, on June 14, having spent the night near the sea at the French-Italian border after being refused entry into France. Photo: AFP

BRITAIN has been forced to remove some of its spies after Russia and China accessed the top-secret raft of documents taken by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, British media reported.

The BBC and The Sunday Times cited senior government and intelligence officials as saying agents had been pulled, with the newspa-per saying the move came after Rus-sia was able to decrypt more than 1 million files.

“It is the case that Russians and Chinese have information. It has meant agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we

operate has stopped us getting vi-tal information,” a Downing Street source said, according to the newspaper.

The BBC said on its website, meanwhile, that a government source said the two countries “have informa-tion” that spurred intelligence agents being moved, but said there was “no evidence” any spies were harmed.

Mr Snowden fled to Russia after leaking the documents to the press in 2013 to expose the extent of US online surveillance programs and to protect “privacy and basic liberties”.

The Sunday Times said other gov-ernment sources claimed China had also accessed the documents, which reveal US and British intelligence techniques, leading to fears that their spies could be identified.

Mr Snowden worked as a contrac-tor at the CIA and National Security Agency, where he was able to down-load 1.7 million secret documents that showed how hundreds of mil-lions of people had been surveilled by the authorities.

He previously claimed that “no intelligence service” could crack the documents, saying he was able to “keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environ-ments”.

But an intelligence source told The Sunday Times, “We know Russia and China have access to Snowden’s mate-rial and will be going through it for years to come, searching for clues to identify potential targets.”

– AFP

‘It is the case that Russians and Chinese have information. It has meant agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we operate has stopped us getting vital information.’

Anonymous source Speaking with The Sunday Times

the pulse 21www.mmtimes.comTHE MYANMAR TIMES June 15, 2015 DePuTY Pulse eDiTor: ToM BArTon tom.a.barton@gmail.com

Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival

A LL human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That’s the premise of the third Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival, a week-long event the opened yesterday and is screening at the Nay Pyi Taw and Waziyar Cinemas

in Yangon. The theme this year will be the plight of women and girls

around the world. Last year’s festival focussed on the needs and rights of the world’s children.

Festival jury member Igor Blazevic, 52, is a prominent human rights campaigner of Bosnian origin now living in the Czech Republic. He is also the founder and the long-time director of One World, Europe’s biggest Human Rights Documentary International Film Festival. Igor told The Myanmar Times that making documentaries and organising film festivals could help clean and cure the minds of people who had lived for too long under oppression, whether it took the form of Communism or military dictatorship.

“People in Myanmar don’t understand the Myanmar people. I think these documentary films can help people to understand themselves and the difficulties of others, and help them focus on their rights and opportunities,” he said, adding, “This festival also assists in the development of domestic films and documentary film-making.”

For the next five days, until the festival closes on June 19, 65 short and feature-length documentary films – 31 national documentaries by local film-makers and 34 foreign films from Ukraine, Germany, Australia, the United States, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Norway, the UK, Spain, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands,

India, Indonesia and Malaysia – will convey tales of hope, struggle, conflict and hardship.

“Documentary films can tell us what is happening within in a country, its politics, its economy, the state of its health,” said Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is the founder of the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival. “It might seem boring to some, but I am sure that each of these films can tell the truth about people from around the world.”

The opening film Across, for instance, tells of the difficulties facing people in Rakhine State caused by a giant natural gas and pipeline project. It depicts the first cross-country pipeline project launched in Myanmar. Directed by Phyo Zayar Kyaw, Pyae Zaw Phyo and Kaung Sint of the Human Dignity Institute, it looks at the implications for local people of Myanmar’s sale of its highly valuable natural gas resources as they proceed from offshore across the country to the Chinese border. The movie was screened yesterday, the opening day of the festival, at Nay Pyi Taw Cinema.

The closing event will be held on June 19, at 4.30pm, at Sule Shangrila Hotel, when seven awards – Aung San Suu Kyi Award (National), Aung San Suu Kyi Award (International), Min Ko Naing Award, March 13 Award, Hantharwaddy U Win Tin Award, Vaclav Havel Library Award and the Peter Wintonic Award – will be handed out according to the judgements of the 23 local and international jury members.

Alongside the movie festival there is also a photo exhibition depicting the friendship that grew between the former political prisoner turned Czech president Vaclav Havel and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The exhibition will show at Pasodan Scene on June 15-18.

Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival has become the biggest human rights film festival in ASEAN and the first-ever international film festival after the first iteration of the festival. It was first held in June 2013, and again last June when more than 120 films were screened.

Entrance is free for festival screenings at the Nay Pyi Taw Cinema and Waziyar Cinema. For more information please visit www.hrhdiff.org.

A shot from The Bread. Photos: HRHDIFF/FacebookA still from The Lion and the Brave Mouse.

An image from the poster of Still Tibet.

A still from No Word for Worry. A still from Burning from the Inside.

