Fast-food frenzy as KFC opensHundreds flocked to downtown Yangon yesterday to get a taste in many cases, their first of American fast-food giant KFC, which began a limited opening of its first restaurant ahead of a full launch on July 7. BUSINESS 9

WWW.MMTIMES.COM DAILY EDITION ISSUE 76 | WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015

500Ks.

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

NEWS 2

Latest deadline passes for migrants to registerHundreds of thousands of Myanmar migrants in Thailand have failed to register to extend their temporary permits, amid confusion over whether they will be able to apply for passports and threats of a crackdown by the Thai military government.

NEWS 4

Police seek suspects over Kachin teachers murderPolice say they believe a husband and wife, who have since disappeared, may be connected with the rape and murder of two Kachin teachers in northern Shan State in January.

BUSINESS 8

Safety in spotlight after hotel scaffolding collapseThe death of two workers at a Mandalay construction site has drawn widespread attention to workplace safety issues, with officials admitting that relevant laws are in urgent need of an upgrade.

BUSINESS 9

Black is back as exchanges resume kyat tradeFollowing a temporary shutdown in June, dollar-kyat exchange centres are back in business and generally trading outside the market rate set by the Central Bank of Myanmar.

Students message to military: Dont ignore 5 million peopleAbout 50 students marched through downtown Yangon yesterday against the militarys veto of changes to the constitution on June 25, as MPs yesterday began debate on a second amendment bill before parliament.

FULL COVERAGE NEWS 3

Student leader Ko Zayyar Lwin leads a student protest at Mahabandoola Park in downtown Yangon yesterday. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

2 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 1, 2015

Hundreds of thousands shun registration as deadline passes

THE Myanmar Migrant Network Thai-land yesterday called on the Myanmar government to speed up the process of issuing temporary passports to mi-grant workers, who have reported dif-ficulties under the Thai governments current pink card program.

The Thai government set yes-terday as a deadline for pink-card holders to renew their temporary documents for another year. It has threatened to arrest and deport those who fail to register.

But as of June 29, only 411,908, or 62 percent, of the 664,439 Myanmar workers and their dependants who hold the pink cards had applied to extend them, according to official fig-ures provided to The Myanmar Times yesterday.

Launched by the Thai military junta following the May 2014 coup, the scheme was designed as an in-terim measure to give workers time to apply for temporary passports under the nationality verification program. Workers were given until October 2014 to register, after which they were sup-posed to complete the NV process by March 2015.

However, because of a lack of coop-eration from Myanmar, only a handful of passports were issued and the Thai government extended the validity of the pink cards to June 30.

Many workers have now decided not to renew their pink card because they believe it is a waste of money, ac-cording to MMNT.

The groups secretary, U Moe Gyo, who is also chair of the Mae Sot-based Joint Action Committee for Burma Af-fairs, said pink-card holders in Mae Sot have faced difficulty applying for temporary passports.

At first the [Myanmar] govern-ment promised to issue passports to pink-card holders. However, we dont know what is going on with that pro-cess and we could not apply for any passports so far, he said, adding that pink-card holders have faced difficul-ties travelling around Thailand.

Previously, pink-card holders in Mae Sot could travel to other parts

of Thailand but now the Thai govern-ment does not allow it, he said.

If the [Myanmar] government accepts applications from pink-card holders for temporary passports, workers could go everywhere safely.

On June 28, the group organised a meeting in Bangkok with other mi-grant worker organisations to discuss the challenges migrants are facing.

The meeting was attended by U Soe Naing, the recently appointed labour attach at the Myanmar embassy in Thailand. He repeated earlier prom-ises that the embassy would take steps to implement the temporary passport program, according to the groups, and said it would work with rights groups to resolve the migrant worker prob-lems properly.

He said Myanmar was also in dis-cussions with the Thai government to improve the process of issuing tempo-rary passports.

Andy Hall, an international af-fairs adviser for the Migrant Worker Rights Network, said a range of fac-tors discourage workers from apply-ing for pink cards, including lack of information and the requirement that employers apply on behalf of a worker.

But he said Thailands pink-card policy had been a positive step, par-ticularly because it cost less than pre-vious registration programs.

However, it had not been recipro-cated by the Myanmar government, whose response he described as very disappointing.

Mr Hall said the low number of applications for temporary passports under the NV process was because of rules that required pink-card holders to furnish a Myanmar ID card and household list, as well as to return to Myanmar to submit the application. As of early June, just 16,394 temporary passports had been issued by Myan-mar, despite almost 700,000 migrants being eligible.

Weve seen this going on for years the Myanmar authorities trying to get workers to go back to Myanmar to register. Its just an opportunity for brokers and corrupt officials to make money, he said.

Whats worrying this time though is that there is no clear pol-icy from the Myanmar government [migrant worker registration] is clearly not a priority for the current administration.

It is unclear whether Thailand will follow through on threats to deport unregistered migrant workers, who play a vital role in Thailands economy.

Mr Hall said that during previous crackdowns the Thai authorities had arrested and extorted money from workers, but not deported them.

It will be very interesting to see if it is different this time.

Workers said they just want Myan-mar to begin issuing temporary pass-ports to pink-card holders.

Ma Toe, a pink-card holder from Mae Sot, said Thai police had stopped her from travelling to Bangkok last week because she did not have a tem-porary passport.

I wish the temporary passport issuing process would begin as soon as possible because I want to be able to travel safely and with confidence, she said.

MAE SOT Parties invited to mediate election disputesMG ZAWmgzaw.mmtimes@gmail.com

NINE political parties have agreed to name representatives to a disputes committee to be set up by the Mandalay Region Election Commission. But the National League for Democracy is one of five parties registered in the region which has yet to re-spond to the request to join.

U Kyaw Kyaw Soe, deputy director of the Election Commis-sion in Mandalay Region, said on June 29 that the names of the Electoral Dispute Negotiating Committee would be announced as soon as it was set up.

The commission has invited members of 14 parties active in Mandalay Region to take part.

Though we have written to the parties, not all have yet re-sponded, he added.

Similar dispute negotiating bodies will be set up in other states and regions, down to the township level, according to U Kyaw Kyaw Soe.

The committee will be re-sponsible for resolving all com-plaints arising from the election, including allegations of miscon-duct, errors on electoral rolls and disputes over the final result.

The state and region com-mittees will be headed by Union Election Commission chair U Tin Aye, while the chair of the state or region election commis-sion will serve as deputy leader.

Each committee will have between 30 and 35 members, in-cluding one candidate from each political party.

I was assigned to serve in this committee, and have noti-fied the commission accordingly. It seems obvious that there are likely to be disputes in the up-coming election, said U Khin Maung Than, a member of the National Democratic Force in Mandalay Region, on June 29.

A spokesperson for the re-gional NLD office said it had not yet responded to the invitation because it has not received in-structions from its headquarters. Translation by Thiri Min Htun

NYAN LYNN AUNG

29.nyanlynnaung@gmail.com

Previously, pink-card holders in Mae Sot could travel to other parts of Thailand.

U Moe Gyo Myanmar Migrant Network Thailand

A migrant worker in Thailand shows her pink card. Photo: Zarni Phyo

News 3www.mmtimes.com NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

Struggle for control of USDP enters parliament

THE first day of debate on a second constitutional amendment bill has been dominated by questions of whether the president and vice presi-dents should be allowed to take part in political party activities, against the backdrop of a power struggle in the Union Solidarity and Develop-ment Party.

The debate pitted USDP repre-sentatives against military MPs, sug-gesting the latter would use their veto to again block constitutional changes.

Ten MPs three USDP, three Na-tional League for Democracy, two ethnic minority and two military debated proposed amendments to sections 62, 63 and 64, which the bill proposes be removed completely from the charter.

Sections 62 and 63 block the pres-ident and vice presidents from being members of parliament, while sec-tion 64 bars them from taking part in party activities while in office.

The proposal is closely linked to the tussle between President U Thein Sein and Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speak-er Thura U Shwe Mann for control of the USDP, and parliaments decision

could have significant implications for this years election.

U Thein Sein served as party chair in the 2010 election but handed over to Thura U Shwe Mann in May 2013.

The party has officially stated that the Speaker would remain in charge until this years election, but some party member and government of-ficials have said that Thura U Shwe Mann is only a temporary leader and would have to relinquish the post to U Thein Sein if the latter decides to run for election.

U Zaw Htay, director of the Presi-dents Office, told The Myanmar Times in an earlier interview that he believed U Thein Sein is still chair of the USDP, while Thura U Shwe Mann is temporary chair.

