Thursday, July 2, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 77)

IMF warns of fiscal dangersRapidly expanding credit, growing inflation and the widening trade deficit pose risks for the economy, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday, as it urged the Central Bank to loosen controls on the exchange rate. BUSINESS 8

Residents are returning, but they are coming home to damaged houses, shuttered schools, dead livestock and

looted stores and with fighting never far away.

WWW.MMTIMES.COM DAILY EDITION ISSUE 77 | THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015

500Ks.

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

NEWS 2

Military opposes changes to chief minister selection The Tatmadaw appears set to again veto key constitutional reforms, after military MPs opposed a proposal to give regional parliaments the power to nominate chief ministers, who are currently chosen by the president.

NEWS 3

Ethnic negotiators meet ahead of peace talksMembers of a newly appointed ethnic negotiating team will meet in Chiang Mai today ahead of informal talks with chief government negotiator U Aung Min tomorrow, in what could be the last chance to reach a deal before this years election.

BUSINESS 8

Coca-Cola discloses link to jade industryAmerican giant Coca-Colas local venture has a director who is also a shareholder in a jade company, according to a disclosure it filed yesterday under US company reporting requirements.

BUSINESS 10

High number of budgeted projects incompleteA group of civil society organisations says that a range of government projects have been budgeted, but only about 20 percent of the projects have been implemented.

In Kokang, the scars of war remain

FULL REPORT NEWS 2-3

A Tatmadaw soldier stands guard in a village near Laukkai. Photo: Wa Lone

News 3www.mmtimes.com2 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015

Five students to face protest charges

POLICE are to charge five students for staging a protest in downtown Yangon without permission. About 30 students took part in the June 30 protest over the veto cast by military MPs against constitutional amendments in parliament last week.

Ko Paing Ye Thu, one of the five said to be facing charges, told The Myanmar Times that the police had not yet confirmed to them that they faced legal action under the peaceful protest law.

Some friends told us we would be charged by the police depart-ments in Kyauktada and Pabedan townships, he said.

During the protest, students were blocked by police lines, but continued their march to City Hall, where they dispersed at 4pm.

Ko Zayyar Lwin, said to be one of the five protesters facing charges, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A senior police officer from the Yangon police media team said the protesters would be charged for failing to make a formal request for permission to protest.

A region scarred by war struggles to recover

THE schools red-brick walls are pockmarked by bullets, and holes have been blasted by rocket-pro-pelled grenades. The classroom is littered with the detritus of war empty ammunition boxes, spent shell casings, garbage, worn-out army boots and backpacks.

Lying on a hill in Xinshupa vil-lage, a few miles from Laukkai, the main town in the border region of Kokang, the primary school found itself in the middle of a war be-tween the Tatmadaw and ethnic Chinese insurgents.

Words scrawled in Myanmar in chalk on the blackboard record that it became a base for a Tatma-daw commando squad on April 3. But nobody in the village can read Myanmar to understand what they have written.

Li Jiahong, the schools 30-year-old ethnic Kokang teacher, said he and most of the villagers fled to Chi-na along with tens of thousands of other civilians after fighting erupted in early February. The school closed before final-year exams could be held. Fewer than half of the schools 60 pupils have returned and classes have not yet resumed.

Wearing a dirty shirt and with the hardships of war etched in his face, he said he did not understand the reasons for the conflict, but knew that his students had seri-ously suffered as a result.

Its a tragedy. The conflict re-ally damaged the children when the school closed, he said.

The villagers of Xinshupa founded the primary school eight years ago. As with their parents, Chinese has been the language of instruction. Some Myanmar-speak-ing teachers were assigned to the school, but they soon left because of the language barrier.

The villagers face a crisis now as they have no money for food. The school cannot open very soon because of the war, Mr Li said, adding that he has asked the gov-ernment for support.

After nearly five months of fighting the government now con-trols most of the Kokang region. The rebels last month declared a unilateral ceasefire and, although there are still clashes, the conflict seems to be abating.

Villagers are starting to return from their temporary IDP camps in China, but they are coming home

to crisis and devastation. Their animals have starved to death, and sugar cane and corn fields are de-stroyed. Looters plundered their food stores.

Three Xinshupa villagers lost their lives in the conflict because they stayed behind to feed the ani-mals and take care of their proper-ties while the others fled.