A photo from the poster of Boxing for Freedom.

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nandaraung.mcm@gmail.com

the pulse 23www.mmtimes.com

A 103-YEAR-OLD man and a 91-year-old woman held their wedding in Britain on June 13, becoming the oldest couple to get married in the world.

George Kirby and Doreen Luckie – together for 27 years – looked delighted as they tied the knot at a hotel in the seaside town of Eastbourne, southern England, before close friends and family.

The bride wore a white dress with blue flowers while the groom, a former boxer, was dressed smartly in a suit and tie,. He was in a wheelchair – bedecked with the logo of the London 2012 Paralympics – after sustaining bruising during a recent fall.

With a combined age of 194 years, the pair beat the previous record held by a French couple, Francois Fernandez and Madeleine Francineau, who had a combined age of 191 years.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Luckie said the couple had “no regrets” about not doing it earlier. “We didn’t want to bother about marriage before but eventually we did it,” she said.

The couple reportedly have seven children, 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren between them.

They got engaged on Valentine’s Day this year, according to the Daily Mail.

“I didn’t get down on one knee, because I don’t think I would have been able to get back up,” the newspaper quoted Kirby as saying.

Despite the long wait, “friends and relatives weren’t really surprised” by the proposal, Doreen said.

“They knew George and me have been together for a long time,” explained the newlywed.

The couple have “not yet decided where to go for our honeymoon”, she added. – AFP

EASTBOURNE

British couple take the cake as world’s oldest newlyweds

George Kirby (left), aged 103, and Doreen Luckie (right), aged 91, sign the register during their wedding ceremony. Photo: AFP/Justin Tallis

T HE “internet of things” – connecting everyday items with sensors – is hitting the beach in time for the northern hemisphere’s

summer with a bikini that says when it’s time to apply more sun screen.

The made-to-measure invention comes from France – the country that invented the bikini – but with a price tag that might make even the well-tanned beach amazon blanch: 149 euros (US$167).

For that price, though, the wearer will get a two-piece swimsuit with a small detachable ultraviolet sensor that, through a smartphone or tablet, sends a “sun screen alert” when the user’s skin needs more protective sunblock cream.

The detector is calibrated to the wearer’s skin type and how much of a tan she wants to get.

And there’s even a “Valentine” function that sends the message to a boyfriend’s smartphone so he knows when to apply the cream to his girlfriend’s skin.

“The idea came to me right away, on a day when I saw someone get sunburnt on a beach,” the Frenchwoman behind the smart bikinis, Marie Spinali, said.

She started her company, Spinali Design, last month in the eastern French town of Mulhouse where she lives, and sells the bikinis through her website.

“There are flowerpots that give an alert when plants need watering,

so I thought it was time to invent something to warn when the sun is too strong,” she said.

“It’s not a gimmick,” she added, explaining that often when people think to add more suncream, it’s too late and they already have sunburn.

An expert, Doctor Claudine Blanchet-Bardon of France’s National Association of Dermatologists, said the device was “interesting, because anything that warns people against UV exposure is good”.

But she qualified that by saying that having the sensor attached to a bikini “doesn’t send the right message – the best protection against the sun is to not get too much exposure and to stay covered with clothes”.

A journalist for a French website specialised in the internet of things, Thomas Remilleret of ObjetConnecte.net, commented that the idea of having UV detectors linked to a smartphone app is “not really new or revolutionary”.

But, he acknowledged, Spinali’s bikinis “meet a demand” even though he believed their price still too high for the market.

Spinali said her team was working with French researchers in nanotechnology to come up with a smaller UV sensor that would be part of the bikini itself.

She also said they were at work on models for men and for children – with the sensors for the latter also featuring GPS locators, to quickly find kids on the beach. – AFP

MULHOUSE

A ‘connected’ bikini that tells you how to tan

Models pose with their smartphones during a photo session to present a new “connected” swimsuit collection. Photo: AFP/Sebastien Bozon

24 the pulse THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 15, 2015

DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

Airline CodesSO = APEX Airlines

7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines

K7 = Air KBZ

W9 = Air Bagan

Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

YH = Yangon Airways

YJ = Asian Wings

6T = AirMandalay

FMI (ND) = FMI Air Charter

Subject to changewithout notice

Day1 = Monday2 = Tuesday3 = Wednesday4 = Thursday5 = Friday6 = Saturday7 = Sunday

Domestic AirlinesAir Bagan (W9)Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air KBZ (K7)Tel: 372977~80, 533030~39 (airport), 373766 (hotline). Fax: 372983

Asian Wings (YJ)Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640 Fax: 532333, 516654

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999 Fax: 8604051

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)Tel: 656969 Fax: 656998, 651020

Yangon Airways (YH)Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264 Fax: 652 533

FMI Air Charter (ND)Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545

APEX Airlines (SO)Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311 Fax : 95 (1) 533312