He said that if the president de-cided to contest the elections, he could resume party activities under the Union Government Law.

Section 7 of the law allows the president and vice presidents to run for election and begin campaigning as soon as the commission announc-es an election date.

In response to this debate, Thura U Shwe Mann recently posted on his official Facebook page that he would follow the decision of the partys cen-tral executive committee.

But last week the Pyithu Hlut-taw Bill Committee began to move against the president, submitting seven amendment bills that would prevent U Thein Sein and other sen-

ior government officials, as well as senior judges, from campaigning in the coming elections as members of the USDP. The amendments would bring legislation into line with the constitution, said the committees secretary, who is a USDP member.

Critics of the constitution amend-ment bill say removing the three sec-tions would weaken Myanmars sepa-ration of powers, and that they have

been put forward because Thura U Shwe Mann wants to control both the executive and the legislature if he becomes president.

However, senior USDP member U Aye Myint said yesterday the pro-posed changes were simply put for-ward due to public demand.

We proposed to remove these

sections out of concern for the public interest, not for the sake of any indi-vidual, said U Aye Myint, who is a member of the USDP central execu-tive committee.

However, military representatives sided with U Thein Sein on the issue. They said that removing the three sections could result in future presi-dents prioritising their partys inter-ests over those of the country.

Section 62, 63 and 64 are linked to each other and enacted to ensure there is no conflict between national politics and party politics. If we re-move section 64, it would strengthen party politics, said Colonel Khin Maung Tun. These proposed chang-es are also not in accord with the basic principles and other provi-sions of the constitution. Thats why we would like suggest not changing these sections.

Meanwhile, the NLD and ethnic representatives expressed mild sup-port for the proposed changes. The NLD MPs proposed having a single vice president, instead of two.

The constitutional debate will continue through to at least July 2. The Speaker has not yet said when the proposed changes would be put to a vote, but indicated it is likely to be next week.

On June 25, the military ve-toed five of six proposed changes to the constitution in the first of two amendment bills put forward by ci-vilian parliamentarians.

Students protest against militarys veto

A SMALL group of university stu-dents marched through central Yangon yesterday in protest against the militarys veto in parliament of changes to the constitution.

About 50 students took part in the unauthorised rally from Theingyi Market to City Hall, circumventing police attempts to block their pro-gress. They were joined by about 200 local residents along the way.

Students said they were par-

ticularly incensed by the way un-elected military MPs celebrated their defeat of the vote by clapping in parliament.

Five million people signed a peti-tion for amending the section [436]. Clapping means celebrating a victo-ry, but they dont respect the wishes of 5 million people even when they say they are the peoples voice in par-liament, said Ko Zayyar Lwin, one of the protesters.

While marching towards City Hall, protesters shouted, Amend-ing the constitution is our duty!

Our duty! We dont want for-show amendment! Twenty-five percent get out of parliament! Amending section 436 is our duty!

Ko Min Min, a student from Dagon University, said they had two reasons for protesting against the armys celebration in parliament, where the military holds 25pc of seats.

We want genuine constitu-tional amendments. And 5 million peoples signatures or wishes have been ignored by the army repre-sentatives in parliament, he said.

Thats why we are here to protest against the fortress of the military in the parliament.

Protesters said they had not asked permission from the local authorities for their march.

Since it is a protest against the militarys presence in parliament, even if we applied for permission, they would not give it to us, said Ko Zayyar Lwin, who had also taken part in protests against the Nation-al Education Law that were sup-pressed by police with mass arrests on March 10.

PARLIAMENT has moved a step closer to approving a law that would regulate the marriage of Buddhist women to non-Buddhist men. The bill is the second in a controversial pack-age of four laws drafted by Buddhist nationalists with the aim to protect race and religion.

Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann told parliament yesterday that MPs had until July 2 to register their names to debate the Myanmar Buddhist Women Special Marriage Bill in a session of the combined houses at a date yet to be an-nounced. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw will decide on differences in the versions already approved by the lower and up-per houses.

International organisations, foreign governments and more than 100 My-anmar civil society associations have called on the government to either drop or significantly amend the pack-age of legislation, which they fear will entrench already widespread gender and religious discrimination and risk fuelling further violence against reli-gious minorities.

The Health Care for Population Control Law, widely seen as targeting the Muslim minority, was approved by parliament and signed into law by President U Thein Sein in May.

The draft marriage bill would gov-ern unions between Buddhist women and men of other faiths. Under its pro-visions, interfaith couples would need to apply to local authorities, gain the approval of the womans parents if she is under age 20 and post a public notice announcing the engagement.

The marriage could only then take place if no objections were raised. Non-Buddhist men who violate the law would face up to three years imprison-ment, a K50,000 fine and mandatory divorce, and would forfeit their share of any property and guardianship of chil-dren born through the illegal union.

The bill, written and submitted by the Supreme Court of the Union, was sent to the upper house on March 13 af-ter debate in the lower house. The up-per house made amendments and re-turned it to the lower house on May 27.

Eleven differences remain between the two versions of the bill, according to U Thein Tun Oo of the Joint Bill Committee, which set out its recom-mendations in parliament yesterday.

The main difference, he said, related to the decision of the lower house to follow the text of the original bill when resolving disputes related to marriage, divorce, inheritance and custody of children between Buddhist women and non-Buddhist men. The upper house, however, sought to combine customary Myanmar law in resolving disputes.

In another difference between the two versions, the committee backed the lower house, which amended the law so that a non-Buddhist man must allow his Buddhist wife to worship Buddhism and keep in their house Buddhist im-ages, photos of Buddhist image, photos of pagodas, photos of Buddhist monks and accessories related to Buddhism.

Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists wrote in March that the inter-faith marriage bill blatantly discriminates on both religious and gender grounds, and feeds into widespread stereotypes that Buddhist women are vulnerable and that their non-Buddhist husbands will seek to forcibly convert them.

Two other laws before parliament, also drafted by Buddhist monks from

the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, regulate reli-

gious conversion and outlaw polygamy. Translation by Thiri Min Htun

HTOO THANTthanhtoo.npt@gmail.com

EI EI TOE LWIN HTOO THANT

New round of debates on constitutional amendments highlights rift between president and Speaker

These proposed changes are also not in accord with basic principles ... and other provisions of the constitution.

Colonel Khin Maung Tin Tatmadaw MP

Marriage law nears parliament approval

LUN MIN MANGlunmin.lm@gmail.com

Protest leader Zayyar Lwin talks to police during the yesterdays protest in Yangon. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

4 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 1, 2015

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MUSE, SHAN STATE

A poster of Kachin women who were found murdered hangs at the site of the crime in Khaung Khar, northern Shan State. Photo: Naing Wynn Htoon

Hackers shut down U Wirathus blog

HACKERS have deleted the much-fol-lowed website of the hard-line nation-alist Buddhist monk U Wirathu, he confirmed yesterday. The hackers, who struck on June 27, have announced that their goal was to attack expres-sions of religious extremism.

The hackers said in a video yester-day that they targeted proponents of

the Buddhist nationalist 969 move-ment, as well as the posts of Muslim extremists.

But U Wirathu told The Myanmar Times yesterday that he thought the motivation for the attack was a post about China.

All the information [on the blog] is gone. The hackers left their logo and some text. They said they hacked my blog because it posted wrong news. In fact, they hacked it because I posted

news about China. They objected to my June 26 post titled, Dont do ridic-ulous things, and they struck the next day, targeting only that post. I believe they are Chinese atheists who object to the publication of news about Chi-na, he said.

He appealed for anyone with infor-mation about the incident to send it to him.

U Wirathu, a member of the Com-mittee for the Protection of Race and

Religion, also known as Ma Ba Tha, said he was grateful to the hackers for not spreading wrong news. His web page, opened in 2012, has 1,560,000 visitors.

U Wirathu added, I have no IT ex-pert helping me. I would like to recover that page because it contains records, so I would appreciate some help. The post may be gone, but I am unharmed. I will just open a new page.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

AUNG KYAW MINaungkyawmin.mcm@gmail.com

Police name local suspects in Kachin teachers murder

IN an unexpected development, police have named two civilian sus-pects in the rape and murder of two Kachin teachers in northern Shan State last January and one of them is a woman.

The news will come as a boost to army commanders forced onto the defensive by the widespread assump-tion that the culprits were men of the 503rd Light Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in the village of Khaung Khar when the deaths occurred there on January 19.