Liu Saosong, 60, said she lost a brother and a nephew. She came back to find their graves under a tree in front of her house, but she does not know how they died.

Our family had good lives be-fore the conflict. Now we have chaos, she said through a stream of tears.

Yang Dapu, 19, said his father died in the fighting. He described how they were able to recognise his

body from the trousers and belt, the rest eaten by wild animals.

Even though my father died be-cause of war, I dont hate anyone, he said. Myanmar government soldiers didnt trouble us before the conflict.

Xinshupas survivors say they dont understand why the conflict

LUN MIN [email protected]

happened but they dont see it as a war between Kokang Chinese and the Bamar.

We dont hate Bamar, even if we cant speak Myanmar, said Ms Liu.

We Kokang are included as one of Myanmars ethnic groups.

Ko Kyaw Than, who is a lead-ing member of the Kokang social association and uses his Myanmar rather than Chinese name, said the Kokang people need to learn Myanmar language. Their com-munication difficulties leave them vulnerable to losing their rights when they leave their territory to go deeper into the country, he said.

We will live in Myanmar for-ever. We have to rely on the coun-try, he said.

When the conflict erupted, many Kokang and other non-My-anmar-speaking ethnic minorities fled to China because they could not communicate with Myanmar communities and did not have any legal identity documents.

U Kyi Myint, the ethnic Bamar headmaster of a government high school in Laukkai, said the gov-ernment should support educa-tion in the region, which was for-merly a self-administered zone before the imposition of martial law in February.

Education, he said, was needed to bring about reconciliation and to build trust between Kokang and Myanmar.

If we cant build trust between us, he said, the conflict will not end.

XINSHUPA VILLAGE, KOKANG

The villagers face a crisis now as they have no money for food.

Li Jiahong Kokang schoolteacher

WA LONE

[email protected]

When armed conflict descended on the Kokang Self-administered Zone earlier this year, education was among the casualties

Children sit in an abandoned school in the village of Xinshupa, a few miles from Laukkai, in the Kokang Self-administered Zone. Photo: Wa Lone

President U Thein Sein yesterday ap-pointed a woman ambassador for the second time during his term, following a 50-year period during which the top diplomatic posts went exclusively to men.

Daw Maw Maw, director general of the Strategic Studies and Training Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was named ambassador to Norway on July 1.

Three years ago, President U Thein Sein accredited Daw Yin Yin Myint now serving as ambassador to Germany as Myanmars ambassador to Brunei. She was the first woman

ambassador since Daw Khin Kyi, wife of General Aung San and mother of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ap-pointed to India from 1960 to 1967.

Daw Maw Maw is also Myanmars first ambassador to Norway since an embassy was opened in Oslo three months ago, said U Sein Oo, a direc-tor general in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We appointed an ambassador to Norway due to the growing relations with the Norwegian government, which will have likely economic and other long-term benefits for both countries, he said. Nyan Lynn Aung

Ethnic negotiators prepare for fresh talks

Speaker proposes holding referendum with election

VOTERS should be given the chance to confirm or reject par-liaments decision to make a one-word change to the constitution during the general election, Speak-er Thura U Shwe Mann told MPs yesterday.

In spite of the claim from Na-tional League for Democracy MP Daw Khin San Hlaing that append-ing the question to the ballot paper could confuse voters, the Speak-er said that was the least costly

option, and he had instructed the Union Election Commission accordingly.

Holding the referendum to-gether with the election would re-duce the cost, the time and the work involved, he told the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

His announcement followed the June 25 decision of parliament to alter section 59(d) of the 2008 constitution by replacing the word military with the word defence in the clause requiring presidential nominees to be well acquaint-ed with the affairs of the Union

such as political, administrative, economic and military.

In the same vote, parliament re-jected five other attempts to amend the constitution, and is now consid-ering a second bill proposing other changes. Debate on these changes got under way on June 30.

The Speakers announcement also ignores the opinion expressed by his fellow USDP MP U Win Than, who told reporters after the June 25 vote that a referendum to approve the one-word change would be a waste of money.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

HTOO [email protected]

LUN MIN MANG

[email protected]

President appoints second woman ambassador in 50 years

IN BRIEF

SENIOR negotiators for armed ethnic groups are to meet in Chiang Mai to-day to prepare for ceasefire talks with government representatives sched-uled for tomorrow, with officials warn-ing that time is running out for a deal ahead of the November elections.