Air Mandalay (6T)Tel: (+95-1) 501520, 525488, Fax: (+95-1) 532275

YANGON TO MANDALAY MANDALAY TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

Y5 775 Daily 6:00 7:10 Y5 233 Daily 7:50 9:00

W9 515 1 6:00 7:25 W9 201 Daily 8:40 10:35

YJ 211 5, 7 6:00 8:05 YJ 891 1,2 8:40 10:35

YH 917 Daily 6:10 8:30 7Y 132 2,4,6,7 8:50 10:45

YJ 891 1,2 6:20 8:25 K7 223 1,3,5 8:55 11:00

7Y 131 2,4,6,7 6:30 8:35 YH 918 Daily 8:30 10:25

K7 222 1,3,5 6:30 8:40 6T 806 2,4,6 10:30 11:40

6T 805 2,4,6 6:30 7:40 YJ 212 5,7 10:40 12:35

YJ 201 1,2,3,4 7:00 8:55 YJ 202 1,2,3,4 12:00 13:25

W9 201 Daily 7:00 8:25 YJ 761 1,2,4 13:10 17:00

W9201 1 7:00 8:25 YJ 602 6 15:40 17:35

8M 6603 4 9:00 10:10 7Y 242 1,3,5 16:40 18:45

YJ 601 6 11:00 12:25 K7 225 2,4,6,7 16:50 19:00

YJ 761 1,2,4 11:00 12:55 YH 728 1 17:00 18:25

YH 729 2,4,6 11:00 14:00 W9 152/W97152 1 17:05 18:30

YH 737 3,5,7 11:00 13:10 Y5 776 Daily 17:10 18:20

YH 727 1 11:30 13:40 W9 211 4 17:10 19:15

W9 251 2,5 11:30 12:55 YH 738 3,5,7 17:10 18:35

7Y 241 1,3,5 14:30 16:25 8M 6604 4 17:20 18:30

K7 224 2,4,6,7 14:30 16:35 8M 903 1,2,4,5,7 17:20 18:30

Y5 234 Daily 15:20 16:30 YH 730 2,4,6 17:45 19:10

W9 211 4 15:30 16:55 W9 252 2,5 18:15 19:40

YANGON TO NAY PYI TAW NAY PYI TAW TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

YJ 201 1,2,3,4 7:00 7:55 SO 101 Daily 7:00 8:00

ND 910 1,2,3,4,5 7:15 8:15 YJ 201 1,2,3,4 8:10 13:25

ND 105 1,2,3,4,5 10:45 11:40 ND 9102 1,2,3,4,5 8:35 9:35

ND 107 6 11:25 12:20 ND 104 1,2,3,4,5 9:20 10:15

ND 109 1,2,3,4,5 14:55 15:40 ND 106 6 10:00 10:55

ND 9109 1,2,3,4,5 17:00 18:00 ND 108 1,2,3,4,5 13:30 14:25

ND 111 7 18:25 19:20 ND 110 7 17:00 17:55

SO 102 Daily 18:00 19:00 ND 9110 1,2,3,4,5 18:20 19:20

YANGON TO NYAUNG U NYAUNG U TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep ArrYJ 211 5,7 6:00 7:20 YH 918 Daily 7:45 10:25

YH 917 Daily 6:10 7:45 YJ 891 1,2 7:55 10:35

YJ 891 1,2 6:20 7:40 7Y 132 2,4,6,7 8:05 10:45

K7 222 1,3,5 6:30 7:50 K7 223 1,3,5 8:05 11:00

7Y 131 2,4,6,7 6:30 7:50 K7 225 2,4,6,7 17:40 19:00

K7 224 2,4,6,7 14:30 17:25 W9 129 1,3,6 17:50 19:10

7Y 241 1,3,5 14:30 17:10 7Y 242 1,3,5 17:25 18:45

W9 129 1,3,6 15:30 17:35

W9 211 4 15:30 17:40

W9 129 1 15:30 17:35

YANGON TO MYITKYINA MYITKYINA TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