Maran Lu Ra, 20, and Tangbau Hkwan Nan Tsin, 21, were raped and killed in their house in Khaung Khar on January 19. Though two high-pro-file investigations have been launched, one by the local authorities and one by the Kachin Baptist Convention that employed the two teachers, no arrests have been made so far.

The suspicions surrounding the army will not be easily dispersed. U Mar La, the administrator of Khaung Khar village, said villagers suspected Tatmadaw involvement because the

503rd Light Infantry Regiment was sta-tioned there at the time.

The head of column asked me when he saw the teachers on January 19 whether they were still virgins. He said if any villager accused the soldiers of the crime, he would burn our vil-lage to the ground. Then, on the sev-enth day after the womens death, the regiment donated nearly K5 million in their memory, he said.

The chief investigator in the case told The Myanmar Times in Muse that, based on discrepancies in their state-ments, they suspected a husband and wife, aged 44 and 41 respectively, who lived in the village but have since dis-appeared. A witness had told investiga-tors that three male villagers, including the husband, had gone to the teachers house at midnight on January 19. How-

ever, the other two villagers are not considered suspects.

In his statement to police, the male suspect said he went to the teachers house at 10pm on that night, and then returned a second time. Shouting had been heard.

A source close to the investigation commission, which has offered a K5 million reward for information, said, He told us he asked the teachers what happened outside their house, but they made no reply, so he went home. The next morning he went to Mone Paw village, but he knew by 10am that the teachers were dead.

However, other evidence suggests that he did not go to Mone Paw, but to a sugar cane farm. He had also report-edly told other villagers at 7am that the teachers were killed at midnight.

The discovery of long strands of hair in the victims hands has suggest-ed to government investigators that a woman was involved.

We conclude that [the mans] wife killed the teachers after she saw her husband rape them, said the official.

Questions have also arisen from the nature of the physical evidence at the scene about whether both vic-tims were raped, but investigators say the murder weapon was a knife from the teachers own kitchen, suggesting that the perpetrator was known to the victims.

The Kachin Baptist Convention has stated its objections to the con-clusions of the government investi-gators, saying the suspects had lived in the village since 2005.

We suspect the Tatmadaw. We have asked the commission to ques-tion two army drivers, the head of column and three soldiers of the 503rd Regiment. The villagers cannot be the culprits, said the secretary of the KBC, the Reverend Samson Hkalam.

However, an investigation com-mission member said, The main thing is to arrest [the suspect] and his wife. If we can arrest them, the truth will come out.

Relatives of the deceased say they just want the case to be concluded and justice done.

I dont care who did it as long as the culprits are arrested, said Daw Lu Bu, mother of Tangbau Hkwan Nan Tsin.

An examination of the DNA of 28 troops and 34 villagers is now being conducted in Yangon, and the results are expected shortly.

A senior official at the laboratory conducting the tests said yesterday that the results had been received but they were waiting permission from the Myanmar Police Force to send them back to the investigation commission.

YE MON

yeemontun2013@gmail.com

We suspect the Tatmadaw. We have asked them to question two army drivers.

Reverend Samson Hkalam Kachin Baptist Convention

6 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 1, 2015

Gate crasher leavesevidence at the sceneA white Harrier car struck the level crossing gate at Yay Kyaw, Pazundaung township, Yangon Region, on June 28, causing K120,000 worth of damage, reported crossing guard Ko Tin Ko Ko of Mingalar Taung Nyunt township, who was on duty there. Police are on the trail of the hit-and-run driver, whose number plate fell off after the collision.

Drinking bout ends indeadly stick beating A fight between an uncle and a nephew over drinks turned deadly. The two were at the Hlegu township home of Daw Lei Lei Htay when her 25-year-old nephew allegedly hit her 41-year-old husband over the head with a stick on June 25. Police arrested Naing Ko Win after his uncle died en route to Yangon Hospital from the North Okkalapa township clinic, which had provided initial treatment.

Arrest made in stabbing death in TwantePolice have arrested Phoe Saung, 42, for allegedly stab-bing to death a man in Pate Swe village, Twante township, Yangon Region, on June 28. The stabbing occurred near the house of the deceaseds son. The victim died while being treated at Twante hospital.

Toe Wai Aung, translation by Khant Lin Oo

Eight wanted over illegal fishing in Sagaing RegionFisheries officials have asked police in Thabeikkyin town-ship, Sagaing Region, to arrest eight fishermen known to have used nets to fish illegally in Pinle Nge research lake, near Koebin village. The men evaded an attempt by Singu township fisheries department to ar-rest them, said U Myint Aung, deputy head of the department, yesterday.

Police have launched an investigation under section 44 of the Freshwater Fisheries Law, said the head of Mandalay Region Police. Si Thu Lwin, translation by Khant Lin Oo

Mobile team expands anti-smuggling activities

COMMERCE officials are to expand a crackdown on smuggling in Mandalay Region, particularly to cut down on the import of food unfit for human consumption. The mobile team estab-lished by the commerce ministrys De-partment of Trade will start work to-day on the new routes into Mandalay, including spot checks and raids.

The team will also include mem-bers from Mandalay Traders, Brokers and Industrialists Association, Cus-toms, the police, information officials, and township support groups.

Smuggling expanded along the Madaya route when we started block-ing the Nawnghkio route in Shan State. We are planning spot checks along the Kyaukse and Patheingyi routes, said U Aye Min Tun, director of the Ministry

of Commerce and leader of the mobile team for upper Myanmar.

We have no intention of causing loss to any business, but we do need their cooperation, particularly as a lot of inedible frozen meat is entering Mandalay Region. Their cooperation can help us stamp out smuggling, as well as protect public health.

The mobile teams operations would encourage legal trading and prevent poor-quality goods and food from entering the country, he added.

Over the past eight months, arrests have been made in 11 cases of smug-gling goods worth more than K246.3 million into Mandalay Region through the Nawnghkio toll gate in Shan State, Mandalay International Airport and Gawwein jetty on the Ayeyarwady River.

Timber smugglers were usu-ally seized on waterways, while jade smugglers were mostly arrested at the airport.

We operate at both Kywal Son jetty and Shwe Kyat Yat jetty. Initially we had some problems with people from the jetty, but they accept us now. Madaya checkpoint will be opening soon, and if any shootings occur, as happened in the Muse trading zone, we will take action under the law. We wont be negotiating with any com-pany over our seizures, said U Aung Khine Oo, deputy director of Ministry of Commerce on June 29.

All routes into Mandalay will be subject to spot checks from August 1, he added.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe

Supporters of jailed Mogok monk plan demonstration

ANGRY supporters of a monk in Mogok are vowing to take to the streets in their thousands to protest against his arrest for illegal mining. His supporters say Yay Pu Sayadaw, also known as U Eindaka, has been wrongly charged and is innocent of any crime.

The arrest, on June 9, followed a lawsuit filed by the Gem Traders Association under section 41(a) and (b) of the Gems Law in connection with his efforts to build a new pa-goda. The work involved bringing together relics and holy objects from 11 old pagodas in the Yay Pu Monastery compound that had been demolished.

According to his followers, the allegation says that the work en-tailed in sieving the earth and rub-ble from the demolished buildings was illegal mining.

Yesterday, U Soe Htay, of Mogoks

88 Generation and Open Soci-ety, told reporters, The monk has committed no offence. They have charged him unfairly. Thats why his disciples will demonstrate to insist on his immediate release.

He added that the abbots sup-porters had applied on June 26 for permission for a demonstration by 10,000 people, said to be the monks closest disciples, on July 5.

We will demonstrate on that date whether the police give per-mission or not, he said, adding that a petition was also being drawn up for the abbots release in Mogok town and Thabeikkyin township, Sagaing Region, where he has many supporters.

The Myanmar Times was un-able to contact U Thein Win, head of Mogok police, yesterday, because his phone was turned off.

The Department of Gem Min-ing, the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs have

all joined the court action against Yay Pu Sayadaw, said U Soe Htay.

Our committee will do every-thing possible to secure his urgent release. We will also continue to build the Datpaungsu Pagoda and the new monastery building, said a spokesperson for the committee for the implementation of Datpaungsu Pagoda, adding that the work had the support of Mogok civil society.

Yay Pu Sayadaw appeared in court for the first time on June 23 after his arrest. It is not known when the next hearing will take place.

Yay Pu Sayadaw was one of the leaders of a demonstration that took place in Mogok during the 2007 pro-tests against the military regime, and he also took a major role in protests against the construction of the headquarters of the Gem Trad-ers Association on the shores of the towns iconic lake.

The association did not comment at the time of his arrest.