Naing Han Thar, head of the armed groups Nationwide Ceasefire Coordi-nation Team (NCCT), said the newly formed senior delegation team would set objectives as they prepare to discuss amendments to the draft nationwide ceasefire agreement pro-posed by ethnic leaders in early June.

U Aung Min, the governments lead negotiator in 18 months of talks with the NCCT, is to meet the new team in Chiang Mai tomorrow for what have been described as informal talks. Government officials have expressed their frustration with the stalling of the peace process since a draft accord was signed on March 31 and have sig-nalled their wariness about meeting the new negotiating team.

Last week U Aung Min urged influ-ential groups among the ethnic armed factions to push the peace process for-ward. Decisions they took over the

coming days would determine wheth-er Myanmar moved toward a just and sustainable peace or whether we lose this unique opportunity, perhaps once and for all, he wrote in Foreign Policy.

Naing Han Thar, who is part of the new team, rejected media reports de-scribing some of its leaders as hard-liners, such as Naw Zipporah Sein, deputy chair of the Karen National Union, and La Gya, secretary of the Kachin Independence Organisation.

They are not hardliners. They have been in some peace talks when government chief negotiator U Aung Min attended. They have a right to express what they think of the peace

process, he said. It is not the right time to judge whether they are hard-liners or not, until their positions in peace talks are observed.

He denied that the new demands of the ethnic armed groups were ex-treme or threatening. He sought to play down the significance of the pro-posed amendments, saying they are just some changes to some words or phrases of the text which could be mis-interpreted or become controversial later. Details have not been revealed.

Military commander Senior Gen-eral Min Aung Hlaing was quoted in state media last month as saying as some of the demands of the ethnic armed groups violated the national causes.

U Khun Okkar, a member of the ethnic groups new team, accused the senior general of being a hardliner in the peace process. But whatever he sees of our demands, we will have to negotiate over the elements to be added to the nationwide ceasefire ac-cord, he said.

U Min Zaw Oo, director of cease-fire negotiation and implementation at the Myanmar Peace Center, said on June 29 that the government wanted to revive stalled peace talks but was re-sistant to the proposed amendments. He said two of the changes referred to unresolved issues international observers and who can sign the docu-ment but the rest had already been discussed.

Prospects for a nationwide ceasefire have dimmed since ethnic groups announced the formation of a new negotiating team and changes to the draft text signed in March

It is not the right time to judge whether they are hardliners or not, until their positions on the peace talks are observed.

Naing Han Thar Nationwide Ceasefire

Coordination Team

Military opposes chief minister selection reform

MILITARY representatives yesterday spoke out against amending the con-stitution to enable state parliaments to choose their chief ministers a change considered crucial to greater autonomy for ethnic minorities. One prominent MP warned that a mili-tary veto of the proposal could lead to a political crisis, as ethnic minority MPs made a strong case for passing the amendment.

Chief ministers are currently nomi-nated by the president and confirmed by regional parliaments, which have lit-tle scope to veto nominees.

Under an amendment bill sub-mitted to parliament on June 10, the process would be reversed, with par-liaments nominating an elected MP for the chief minister position and the president asked to confirm the choice.

Ethnic minority MPs backed the proposal yesterday, saying it was im-portant for establishing a federal system.

If the regional hluttaws can assign and remove their chief minister, we will have a more federal system and de-centralisation will be stronger, ethnic Rakhine representative U Khin Maung Latt said during the debate yesterday.

He suggested that regional parlia-ments should have the power to re-move chief ministers if two-thirds of representatives support impeachment.

U San Pyae for Kachin State said that the change would help to bring about the self-autonomy, self-admin-istration and equality that minorities have been seeking for generations.

Chief ministers elected by the state or region hluttaws will be better able to represent the people in their region and foster development, he added.

However, military representative Brigadier General Aung Kyaw coun-tered, If the chief minister is elected by regional hluttaw representatives, the election process might be unfair in some areas due to the influence of an organisation, and national unity there might be damaged.

He said it was proper that the president, who is appointed by the Pyi-daungsu Hluttaw, appoints the chief ministers, as it ensures a separation of powers between the executive and the legislature.

Similarly, military representa-tive Brig Gen Win Lwin Oo said that amending the section would give the legislature too much influence over the executive.

Yesterdays discussion suggests that military representatives are likely to use their veto to block the change when it is put to a vote, expected next week.