6T 805 2,4,6 6:30 8:55 6T 806 2,4,6 9:10 11:40

YH 826 1,3.5.7 7:00 9:40 YJ 202 1,2,3,4 10:35 13:25

YJ 201 1,2,3,4 7:00 10:20 YH 827 1,3,5,7 11:30 13:55

YJ 233 6 11:00 15:10 YJ 234 6 15:25 18:15

W9 251 2,5 11:30 14:25 W9 252 2,5 16:45 19:40

YANGON TO HEHO HEHO TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

YH 917 Daily 6:10 9:15 YH 918 Daily 9:15 10:25

7Y 131 2,4,6,7 6:30 9:20 W9 201 Daily 9:25 10:35

K7 222 1,3,5 6:30 9:30 7Y 132 2,4,6,7 9:35 10:45

7Y 131 Daily 7:15 10:05 K7 223 1,3,5 9:45 11:00

Y5 649 Daily 10:30 12:45 YJ 761 Daily 12:25 17:00

YJ 751 1,3,4,5,6,7 11:00 12:10 7Y 242 1,3,5 15:55 18:45

YH 737 3,5,7 11:00 12:25 K7 225 2,4,6,7 16:00 19:00

YH 727 1 11:30 12:55 YH 728 1 16:15 18:25

K7 224 2,4,6,7 14:30 15:45 YH 738 3,5,7 16:25 18:35

7Y 241 1,3,5 14:30 15:40 W9 129 1,3,6 16:55 19:10

W9 129 1,3,6 15:30 16:40

YANGON TO MYEIK MYEIK TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

Y5 325 1,5 6:45 8:15 Y5 326 1,5 8:35 10:05

K7 319 1,3,5,7 7:00 9:05 6T 706 2,4,6 8:55 10:05

6T 705 2,4,6 7:30 8:40 7Y 532 2,4,6 15:35 17:40

7Y 531 2,4,6 11:15 13:20 K7 320 1,3,5,7 11:30 13:35

Y5 325 2 15:30 17:00 Y5 326 2 17:15 18:45

SO 201 Daily 8:20 10:40 SO 202 Daily 13:20 15:40

YANGON TO SITTWE SITTWE TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

K7 422 2,4,6 8:00 9:55 K7 423 2,4,6 10:10 11:30

7Y 413 1,3,5,7 10:30 12:20 7Y 414 1,3,5,7 12:35 13:55

W9 309 1,3,6 11:30 12:55 W9 309 1,3,6 13:10 14:55

6T 611 Daily 11:45 12:55 6T 612 Daily 13:15 14:20

YANGON TO THANDWE THANDWE TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

K7 422 2,4,6 8:00 8:55 K7 422 2,4,6 9:10 11:30

7Y 413 1,3,5 10:30 11:20 7Y 413 1,3,5 11:35 13:55

W9 309 1,3,6 11:30 13:50 7Y 413 7 12:05 14:20

7Y 413 7 11:00 11:50 W9 309 1,3,6 14:05 14:55

Y5 421 1,3,4,6 15:45 16:40 Y5 422 1,3,4,6 16:55 17:50

YANGON TO DAWEI DAWEI TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

K7 319 1,3,5,7 7:00 8:10 YH 634 2,4,6 12:15 13:25

YH 633 2,4,6 7:00 8:25 K7 320 1,3,5,7 12:25 13:35

SO 201 Daily 8:20 9:40 6T 708 3,5,7 14:15 15:15

6T 707 3,5,7 10:30 11:30 SO 202 Daily 14:20 15:40

7Y 531 2,4,6 11:15 12:20 7Y 532 2,4,6 16:35 17:40

YANGON TO LASHIO LASHIO TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

YH 729 2,4,6 11:00 13:00 YJ 752 3,5,7 16:10 17:55

YJ 751 3,5,7 11:00 13:15 YH 730 2,4,6 16:45 19:10

YANGON TO PUTAO PUTAO TO YANGONFlight Days Dep Arr Flight Days Dep Arr

YH 826 1,3,5,7 7:00 10:35 YH 827 1,3,5,7 10:35 13:55

W9 251 2,5 11:30 15:25 W9 252 2,5 15:45 19:40

the pulse 25www.mmtimes.com

Airline Codes3K = Jet Star

8M = Myanmar Airways International

AK = Air Asia

BG = Biman Bangladesh Airlines

CA = Air China

CI = China Airlines

CZ = China Southern

DD = Nok Airline

FD = Air Asia

KA = Dragonair

KE = Korea Airlines

MH = Malaysia Airlines

MI = Silk Air

MU = China Eastern Airlines

NH = All Nippon Airways

PG = Bangkok Airways

QR = Qatar Airways

SQ = Singapore Airways

TG = Thai Airways

TR = Tiger Airline

VN = Vietnam Airline

AI = Air India

Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Subject to changewithout notice

International Airlines

All Nippon Airways (NH) Tel: 255412, 413

Air Asia (FD) Tel: 09254049991~3

Air Bagan Ltd.(W9)Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air China (CA)Tel: 666112, 655882

Air IndiaTel: 253597~98, 254758, 253601. Fax 248175

Bangkok Airways (PG)Tel: 255122, 255265. Fax: 255119

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG)Tel: 371867~68. Fax: 371869

Condor (DE)Tel: 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Dragonair (KA)Tel: 255323 (ext: 107), 09-401539206