Translation by Emoon

Police nab weapons cache in Mandalay

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CRIME IN BRIEF

FIVE rifles, 252 bullets, a walk-ie-talkie and 20 amphetamine tablets wrapped in a sack were seized by police on June 26 after they checked a white Toyota Land Cruiser travelling from Singu to Shwebo in Sagaing Region.

The day after the arrest, which occurred at 9pm, police searched the Mandalay resi-dence of the two brothers in the vehicle. Authorities uncovered 18 more weapons as well as spare ri-fle parts at the house, which was located on 82nd Street between 29th and 30th streets in Chan Aye Thar San township.

Police Lieutenant General My-int Oo from the Mandalay Region Police Force said on June 28 that an air gun was also seized from two residents of Chan Mya Thar Si township who were related to the brothers. Further investiga-tion uncovered yet another hunt-ing rifle at a house on 80th Street between 22nd and 23rd streets in Aung Myay Thar San township.

Four people have been charged at Singu Myoma Po-lice Station under section 19(a) of the Arms Act, section 67 of the Telecommunication Law, and sections 15/16(c), 20(a) and 21/22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law.

Further charges have been brought at the Chan Aye Thar San Police Station and Aung Pin-lae Police Station under section 19(a) and (f) of Arms Act.

Rumours have spread in social media that the brothers are mak-ing weapons in a small factory inside their house. However, a top-rank official from Mandalay Regions police force said on June 29 that the rumours were untrue.

The weapons we found are used for hunting. However, we have filed charges against them for possession of weapons, he said, adding that the brothers are sons of a deceased police captain.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe

SI THU LWINsithulwin.mmtimes@gmail.com

A mobile team carries out spot checks at Nawnghkio in Shan State. Photo: Si Thu Lwin

MANDALAY

MG ZAWmgzaw.mmtimes@gmail.com

SI THU LWIN

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We have no intention of causing loss to any business, but we do need their cooperation.

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Views

Reporting on war and peace

ONE of the boldest prom-ises in President U Thein Seins inaugural address on March 30, 2011, was to end the hell of untold miseries suffered by Myanmars ethnic minor-ity groups.

Just a few months later the Tatmadaw was in full-blown conflict mode again, with the outbreak of fighting in Kachin State. But at the same time, a nascent peace process was gathering momentum; in August, the negotiating team led by Union minister U Aung Min was formed.

Reporting on these developments and those that followed the bilateral agreements, the negotiations toward a nationwide ceasefire, the outbreak of fighting in Kachin State and more has been far from straightforward. There have been challenges, threats and mistakes made along the way.

When the government was formed back in March 2011, The Myanmar Times had never, to the best of my knowledge, interviewed any of the armed group leaders. Due to strict censorship, coverage of ethnic con-flicts and the aspirations of Myan-mars armed ethnic groups had been non-existent limited to occasional rewrites of what was in the state media, if it was thought important enough.

There had also been little cover-age of the governments approach

to peace up to that point; obviously, the failure of the Border Guard Force initiative was not something that the censors were keen to allow into print. This state of affairs continued through much of 2011. We were not even able to cover the outbreak of fighting in Kachin State in June of that year.

This meant that when censorship restrictions were relaxed through 2011 and then eventually lifted in August the following year, we were not well positioned to cover the peace process. We had no contacts or relationship with the armed groups. We had no experience operating in areas outside government control. We had a pretty limited knowledge about the history of the conflicts and the major players.

I think this was evident in the way in which we covered the signing of the bilateral ceasefires through late 2011 and early 2012 there was often little more than photos of both sides shaking hands over the table. Even sorting out the names and acronyms was a challenge. We were really scrambling to get our heads around what was happening.

During 2012 the coverage began to improve. The lifting of pre-publi-cation censorship encouraged us to take more risks we no longer had to worry that the fruits of our labours would be pulled at the last minute by timid civil servants in the informa-tion ministry. In June of that year we sent a reporter and a photographer into Kachin Independence Organisa-tion territory, via China. We began to seriously cover the fighting in Kachin State, which was obviously quite fierce toward the end of the year, and

elsewhere too, sending reporters out around the country.

Still, our lack of experience cover-ing ethnic armed group politics has been apparent along the way. In some cases we have been at times a little uncritical of what protagonists in the peace process have told us. Too often the focus has been on the high-level talks, rather than the impact on the ground.

Im sure on this we were not alone. Other publications inside Myanmar will have faced similar

challenges. Journalists and edi-tors typically have only a few years experience, but are particularly new to ethnic conflict. Censorship was applied to all. Most journalists are ethnic Bamar, and there is a level of distrust from armed groups toward them on ethnicity grounds. Lack of funds might hinder travel opportuni-ties, and journalists are as is the case everywhere often forced to prioritise quantity over quality and depth of coverage.

This has not necessarily harmed the peace process in any way. How-ever, the media perhaps hasnt played the support role that it could have done. This doesnt mean cheerlead-ing; rather, there was not enough analysis of the dynamics of what was taking place, the competing interests of the participants and the likely outcomes.

Journalists have also faced push-back from some of the participants, particularly the Tatmadaw. In late 2012, we printed a cartoon from a contributor named Harn Lay showing a civilian minister throwing a peace dove, and a military figure shooting it down. It wasnt long before we got a phone call from the information ministry suggesting it would be wise not to print cartoons like that every week. The military then ran an op-ed in Myawady criticising us.

Earlier this year we were in hot water again, when our Myanmar edition published a cartoon about the conflict in Kokang. I think these ex-amples are as much testament to the power of cartoons as the Tatmadaws unwillingness to embrace freedom of expression.

But resistance has not only been on the side of the Myanmar military. At the Law Khee Lar conference earlier this month, there was clearly tension between armed group leaders and journalists, who were basically kept prisoner in a compound and then trooped out for a short press briefing each day. At one point, a senior Karen National Union official accused some of them of working for military intelligence. Similarly, the conference at the United Wa State Army headquarters of Panghsang was

tightly controlled, and only a handful of journalists were allowed to attend.

These exchanges are a reminder that we are not only covering peace talks, but also conflicts. Lives are still on the line. When youre sitting at your desk in Yangon, its sometimes easy to forget that.

The peace process is obviously not going to end tomorrow, or even this year. In all likelihood, it will be at least several years before a genu-ine settlement can be reached that convinces armed groups to exchange guns for peace.

The upshot is that journalists and editors have now had two, three or four years to find their feet, and to understand the motivations and inter-ests of the different groups involved in the talks. They have often been to the places they are reporting on, and interviewed many of the protagonists on several occasions. Our coverage this year has been much stronger and more robust, even as weve faced new challenges from some of the stakeholders. While some might feel threatened by a more empowered media, on balance it should benefit the peace process by making it more transparent and better understood, both inside Myanmar and abroad.

Thomas Kean is editor of the English edition of The Myanmar Times. This is an edited version of a presentation delivered at the States of Peace in Asia: Peacebuilding in Asia Scholars Forum, which was held at Yangon University on June 29 and jointly sponsored by the Australian National University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of York.

Due to strict censorship, coverage of ethnic conflicts and the aspirations of Myanmars armed ethnic groups had been non-existent.

THOMAS KEAN

tdkean@gmail.com

Naing Han Thar, the head of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team, speaks to reporters following peace talks in Myitkyina, Kachin State, on November 4, 2013. Photo: Boothee

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 1, 2015

Business

Surviving workers are hauled from the debris of the Mandalay hotel scaffolding collapse. Photo: EPA

SINGAPORE-BASED UOB plans to fa-cilitate US$300 million in investment in Myanmar over the next 12 months, according to Ian Wong, UOB Group head of strategy and international management.

UOB is one of nine foreign banks that won a licence last year to open a Myanmar branch. It subsequently opened its branch in May.

We are very conscious we need to bring investment into the country, said Mr Wong.

The firm is focusing on three areas:

hospitality, infrastructure including project finance as well as the energy sector, and manufacturing.

Mr Wong said he reckons over-all these three will contribute to sig-nificantly to Myanmars GDP over the comings years.

He also said these play to UOBs strengths of its regional network and area of expertise. The three sectors will also be significant for Myanmars growth, adding industry in particular will be helpful by creating jobs and en-couraging spinoff investments.

The mandate given by the Central Bank of Myanmar to foreign banks is about encouraging foreign direct

investment into the country, he said. At first, UOB will be working with its existing international clients looking to make Myanmar investments.

By initially focusing on existing clients that it knows as well as under-standing the projects, the bank aims to make sure its loans are to successful ventures.