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999 Fax: 8604051

Malaysia Airlines (MH)Tel: 387648, 241007 (ext: 120, 121, 122) Fax: 241124

Myanmar Airways International (8M)Tel: 255260. Fax: 255305

Nok Airline (DD)Tel: 255050, 255021. Fax: 255051

Qatar Airways (QR)Tel: 379845, 379843, 379831. Fax: 379730

Singapore Airlines (SQ) / Silk Air (MI)Tel: 255287~9. Fax: 255290

Thai Airways (TG)Tel: 255491~6. Fax: 255223

Tiger Airline (TR)Tel: 371383, 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Vietnam Airlines (VN)Tel: 255066, 255088, 255068. Fax: 255086

Day1 = Monday2 = Tuesday3 = Wednesday

4 = Thursday5 = Friday6 = Saturday7 = Sunday

InternAtIonAl FlIGHt SCHeDUleSYANGON TO BANGKOK BANGKOK TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrPG 706 Daily 6:15 8:30 TG 303 Daily 7:55 8:508M 335 Daily 7:40 9:25 PG 701 Daily 8:50 9:40TG 304 Daily 9:50 11:45 Y5 238 Daily 21:30 22:20PG 702 Daily 10:30 12:25 8M 336 Daily 10:40 11:25TG 302 Daily 15:00 16:55 TG 301 Daily 13:05 14:00PG 708 Daily 15:15 17:10 PG 707 Daily 13:40 14:308M 331 Daily 16:30 18:15 PG 703 Daily 16:45 17:35PG 704 Daily 18:20 20:15 TG 305 Daily 17:50 18:45Y5 237 Daily 19:00 20:50 8M 332 Daily 19:15 20:00TG 306 Daily 19:45 21:40 PG 705 Daily 20:15 21:30

YANGON TO DON MUEANG DON MUEANG TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

DD 4231 Daily 8:00 9:50 DD 4230 Daily 6:20 7:05FD 252 Daily 8:30 10:15 FD 251 Daily 7:15 8:00FD 254 Daily 17:30 19:05 FD 253 Daily 16:20 17:00

DD 4239 Daily 21:00 22:45 DD 4238 Daily 19:30 20:15YANGON TO SINGAPORE SINGAPORE TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr8M 231 Daily 8:25 12:50 TR 2822 Daily 7:20 8:45Y5 2233 Daily 9:45 14:15 Y5 2234 Daily 7:20 8:50TR 2823 Daily 9:45 14:25 SQ 998 Daily 7:55 9:20SQ 997 Daily 10:35 15:10 3K 581 Daily 8:55 10:253K 582 Daily 11:15 15:45 MI 533 2,6 11:35 12:55MI 533 2,6 13:45 20:50 8M 232 Daily 13:50 15:15MI 519 Daily 17:30 22:05 MI 518 Daily 15:15 16:403K 584 2,3,5 19:15 23:45 3K 583 2,3,5 17:05 18:35

YANGON TO KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

8M 501 1,2,3,5,6 7:50 11:50 AK 504 Daily 6:55 8:00AK 505 Daily 8:30 12:50 MH 740 Daily 10:05 11:15MH 741 Daily 12:15 16:30 8M 502 1,2,3,5,6 12:50 13:50MH 743 Daily 15:45 20:05 MH 742 Daily 13:40 14:50AK 503 Daily 19:30 23:45 AK 502 Daily 17:50 19:00

YANGON TO BEIJING BEIJING TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

CA 906 3,5,7 23:50 05:50+1 CA 905 3,5,7 19:30 22:50YANGON TO GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr8M 711 2,4,7 8:40 13:15 CZ 3055 3,6 8:40 10:25CZ 3056 3,6 11:25 16:15 CZ 3055 1,5 14:40 16:30CZ 3056 1,5 17:30 22:15 8M 712 2,4,7 14:15 15:50

YANGON TO TAIPEI TAIPEI TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

CI 7916 1,2,3,5,6 10:50 16:15 CI 7915 1,2,3,5,6 7:00 9:55YANGON TO KUNMING KUNMING TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrCA 416 Daily 12:15 15:55 MU 2011 3 8:25 11:50

MU 2012 3 12:40 18:45 CA 415 Daily 10:45 11:15MU 2032 1,2,4,5,6,7 15:20 18:40 MU 2031 1,2,4,5,6,7 13:55 14:30

YANGON TO HANOI HANOI TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

VN 956 1,3,5,6,7 19:10 21:30 VN 957 1,3,5,6,7 16:50 18:10YANGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY HO CHI MINH CITY TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrVN 942 2,4,7 14:25 17:15 VN 943 2,4,7 11:50 13:25

YANGON TO DOHA DOHA TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

QR 919 1,4,6 8:00 11:10 QR 918 3,5,7 20:40 06:25+1YANGON TO SEOUL SEOUL TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr0Z 770 4,7 0:35 9:10 KE 471 Daily 18:45 22:25KE 472 Daily 23:30 07:50+1 0Z 769 3,6 19:50 23:25

YANGON TO HONG KONG HONG KONG TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

KA 251 5 1:30 5:55 KA 252 4 22:50 00:30+1KA 251 1,2,3,4,6,7 1:10 5:45 KA 250 1,2,3,5,6,7 21:45 23:30

YANGON TO TOKYO TOKYO TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

NH 814 Daily 21:45 06:50+1 NH 813 Daily 11:00 15:40YANGON TO DHAKA DHAKA TO YANGON

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrBG 061 1,6 15:35 17:00 BG 060 1,6 12:30 14:55BG 061 4 13:45 15:10 BG 060 4 10:40 13:05

YANGON TO INCHEON INCHEON TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

W9 607 4,7 14:20 16:10 W9 608 4,7 17:20 18:10PG 724 1,3,5,6 13:10 15:05 PG 723 1,3,5,6 11:05 12:00

YANGON TO CHIANG MAI CHIANG MAI TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

Y5 251 2,4,6 6:15 8:05 Y5 252 2,4,6 9:25 10:157Y 305 1,5 11:00 12:50 7Y 306 1,5 13:45 14:35

YANGON TO GAYA GAYA TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

8M 601 3,5,6 7:00 8:20 AI 235 2 9:20 12:0AI 236 2 13:10 15:05 8M 602 3,5,6 9:20 12:30

YANGON TO DELHI DELHI TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrAI 236 2 13:10 16:30 AI 235 2 9:20 12:20AI 701 1,5 14:05 19:50 AI 401 1,5 7:00 13:20

YANGON TO KOLKATA KOLKATA TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrAI 228 1,5 14:05 15:05 AI 227 1,5 10:35 13:20

YANGON TO MUMBAI MUMBAI TO YANGONFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrAI 773 1,5 14:05 22:35 AI 675 1,5 6:10 13:20

MANDALAY TO BANGKOK BANGKOK TO MANDALAYFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

PG 710 Daily 14:05 16:30 PG 709 Daily 12:00 13:20MANDALAY TO SINGAPORE SINGAPORE TO MANDALAY

Flights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep ArrMI 533 2,6 15:55 20:50 Y5 2234 Daily 7:20 16:30Y5 2233 1,2,4,5,6 7:50 14:15 MI 533 2,6 11:35 15:00

MANDALAY TO DON MUEANG DON MUEANG TO MANDALAYFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

FD 245 Daily 12:45 15:00 FD 244 Daily 10:50 12:15

MANDALAY TO KUNMING KUNMING TO MANDALAYFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

MU 2030 Daily 13:50 16:40 MU 2029 Daily 13:00 12:50

NAY PYI TAW TO BANGKOK BANGKOK TO NAY PYI TAWFlights Days Dep Arr Flights Days Dep Arr

PG 722 1,2,3,4,5 19:30 22:30 PG 721 1,2,3,4,5 17:00 19:00

26 Sport THE MYANMAR TIMES June 15, 2015

TRADE MARK CAUTIONNOTICE is hereby given that The Mentholatum Company, a Corporation of the State of Delaware of 707 Sterling Drive, Orchard Park, New York 14127, USA, do solemnly and sincerely declare that we are the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following trade mark in Myanmar.

SELSUNThe said mark is used in respect of the following goods:

Bleaching preparations and other substances for laundry use; cleaning, polishing, scouring and abrasive preparations; soaps; perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics, hair lotions; dentifrices.; cosmetics for skin care; cosmetics for hair care; cosmetics for lips; cosmetics for facial care; facial make up sets; skin whitening cream; sunscreen (UV protection) cosmetics; soap for acne care; shampoo; beauty face mask. (Class 3)

The said trade mark is the subject of Declaration of Ownership recorded with the Registrar of Deeds and Assurances, Yangon, Myanmar, in Book under No. IV/20096/2014 Dated 1st January, 2015.

Any infringement or colourable imitation thereof or other infringement of the rights of the said corporation will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win AssociatesFor The Mentholatum CompanyRemfry & Sagar Attorneys-at-LawDated: 15th June, 2015

GURGAON Remfry House at the Millennium PlazaSector-27, Gurgaon-122 009New Delhi National Capital Region, IndiaTel : 91-124-280 6100Fax : 91-124-280 6101E-Mail : remfry-sagar@remfry.com

CHENNAI376-B (Old No. 202)Avvai Shanmugam Salai, GopalapuramChennai –n 600 086, IndiaTel & Fax 91-44-4263 7392E-Mail: remfry-sagar@remfry.com

TRADE MARK CAUTIONNOTICE is hereby given that OTTOGI CORPORATION a company organized under the laws of Republic of Korea and having its principal office at 405, Heungan-daero, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea is the owner and sole proprietor of the following trademarks:-

under Reg. No. IV/1641/2015 in respect of :-“Edible oils and fats; sesame oil; preserved/frozen/ dried and cooked fruits and vegetables; soups; frozen-dried soups; canned and bottled aquatic products; seaweeds for food (preserved); jams; processed meat products; meat/fish/poultry and game; milk; milk products” - Class: 29

under Reg. No. IV/1642/2015 in respect of :-“Sauces; curry powder (spice); curry pastes; fermented hot pepper paste (Gochu-jang); ketchup (sauce); flour and preparations made from cereals; instant noodles; noodles; tea; premixes (blending powder with wheat flour base for doughnuts, hot cakes, or fried foods); prepared foods (pre-cooked or retortable pouch, such as curry, hash curry, hash, black bean sauce, beef sauce, spaghetti sauces, meatballs or hamburger steak with sauces)” – Class: 30

Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademarks or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.