Our first focus is to bring the clients we have been working with around the world into Myanmar, said Mr Wong.

It had previously been providing offshore financing for several clients operating in Myanmar, including to Asiatech Energy in early 2014 for a gas-fired power plant in Mon State. It

also provided the first onshore loan by a foreign bank branch in Myanmar in May, with a loan to Rangoon Excelsior hotel.

Most of UOBs initial demand for loans is in US dollars, though over time it expects to shift to a combina-tion of dollars and local currency. For-eign banks in Myanmar cannot lend directly to local companies, which are more likely to need funding in kyat.

Mr Wong said the liberalisation of the banking sector to allow the first foreign banks to enter will assist the economy.

I think its a good first step by My-anmar authorities to really identify

banks which can help facilitate FDI into the country, because I think the country needs it at this point in time, he said. I think that is an important first step.

UOB has also set up what it calls an FDI Advisory unit in Myanmar in 2013, which aims to help businesses identify and explore opportunities in the country.

The company had a Myanmar rep-resentative office for about 20 years before opening its branch office in May. While it was prohibited from most businesses with the rep office, it did provide the opportunity to build up the banks knowledge base.

UOB plans $300 million in local loans in 12 monthsJEREMY MULLINSjeremymullins7@gmail.com

THE scaffolding gave way on June 20 at a Mandalay hotel construction site, killing two workers and injur-ing another 18 people. Pictures of the incident were shared widely on social media, instigating concern over safety at construction sites.

Yet such accidents are relative-ly common at construction sites across the country. Officials and experts say much of the regula-tory framework behind workplace safety is outdated and in need of an upgrade.

Adherence to safety standards varies considerably from site to site.

In the past, people did not have any awareness about safety stand-ards at the workplace, said U Aung Koe, a safety officer and trainer with Global Enchanting Education Cen-tre. Safer practices are gradually spreading among business owners and workers, but there is no specif-ic law that everyone follows. Until there is a law, there will be continu-ous workplace accidents.

Current rules on safe workplaces largely hinge on the 1951 Factory Act. The ministries of labour and of construction have been working on a draft Health and Safety in the Work-place law since 2012, but it has not yet been submitted to parliament.

Experts say the accident at the future Mandalay Pullman Hotel highlights the need to move the law forward.

There is no dedicated organisa-tion for this, and no records for sta-tistics, said U Aung Koe. If there are statistics on worker accidents, it can assist with reducing accidents in the country.

U Aung Koe pointed to Singa-pores Ministry of Manpower as an organisation that takes comprehen-sive statistics on workplace safety. With the data in hand, it can then look at ways to make workplaces safer.

Industry bodies look to improve data collection.

The Myanmar Engineering Society plans to organise a group to record statistics on worker accidents, accord-ing to vice president Daw Si Si Than.

There isnt an organisation taking

comprehensive records at the moment, but the engineering society is planning to organise a safety group to do that in the future, she said.

The Myanmar Engineering So-ciety has put together seminars and workshops on safety for both developers and workers, though it can be difficult without separate safety laws.

Workplace safety here very much depends on developers and contractors, and the workers, she said. When there is no law to en-force and no records about destruc-tion caused by accidents, people are unwilling to become interested in safety.

U Aung Ko said safety imposes more costs on developers who follow

better practices, which the more thrifty developers will try to avoid. Developers genuinely do not want accidents, but at the same time they do not want to take on more costs.

Some companies simply com-pensate workers out of pocket as accidents occur. U Aung Koe said that developers should realise that if they lower accidents, they will lower these payments.

This is the reason there must be rules and regulations that are followed, so that there are no work-place accidents, he said. Safety depends primarily on business owners.

A spokesperson from the Minis-try of Construction said they have paused work on the draft of the

health and safety law since 2012, though are still keen on it to come out in the future.

U Soe Win Sein, director of the Ministry of Labours Factories Gen-eral Labour Laws Inspection De-partment, said the 1951 Factories Act does not cover all workers in all workplaces.

Under the current rules, it does keep some statistics, but they are not comprehensive. Instead, they largely cover for instance different government departments.

Construction is one industry that is not covered by the act, he said. Thats why we have been draw-ing up a comprehensive health and safety in the workplace law, said U Soe Win Sein. Now the law is at the drafting stage, and the ministry will keep working according to its pro-cedures to have it come out.

Workplace safety in need of updateOutdated laws and unsafe practices put workers at risk, experts say, following a deadly, high-profile scaffolding collapse in Mandalay

MYAT NYEIN AYE

myatnyeinaye11092@gmail.com

Workplace safety here very much depends on developers and contractors, and workers.

Daw Si Si Than Myanmar Engineering Society

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

Exchange Rates (June 30 close)Currency Buying Selling

EuroMalaysia RingittSingapore DollarThai BahtUS Dollar

K1234K294K818

K33K1116

K1254K302K813

K34K1119

India has low electrification rates but an abundance of power generation

Chinese media notes a success with Asia infrastructure bank

BUSINESS 10 BUSINESS 11

THE doors opened to the first KFC Myanmar outlet in Yangon yester-day and the chicken is indeed from Myanmar.

The first location for the well-known American fast food restau-rant is on Bogyoke Aung San Street opposite Bogyoke Market. It will hold the official launch for the lo-cation on July 7, and local franchise

holder Yoma Strategic Holdings plans to open several more Yangon outlets before the end of the year.

Building the supply chain to an international level and standard was our biggest challenge, said JR Ching, Yoma Strategics chief financial officer and managing di-rector of KFC Myanmar. And it is an international level standard that KFC imposed upon this market. They didnt give any exemptions or shortcuts because this is Myanmar.

The firm had an overarching principle to source as much of its product locally as possible. KFC has rigid international quality stand-ards that suppliers must meet, in-cluding for its meat.

A lot of people ask me where the chicken comes from. A lot of people assume its imported. Its not. Its all local chicken from Myanmar, and its delivered fresh to the store daily, said Mr Ching. He did not discuss the supplier in more detail.

The company is actively adding a few more stores before the end of 2015. It will focus on Yangon for the next 12 months.

Part of it is operational, part of

it is developmental. We see a lot of opportunity still here in Yangon. We think the city offers the best target market for the time being, said Mr Ching.

That being said, as we develop, and as we grow, of course well look at other markets.

Although Mr Ching declined to disclose where additional outlets will be, he said important criteria for selecting sites includes promi-nent, visible locations, high footfall or car traffic, and an area that ca-ters to its target audience.

While the majority of Yoma Stra-tegics revenue comes from proper-ty, the firm is working with outside land owners for the KFC business.

Mr Ching said the market is rela-tively new in terms of quick service restaurants.

We think KFC is the first global

brand to be entering the market though of course there are regional brands like Lotteria and Marry-brown already here, he said. The firm aims to differentiate itself through several factors, including brand awareness, product quality and the work it is putting into its restaurants.

There is a large degree of brand awareness already particularly among Yangon residents, and peo-ple who have been abroad or watch international television.

That being said, I think were trying to cater to all Myanmar peo-ple, trying to keep our prices acces-sible so that everyone in Myanmar can enjoy, he said.

One advantage to being an inter-national brand is that it can look at other examples abroad to find out what worked and what did not.

KFC Myanmar has gone with baskets for serving in-house meals, rather than the plates used in some other Asian countries.

Mr Ching said the choice of the plate versus the basket came down to more operational considerations rather than experience.

There is a difference in terms of the way operations run and weve learned a lot through our work-ings with the KFC group from other markets, he said.

KFC is part of the US-based Yum! chain of restaurants. The firm has 19,400 restaurants in 120 countries, including over 500 KFC outlets in both Thailand and Malaysia, 6500 in China and 240 in India.

Yoma Strategic, meanwhile, is a Singapore-listed, Myanmar-focused company helmed by prominent en-trepreneur Serge Pun.

KFC Myanmar managing director JR Ching. Photo: Thiri Lu

Customers get their first taste of KFC chicken in Myanmar yesterday. Photo: Thiri Lu

KFC comes to town with first US fast food

jeremymullins7@gmail.com suphyo1990@gmail.com

JEREMY MULLINS

SU PHYO WIN

THE foreign exchange black market has returned.

Dealers are again selling dol-lars at the market, rather than the official, price, following a period earlier this month where retail ex-changes largely shut down.

The split between the Central Bank of Myanmars official ex-change rate and the market rate had grown this year, reaching its widest level earlier this month. The Central Bank has subsequently stepped in, driving the two rates back toward each other, though a significant gap remains.