U Kyi Win Associatesfor OTTOGI CORPORATION P.O. Box No. 26, Yangon.Phone: 372416 Dated: 15th June, 2015

ArcheryFor Myanmar to hit its Ministry of Sport 50-gold target, its archers were tasked with delivering three of those medals.

But a disappointing run in this SEA Games saw the country’s archers come away with only one victory against foreign opposition in the entire event card.

That win came from the Men’s Team Recurve, who beat Thailand in their quarter-final before being comprehensively thrashed by Indonesia and Singapore in the semi-final and bronze play-off respectively.

While three golds may have been ambitious, the result is a particular disappointment as archery did manage to deliver one gold and three bronze medals from the 2013 Games in Nay Pyi Taw.

“Our opponents are far more experienced than our young team, which formed after many of our past athletes have retired [after 2013],” Aye Thitar, manager of the Myanmar Archery team, told The Myanmar Times.

“We have taken our new competitors to develop experience in South Korea but our opposition has competed at World Cup events,” she added.

“Now we must look to develop our training toward forthcoming international events. There is an Olympic qualifying tournament scheduled for between October and November which we are considering to enter.”

Sepak TakrawSepak Takraw has been a source of silver medals as they resulted from the Men’s Doubles Team and Women’s Regu events. But Myanmar will hope to go one step further by targeting gold in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles this evening.

The men’s doubles should be the easier of those two achievements as they will not face either Malaysia or Thailand, who have chosen to miss this event under the rules to prevent any one nation from over-dominance in a sport.

The sport’s two silver medals have both come from final defeats to Thailand.

After losing the Women’s Regu final, Kay Zin Hut spoke to The Myanmar Times.

“Thailand played at a different level to us in this game. This is not a new state of affairs. We must turn our attention to the future and work on ironing out our weaknesses,” she said.

“Silver medals do not satisfy us,” Thein Zaw Min, coach of the Myanmar Sepak Takraw team, told The Myanmar Times.

“Although we felt we trained well, injuries and fatigue in our players have seen us deliver silver again,” he added.

“This match experience has allowed me to identify our weaknesses that we must work on. I have some new ideas and will be using them to prepare better for the Super Series event in Indonesia.”

VolleyballMyanmar’s male volleyballers, targeting a final berth this year, have fought back from a tough opening to their campaign – a loss to regional heavyweight Thailand. Since then 3-0 victories over the Philippines and Malaysia have led Myanmar to a semi-final against Vietnam.

In a replication of the football tournament favourites, Thailand will face Indonesia in the second semi-final before the June 16 final.

They have been led in scoring by the young Aung Thu, who competed for Chonburi E-Tech Air Force Club in the Thai professional league this year, and dominated sides in the recent Asian U23 Championships played in Nay Pyi Taw. In that tournament Myanmar twice beat Thailand, but this time they came up against a far more seasoned side.

In Myanmar’s first contest against the Thai team they showed their ability to compete, taking the first set beyond a first-to-25 competition, before Thailand eventually found themselves clear by two points at 29-27. That first set took its toll on the Myanmar side, which then easily succumbed 25-16, 25-18 to go down in straight sets.

Myanmar will play Vietnam today hoping to deliver themselves to a rematch and an opportunity for gold.

THE MYANMAR TIMES

SEMI-FINAL

V

june 17, 4pm, christchurch

SEMI-FINAL

V

june 17, 7:30pm, AucKLAnD

june 20, 5pm, AucKLAnD

Brazil Senegal Mali Serbia

0 0V

QUARTER-FINAL

Brazil 3 - 1june 14, 1pm, hAmiLton

Portugal Brazil

0 1V

QUARTER-FINAL

june 14, 4:30pm, weLLington

Uzbekistan Senegal

1 1V

QUARTER-FINAL

june 14, 1pm, christchurch

Germany Mali

Mali 4 - 3

0 0V

QUARTER-FINAL

june 14, 4:30pm, AucKLAnD

USA Serbia

Serbia 6 - 5

Medal TableGold Silver Bronze Total

THAILAND 87 83 64 234

SINGAPORE 82 72 98 252

VIETNAM 73 51 56 180

MALAYSIA 59 53 65 177

INDONESIA 45 55 69 169

PHILIPPINES 28 35 64 127

MYANMAR 11 24 30 65

CAMBODIA 1 5 8 14

LAOS 0 4 21 25

BRUNEI 0 1 6 7

TIMOR LESTE 0 1 1 2

Weekend Results

MINISTRY OF SPORT WEEKEND RESULTS VS TARGETS

Silver

Taekwondo: Men’s -63kg (Zaw)

Sepak Takraw: Men’s Team Doubles Women’s Regu

Bronze

Hockey: Men’s TeamTaekwondo: Women’s -53kg (Wai Mar Soe)

Petanque: Mixed Triples

Rowing: Men’s Eight (1000m) Men’s Singles Sculls (1000m) - Aung Ko Min

Myanmar Medallists

0/4 3/3-4 5/7-8

The Myanmar Times wallchart for New Zealand 2015

FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

SPORT EDITOR: Matt Roebuck | matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

SEA Games updates on location in Singapore

SPORT 26Sport28 THE MYANMAR TIMES JunE 15, 2015

T his evening at the singa-pore National stadium, My-anmar will play Thailand in the final of the southeast Asian Games football tour-

nament. They will start as underdogs but know a victory would mark an-other step toward the dream of a re-turn to a “Golden Age” of Myanmar football.

Their fifth and final victory of five consecutive titles at the then-southeast Asian Peninsula Games came in sin-gapore at the 1973 Games and marked the end of a period of dominance that included two Asian Games gold medals, an Asian Cup runner-up spot and an ap-pearance at the 1972 Olympics.

To win they will have to overcome a Thai side that thumped indonesia 5-0 in their semi-final and have dominat-ed southeast Asian football since My-anmar’s last sEA Games victory. They have won 13 of the 20 titles available since 1973 and those victories include

final wins over Myanmar at singa-pore in 1993 and Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, in 2007 – the only two times Myanmar has reached that stage since 1973.

“Now we are close. We have waited for a long time. i hope our team can be-come champions,” said Myanmar coach Kyi Lwin – a silver medalist from 1993 – after the June 13 victory over Vietnam that sent them to the final.

“i would like to thank the players and the fans for helping Myanmar reach this final,” he added.

The goal that put Myanmar into the final with a 2-1 victory over Viet-nam was scored by captain Nay Lin Tun.

“This is a very important win and to put Myanmar into the final of the sEA Games will be the memorable moment of my career,” he told press after the game.

The game saw Myanmar camped in their own half for the majority of the game and looking vulnerable to the counter-attack when they did go forward.

But their defensive approach paid off in the 39th minute when a Nay Lun Tin free kick from just outside the semi-circle was blocked by the lifted elbow of ho Ngoc Thang in the Viet-namese wall.

ho complained but could be con-sidered lucky to only receive yellow for his deliberate block of a shot intended toward goal. sithu Aung stepped up

to the mark and sent the keeper the wrong way to give Myanmar a lead they held into half-time.

Vietnam continued to apply pres-sure when they returned for the sec-ond half. Mac hong Quan came close to scoring and forced the Myanmar keeper to come to his team’s rescue on several occasions.

But the White Angels could not hold out much longer, and when Nguyen huy hung had his shot de-flected off a Myanmar defender’s shin, the ball fell into the path of the un-marked Vo huy Toan to slot the ball home in the 72nd minute.

As Vietnam continued to press the game and Kyaw Zin Phyo contin-ued to impress between the sticks, it was against the run of play that Myanmar regained the lead with 10 minutes to go. Their attack, previ-ously characterised by opportunistic pot shots, found a much firmer strike from captain Nay Lin Tun. This shot was deflected off the boot of Viet-namese defender Nguyen Thanh hein and past the outstretched reach

of keeper Phi Minh Long, causing the National stadium to shake in cel-ebration.

“i would like to thank the players and the fans for helping Myanmar reach this final,” said Kyi Lwin, speak-ing of the vast majority of the 20,022 crowd.

“Myanmar concentrated on a de-fensive approach. When they scored it meant they had no need to attack,” said Toshiya Miura, the Japanese coach of Vietnam, who will now go on to play indonesia for the bronze medal.

When asked to compare the My-anmar and Thai sides the indonesian coach used hand gestures to demon-strate his belief that the Thailand is a step above Myanmar’s U23s.

But with talk by fans and sections of the Thai press of the “Barcelona of AsEAN”, Thailand’s coach Promrut Choketawee said he was not letting his players get ahead of themselves.

“Our target now is the sEA Games … Now we are down to just two teams and both will be going for the win,” said the Thai coach.

SEA Games showdown: Myanmar vs Thailand

FOOTball

MaTT ROebuckmatt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

Naing Kaung Sat of Myanmar celebrates with fans after winning their men's football semi-final match against Vietnam on June 13. Photo: AFP

‘Now we are close. We have waited for a long time. I hope our team can become champions.’

kyi lwin Myanmar u23 coach