Yesterday, the Central Banks rate was K1110 a dollar, while in-dustry website naungmoon.com had the market rate at K1181. It is illegal to trade outside a band of plus or minus 0.8 percent of the of-ficial rate, meaning the ceiling was K1119 per dollar.

The black market had temporar-ily near halted earlier this month, leaving businesses particularly importers scrambling for dollars.

Dealers had closed up shop due to volatility in the exchange market and a clampdown on illegal curren-cy trading.

The Central Bank stepped in

earlier this month to buy up kyat with dollars, with the market rate rising as high as K1300 briefly in early June before the kyat start-ed appreciating to current levels around K1181.

Five businesspeople were also arrested on June 11 from Shwe Bon Thar Street in downtown Yangon by the Bureau of Special Investi-gation. The arrests were due to the five people being suspected of speculating on currency by pur-chasing and holding large quanti-ties of dollars.

Following the arrests and the volatility in the rate, many money changers stopped doing explicit business at the market rate, shut-ting down signboards and only sell-ing kyat buying dollars at the of-ficial rate. This created challenges for those looking to obtain dollars, as many exchanges were reluctant to trade at the market rate for fear of arrest, and would not trade at the official rate as they would lose money.

Yet normalcy has now returned to the black market.

Ko Thura Nay, an agent at an exchange on Pansodan Road in downtown Yangon, said the Central Banks policy moves had strength-ened the kyat against the dollar this month. During the decline, his

shop had slowed business, but now the market is back to operating as usual.

Many customers are at the shop, buying and selling, he said. We now have enough dollars to sell, though there was a lack of dol-lars at first.

Banks are still reluctant to de-part from the Central Banks official band, meaning customers selling dollars can get better value at ex-changes. Institutions following the official rates also get a lower price when selling dollars to customers than those not following the rules, meaning they can be reluctant to sell the greenback.

Some banks do not sell more than 20 dollars at a time, said Ko Thura Nay. Twenty dollars is a very small amount for a businessperson, and if they want a larger amount they must come to exchanges.

Ko Kyaw Kyaw Thet, an agent on Yaw Min Gyi Street, said that while the market price has not met the Central Bank of Myanmars official rate, the two are converging.

Volumes in the currency ex-change black market are picking up again, he said.

Agencies are operating as usu-al, although the market rate has stopped somewhat short of the Central Banks rate.

Forex dealers make a comebackTIN YADANAR TUNnewsroom@mmtimes.com

DOMESTIC beans and pulses exports ought to pick up due to rising demand stemming from India and China, ac-cording to government ministers.

Abnormal weather in India has lowered bean yields, and its buyers are turning to Myanmar to import more matpe, or black gram, and mung beans, said commerce minister U Win Myint at a meeting at the Ministry of Agricul-ture and Irrigation in Nay Pyi Taw on June 29.

Indian officials had said the grow-ing situation had not been strong this year, so it will import more beans than usual, U Win Myint said. Moreover, administrators from a Chinese prov-ince have said they need more rice and are also keen to import beans, he said during the meeting, which was a ses-sion aimed at enhancing the rights and welfare of farmers.

A United State Department of Ag-riculture grain and feed report from earlier this year said Myanmars beans and pulses production should rise to 5.1 million tonnes in 2015 and 5.3 million tonnes in 2016 due to an expansion in growing area.

It also said exports should reach 1.35 million tonnes in 2015 and 1.4 mil-lion tonnes in 2016.

India annually buys more than 1 million tonnes of [Myanmar] beans, said U Myint Hlaing, minister of agri-culture and irrigation.

It wants mainly to import from Myanmar to meet their needs, and of-fers to buy them.

Myanmar competes with Canada in the Indian market, though U Win My-int said Myanmar produce currently has the upper hand.

In the Indian market, black gram and mung beans from Myanmar get higher prices than beans from Canada, he said.

Domestic bean exporters may also see future gains from the European Union. The bloc of countries extended duty-free access to Myanmar in 2013, backdated to 2012, under its General-ised Scheme of Preferences. Ministers said the market is beginning to sprout. Myanmar exported 7200 tonnes to Eu-rope in 2014-15, receive $250 per tonne.

If the quality of those beans im-proves, the situation for farmers will be better because they will have another market for export, said U Win Myint.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

Strong bean year on India, China demandHTOO THANTthanhtoo.npt@gmail.com

10 International Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 1, 2015TRADE MARK CAUTIONDAEWOO E & C CO., LTD. of 541, Namdaemounno 5 (0) ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following Trade Mark:-

DAEWOOReg.No.IV/3699/2006 Reg.No.IV/4015/2009Reg.No.IV/4530/2012 Reg.No.IV/6165/2015

in respect of Class 36: Building Sales Services, Licensed real estate agent services, Leasing of farms, Department store management [real estate], Real estate appraisal, Real estate management, Leasing of real estate, Real estate agencies, Rental of offices [real estate], Super market management [real estate], Market management [real estate], Apartment house management, Renting of apartments, House management [real estate], Accommodation bureaux [apartments], Housing agents, Convenience stores management [real estate].

Reg.No.IV/3700/2006 Reg.No.IV/4016/2009Reg.No.IV/4531/2012 Reg.No.IV/6166/2015

in respect of Class 37: Building soundproofing, Building insulating, Construction engineering Services, Repair of buildings, Demolition of buildings, Rental of construction equipment, Installation of building equipments, Construction information, Construction contracting, Stadium construction, Overpass construction, Park construction, Factory construction, Irrigation devices Installation and repair, Bridge construction, Drilling of wells, Rental of excavators, Grouting Works, Construction of advertisement stand such as monuments, Guardrail construction, Heating and air conditioning apparatus Installation, Varnishing, Construction of dams and water storage facilities, Construction of highways, streets and roads, Road paving, Paper hanging, Sand polishing, Carpentering, Plastering, Building of fair stalls and shops, Waterproofing, dampproofing and fireproofing, Pier breakwater building, Plumbing, Bricklaying, Boring, Rental of bulldozers Scaffolding, Building construction supervision, Office building construction, Commercial building construction, Construction of water supply or drainage system, Masonry, Works for preventing and extinguishing fire, Underwater construction, Asphalt paving, Arcade construction, Apartment construction, Construction of tenement houses, Officetel construction, Painting, interior and exterior, Drilling of wells, Canal and waterway construction, Automic reactor construction, Glazing, Diving and underwater construction, Electric appliance installation, Shipbuilding, Construction of houses, Roofing works and zinc works, Subway construction, Construction of warehouses, Installation of windows and doors, Steel structure construction works, Building reinforcing works, Reinforced concrete works, Railway construction, Construction of condominium, Rental of cranes [construction equipment], Residential land preparation works, Tunnel construction, Development of land [construction], Installation of communication network apparatus, Construction of pipelines, Installation of Environmental Hygience Treatment Appliances, Harbour construction.

Reg.No.IV/6164/2015Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said Trade Mark or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt according to law.

Khine Khine U, AdvocateLL.B, D.B.L, LL.M (UK)For DAEWOO E & C CO., LTD.#205/5, Thirimingalar Housing, Strand Rd., Yangon. Dated. 1 July 2015

SHARES in Sony plunged 8.25 per-cent yesterday on dilution fears af-ter the Japanese electronics giant announced plans to raise US$3.6 billion through stock and bond sales.

The stock closed at 3461.5 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, down 8.25pc from the previous day, while the benchmark index ended up 0.63pc.

Sony plans to raise a total of 441 billion yen ($3.6 billion) more than 10pc of the companys market

capitalisation as of yesterday. It is the first new share issuance in 26 years, the company said.

Of the 441 billion yen, 321.5 bil-lion yen will be procured though new issuance and a secondary offer-ing of shares.

The company plans to raise an-other 119.9 billion yen in bonds that can be converted into stocks.

The financing is for image sen-sors for cameras and the shares will be offered in Japan and overseas, the company said.

As financing this size is unusual, its only natural that the stock fell in accordance with an expected di-lution of per-share value, said Hi-rokazu Kabeya, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

The announcement came with players unsettled by events in Eu-rope, where Greece is lurching to-wards a default on its debt.

The timing wasnt good as the market was already roiled over the Greek problem, he said.

AFP

Sony shares plunge over 8% on fundraising announcement

TOKYO

AT a time when almost one-third of Indias 1.3 billion citizens have no ac-cess to electricity, power plants worth about US$19 billion are struggling to find customers.

High interest rates and weak in-dustrial demand have coupled with Indias unusually cool summer and unseasonal rains to curtail electricity usage. Thats left some 20 gigawatts of capacity enough to power New Delhi thrice over without long-term supply contracts, according to Ashok Khurana, director general at the As-sociation of Power Producers, a lobby group based in the capital.

New plant initiations have come to a grinding halt, said Debasish Mishra, a senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India in Mumbai. The situation is very discouraging for anyone planning to set up a pow-er plant in India. If not addressed in time, we will swing from the current surplus situation to a major shortage in a few years.

For JSW Energy, one of the af-fected power generators, almost half its capacity lacks long-term buyers, said chief executive officer Sanjay Sagar. While Mr Sagar blames tepid power demand on a downturn in economic activity, the situation also reveals structural problems afflict-ing the next link in the chain of In-dias power market.

Power plants sell to electricity

retailers, preferably on long dated contracts.

And the financial health of those retailers, controlled by state governments and forced to supply power to farmers and the poor at subsidised prices, is worsening.

Indias electricity retailers have ac-cumulated losses of 2.5 trillion rupees ($39 billion) and lose 700 billion ru-pees every year, according to the first-year report card of Prime Minister Narendra Modis government. Reviv-ing the distribution companies will be crucial to Mr Modis election pledge of providing round-the-clock electricity to every household in the country by 2019.

Thats the reason why good de-mand from industrial customers is so critical for distribution companies because they are the paying custom-ers, said Mr Khurana. That demand is missing now.

Indias installed capacity is 272.5GW, according to the power min-istry. It costs roughly 60 million rupees to set up a megawatt, said Sambitosh Mohapatra, a partner at PwC India, so 20GW translates to about $19 billion.

Indias electricity supply has im-proved in the three years since a major power failure darkened vast swathes of the countrys north. And the govern-ment has approved investment of 1.1 trillion rupees to upgrade distribution

and transmission infrastructure across the nation.

Major Singh, chair at the power ministrys Central Electricity Author-ity, couldnt be reached on his office phone for a comment.

Still, the electricity retailers lose about 1 rupee on every kilowatt hour sold, according to the power produc-ers association. And state govern-ments arent always assiduous in mak-ing their subsidy payments on time, forcing distributors to cut purchases and forcing outages, said Mr Mohapa-tra of PwC India.

Indias economic challenges are only bringing the problems out into the open.

High borrowing costs have affected purchases of houses, cars and appli-ances, hurting downstream industries that rely heavily on power such as steel, cement and aluminum.

Even after three reductions, the key rate at 7.25 percent is among the highest in Asia and the growth in pow-er demand has lagged capacity addi-tions in the past year. Steel mills, for example, are operating on average at only 80pc of their potential, according to the steel ministry.

The challenge facing Mr Modis government is pulling power distribu-tion companies out of the debt trap, said Rajiv Kumar, economist and sen-ior fellow at the New Delhi-based Cen-tre for Policy Research.

Bloomberg

Indian power plants struggle to find clients

Emissions billow from smokestacks at the NTPC Badarpur coal-fired power plant as power transmission lines hang from electricity pylons in Badarpur, India. Photo: Bloomberg

NEW DELHI

International Business 11www.mmtimes.com

THE creation of the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a bigger coup for Beijing than its hosting of the 2008 Olym-pics, state-run media said yesterday after 50 countries signed its legal framework.

China was spurred to create the AIIB after unfair treatment by Washington-led institutions, the Global Times said in an editorial, ap-parently referring to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The AIIB has been viewed by some as a rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and the United States and Japan the

worlds largest and third-largest economies respectively have nota-bly declined to join.

Under the articles of association, China will initially have 26 percent of the votes in the bank, giving it a veto over some key decisions which require a 75pc majority including the choice of the banks president, suspensions of members, and chang-es to the rules.

India will have the second-largest voting percentage at 7.5pc and Rus-sia is third with 5.9pc.

Chinas leadership means its in-fluence is prominent and far-reach-ing, and it carries more profound

significance than successfully host-ing an Olympic Games, said the Global Times, which is affiliated with the official Communist Party mouth-piece Peoples Daily.

Major US allies including the UK, France and Germany have all signed on to the bank.

US allies that have joined the AIIB do not mean to flatter China, but they see the benefits will out-weigh their relations with Washing-ton, the editorial added.

Chinas attempt to lead the in-ternational financial institution may have been forced by unfair treatment in other institutions, it said. AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping (front centre) poses for a group photo with the delegates attending the signing ceremony for the Articles of Agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photo: AFP

BEIJING

Media sees diplomatic coup with infrastructure bank

THAILANDS telecommunications regulator has asked for help from the UNs International Telecommunica-tion Union (ITU) to set a standard for cross-border frequency coordi-nation between it and neighbouring countries.

The move is in line with the five-year master plan ending in 2016 of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).

NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasith said the three-day cross-border frequency coordination work-shop being held in Bangkok until to-morrow was a collaboration with the ITU.

Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cam-bodia and Malaysia have long faced spectrum interference in border areas.

We hope to find a single solution to manage the cross-border frequen-cy as well as other collaborations to improve and build up capability in telecommunications among the five countries, Mr Takorn said.

Wireless spectrum interference in border areas, especially between Thai-land and Laos and between Thailand and Malaysia, is a serious problem, as heavy signals sent across borders

disturb the signals of other countries.Last year, Total Access Communi-

cation Plc (DTAC) was asked by the NBTC to reduce the power of radio signals transmitted in Udon Thani and Nong Khai to reduce interference on the Thai-Laotian border.

Regulators had found DTACs sig-nals were too powerful and caused serious disturbance in Laos.

Mr Takorn said proper manage-ment of the cross-border spectrum would also protect customers from being overcharged for international roaming rates when travelling in bor-der areas.

Such strong signals from opera-tors can cause problems for custom-ers, he said.

For instance, if we travel along the border, our mobile could auto-matically catch the stronger signal. Even though were still in our home country, we can be charged the roam-ing rate. The new standard will help consumers with this issue.

The NBTC now governs the tel-ecommunications industry under its 2012-16 spectrum master plan, which is aimed at enhancing coordination in managing frequencies to maximise customer benefits.

Bangkok Post

Thai regulator asks for help on mixed signals

BANGKOK

FRENCH mobile company Orange reached a deal with Israels Partner to retake control of its brand, it said in a statement yesterday, as it seeks to move on from a major diplomatic spat.

Orange will pay up to 90 million euros (US$100 million) to regain di-rect control of the brand in Israel within two years, which had been li-cenced to Partner until 2025.

The discussions were pragmatic, carried out in an amicable atmosphere and the two parties have reached a sat-isfactory mutual agreement, said Pierre Louette, Oranges vice director general.

It was a situation inherited from a previous contract that gave a near-eternal right of usage of the name, added Mr Louette.

We had a chance to regain the brand more quickly, which is a good thing.

Attempts by the French company to recover use of its Orange brand in Israel had led to major diplomatic strife after the head of the company, Stephane Richard, made comments that were interpreted as a desire to boycott Israel for political reasons.

On June 3, Mr Richard told a con-ference in Cairo that he would break the relationship with Partner immedi-ately if it was legally possible, which was seen as support for a Palestinian-led boycott campaign.

Mr Richard later said his com-ments were misinterpreted and that he did not support any kind of boycott. He travelled for talks with Israeli lead-ers in a bid to smooth over the con-troversy.

Orange says its intention all along was to develop closer links to Israel, particularly related to research and development.

Mr Richard is also suing over death threats against him and his family over the affair. AFP

French telco cuts ties with Partner

PARIS

SHANGHAI stocks soared more than 5 percent yesterday after plunging by a similar amount on another day of wild volatility, while Hong Kong rose in line with regional markets despite fears about Greeces future in the eurozone.

The benchmark Shanghai Com-posite Index shot up 5.53 percent, or 224.19 points, to 4277.22 on turn- over of 941.5 billion yuan (US$154.0 billion). It was its biggest rise since March 4, 2009.

The gains came after a weekend interest rate cut had failed June 29 to arrest two weeks of plunging prices.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on Chinas second exchange, jumped 4.80pc, or 112.83 points, to 2464.23 on turnover of 721.4 billion yuan. Its range was more than 11pc over the day.

Hong Kong stocks ended 1.09pc higher, adding 283.05 points to 26,250.03 on turnover of HK$155.87 billion ($20.11 billion).

When Shanghai peaked on June 12 it had risen more than 150pc over the previous 12 months, partly fuelled by margin trading in which inves-tors borrow cash to invest in stocks, a practice that enhances both profits and losses.

Both Shanghai and Shenzhen sub-sequently fell by more than 20pc, a common definition of a bear market,

but yesterdays rise took Shanghai out of that zone.

The early morning plunge was a continuation of recent falls and the lowest point the [Shanghai] market tested in the morning should be the bottom level that the government can bear, said Phillip Securities Group analyst Chen Xingyu.

The rapid run-up, as well as the quick plunge of Chinese stocks, are partly caused by immature retail in-vestors, which in a way reflects the im-maturity of the Chinese equity market.

Chinas market regulator is also responsible for the volatile market be-cause all it has done are post-damage and passive interventions.

On June 27, Chinas central bank announced an interest rate cut and reduced the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve, to boost lending moves widely seen as trying to shore up markets rather than addressing

economic fundamentals.Authorities are also considering

new rules allowing some of Chinas social security funds to be invested in equities, officials said.

But Chad Padowitz, Melbourne-based chief investment officer at Win-gate Asset Management, told Bloom- berg News government efforts to protect share prices would only have short-lived effects.

The only real support they can provide over time is providing a rea-sonably balanced, growing economy, he said. Anything they do short-term, decreasing interest rates to support the market or things like that, are somewhat foolish.

Analysts say the past fortnights declines were mainly triggered by new restrictions on margin trading and accelerated by growing concern that stocks were overvalued after the mar-kets extended climb.

Heavyweight securities firms led the gains. Shanghai-listed China Mer-chant Securities surged 9.47pc to 26.46 yuan while Shenzhen-listed Shanxi Se-curities climbed 8.91pc to 18.09 yuan.

Hong Kong investors returned to buying after plunging with global markets on June 29 in response to Greeces shock decision to break off debt reform talks and call a refer-endum on its creditors austerity proposals. AFP

Wild day on Chinese stock marketsHONG KONG

Anything they do short-term ... [is] somewhat foolish.

Chad Padowitz CIO, Wingate Asset Management

Chinas attempt to lead the international financial institution may have been forced by unfair treatment.

Global Times State-run media in China

NOBODY in the halls of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund in Washing-ton has any illusion: Greece was set to default, delivering a new blow to the global crisis banks credibility.

Just weeks ago, the fund refused to accept the idea that Athens, which has received some 32 billion euros from the IMF to rescue its economy since 2010, would be unable to make the 1.5 billion euro (US$1.7 billion) payment.

At the beginning of June, man-aging director Christine Lagarde insisted she had the assurance of Greek leader Alexis Tsipras.

The prime minister said, Do not worry, she said confidently. A fund spokesperson reiterated that confi-dence again last week.

But Mr Tsiprass announcement of a referendum on an adjusted bail-out plan which he urged his people to reject made clear that the coun-try is not going to reach a deal with official creditors in time to finance any new debt payment.

Is it possible the creditors are waiting for the IMF payment while our banks are being suffocated? Mr Tsipras asked.

Greece will be the first country to default on the IMF since Zimbabwe in 2001 and, in terms of standards of living, the wealthiest.

The IMF will undoubtedly wait to the final minute before declar-ing Athens in arrears, but then the country will be immediately cut off from further IMF aid, including dis-bursements planned on the existing bailout program.

The IMF has less at stake than Greece in that event, but still stands to lose, experts said.

A default by Greece, even if a short-lived one, would stain the

reputation of the IMF and make it less likely future IMF programs would trigger private [capital] in-flows into troubled countries, said Eswar Prasad, a former Fund official.

It is not the first time that the IMF, traditionally called on by economi-cally troubled governments to help when they run short of liquidity, faces the breakdown of a bailout program.

And it has already confessed er-rors in prescribing austerity as a cure when that ended up stifling economic growth.

The institution has been criti-cised from outside as well as inside. Some member states have objected to the way rules have been bent to keep supporting Greece.

They note that the Fund can only lend to a country if its debts are judged sustainable, and Greeces clearly are not. A default by Athens will only aggravate that open wound.

Non-payment would signal in a way that is clear to the person in the street worldwide that IMF engage-ment with the euro and Greece has gone very badly wrong, said Peter Doyle, who used to work for the IMF European Department.

What happens with Greece could also impact the IMFs likewise high-risk loan program for Ukraine, said Mr Doyle.

In March, Kiev obtained a new lifeline from the IMF amid huge questions over whether its debt load is sustainable.

The fund has more to guard than its image: It needs to protect the hundreds of billions of dollars pro-vided it by its 188 members.

It has been able to, without much controversy, write off loans made to certain countries, mainly those in the most dire circumstances.

That includes Haiti, whose $268 million in debt was forgiven after the devastating 2010 earthquake, and $100 million written off for the West African countries hardest hit by Ebola last year.

But the Greek case is different. The size of the loans is many times larger and the losses would impact the IMFs financial integrity.

The fund needs Greece to keep going and eventually pay up, but has few cards left to play, Mr Pras-ad said.

Its in no ones interest to esca-late the implications of this missed payment, said Domenico Lombardi, a former board member of the IMF.

Theyre going to play that down in the hope that this is not going to jeopardise the start of future negotiations.

Ms Lagarde clearly understands that.

Over the weekend, with Greeces default in motion, she took a meas-ured approach, withholding criti-cism and saying the fund stands ready to provide assistance as needed. AFP

EUROPEAN Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker set out a possible last-minute solution to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to reach a debt deal before a bailout referendum, a Commission source said yesterday.

Having been in contact with PM Tsipras yesterday, the President explained how a last-minute deal could look like, the source said.

In Athens, a euro-MP from Mr Tsiprass Syriza party, Stelios Koulo-glou, said, The Juncker plan must be studied.

Mr Juncker told the Greek pre-mier that a deal would involve accepting reform proposals that Greece EU-IMF creditors made at the weekend and backing a yes vote in July 5s plebiscite, another EU source said.

Tsipras would have to send a letter to Juncker, Dijsselbloem, Merkel and Hollande in which he accepts the proposal of the three institutions from Saturday [and] committing to a yes campaign on this basis, the source said.

German Chancellor Angela

Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of fi-nance ministers from the 19-coun-try eurozone, have been key figures in the five months of talks to reach a Greek debt deal.

If Mr Tsipras accepted it could pave the way for another Euro-group meeting to finalise the agree-ment, the source added.

At an emergency meeting on June 28, the Eurogroup rejected Greeces request for an extension to its EU-IMF bailout program past its planned expiry yesterday, the same day it is set to default on a big IMF loan repayment. AFP

WASHINGTON

IMF loses credibility over Greece default

Carrying banners calling for a no vote in the forthcoming referendum on bailout conditions set by the countrys creditors, protesters gather in front of the Greek parliament.

A default by Greece, even a short-lived one, would stain the reputation of the IMF.

Eswar Prasad Former IMF officiasl

BRUSSELS

Juncker makes last-minute proposal

SPAINS Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday became the first European leader to openly back the departure of Greeces far-left gov-ernment as he urged Greeks to ac-cept bailout proposals in a crucial referendum.

Mr Rajoy said a yes vote in the July 5 referendum would be good for Greece as it would allow its creditors to negotiate with a new government in Athens.

If the referendum takes place and if [Greek Prime Minister Alexis] Tsipras loses the referen-dum, this would be a good thing for Greece because the Greeks will have said yes, we want to stay in the euro, and we could negotiate with another government, he told radio Cope.

If the no side wins, Mr Rajoy

said Greece would have no alterna-tive but to leave the euro.

Mr Rajoys conservative Popular Party government is facing the rapid rise in Spain of new far-left party Podemos, which is a close ally of Mr Tsipras ruling Syriza party. AFP

MADRID

Spain leader presses for Greek voters to accept bailout deal

Protesters participate in a demonstration calling for a no vote in the forthcoming referendum on bailout conditions set by the countrys creditors, in front of the Greek parliament in Athens. Photo: AFP

The Juncker plan must be studied.

Stelios Kouloglou Euro-MP, Syriza party

12

JULY

5The date Greek Prime Minister

Alexis Tsipras has set for a national referendum on bailout conditions

IN PICTURES

Photo: AFP

Business 13www.mmtimes.com

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Qatarss migrant worker policies in the spotlight again World 17

14 THE MYANMAR TIMES July 1, 2015 15

World World ediTor: Kayleigh Long THE European Union hit out at Thai-lands junta yesterday for pursuing sedition charges against a group of anti-coup student activists, describ-ing their arrest and prosecution in a military court as a disturbing development.

The 14 detained students are part of a small networ