The proposal to change the process of appointing the chief minister is one of dozens being debated as part of a second constitutional amendment bill. Debate got under way on June 30, and is expected to conclude today.

On June 25, military MPs vetoed five of six changes in a first amendment bill put to parliament.

But ethnic MPs showed yesterday that they would not go down without a fight.

In his speech, U Khin Maung Nyo from Loikaw in Kayah State argued that the amendment was needed to achieve national reconciliation, inter-nal peace and regional development.

The original text [of the constitu-tion] ensures strong centralisation, he said.

U Aye Maung, chair of the Rakh-ine National Party, warned that My-anmar could face a general political crisis if the military MPs blocked the key reform.

I request the military representa-tives to be forward-looking military leaders and bravely amend the sec-tions that need to be changed for the constitution to thrive, he said.

U Paw Lyan Lwin, a Chin repre-sentative, used his allotted time to put a question to the military representa-tives. All MPs need to consider if their objection on this amendment, which is really needed, shows they love their state, he said, adding, Should you re-ally say that more than five decades is too early [to give up control]?

NLD representatives also took part in the debate but focused on other sec-tions of the constitution. They backed a proposal to designate parliamentary bodies as Union-level of an equal status to government ministries and also to make it significantly harder for constituents to unseat their elected representatives.

Currently, they can submit a peti-tion to recall their representative by collecting signatures from 1 percent of eligible voters and submitting them to the Union Election Commission. The NLD has proposed to raise this thresh-old to 20pc.

While a number of such petitions have been submitted since parliament was formed in 2011, none have resulted in an MP being removed because par-liament has refused to enact the ena-bling legislation.


Constitutional amendment to give regions the right to choose chief ministers is considered crucial for peace

HTOO THANT [email protected]

4 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015

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Armed groups, govt, businesses behind Kayin land grabs: report

A NEW report from the Karen Hu-man Rights Group (KHRG) chroni-cling land confiscations in southeast Myanmar has found affected villagers blame army, government and business officials among others for abuses.

The report, based on 126 reports from between December 2012 and last January and released on June 30, contains first-person accounts of land confiscation and its effects on Kayin areas, as well as descriptions of what locals have done to take on the wide-spread issue.

According to the villagers sur-veyed, Myanmar government officials, the Tatmadaw, Kayin Border Guard Forces, domestic and foreign corpo-rate actors, wealthy individuals, and ethnic armed groups have perpetrated abuses.

The KHRG report asserts that resi-dents mostly had no say before pro-jects were implemented and that they were not generally compensated for losses. If compensation was provided, it was often too little or hadnt yet been handed out, the report said.

Now look at our ancestors land that has been given to us it is all be-ing destroyed, said a female villager quoted in the report, who was inter-viewed in November 2014. They do business and get money. For us we have to sacrifice, suffer, and we get nothing out of it.

Land confiscation cases have re-mained prevalent due, in part, to an accord reached by the government and the Karen National Union (KNU) in January 2012, and the rush of do-mestic and international interest and investment in the southeast that fol-lowed, according to the report.

Within the Karen context the 2012 preliminary ceasefire has allowed for access to, and the confiscation of, land that was previously inaccessible, without addressing the issue of land tenure rights in southeast Myanmar, the KHRG report states.

In one case, the ceasefire is de-scribed as setting the stage for prop-erty damage.

Villagers reported that due to the KNU signing the preliminary cease-fire ... [they] allowed the government

to construct and repair bridges and three concrete vehicle roads, the re-port said. [The companies] widened the narrow parts of the roads and straightened the curves ... as a result, the farms and plantations of some vil-lagers were destroyed.

Most villager reports pin land con-fiscation to infrastructure and natural resource extraction projects, and to a lesser extent to commercial agricul-ture projects and military endeavours.

Fifty-six reports peg 68 cases of land confiscation to infrastructure projects, with road construction the most common offender. Meanwhile, 55 reports tie land confiscation to nat-ural resource extraction; gold mining was depicted in just under half.

Eighteen reports linked 21 cases of land confiscation issues to commercial

agriculture projects, and the KHRG obtained 22 reports on 10 instances of land confiscation by armed actors in order to build new camps, expand existing ones, and build housing for the families of soldiers, as well as for commercial projects to fund military activities.

The report says that land confisca-tion and associated issues can lead to income loss and unemployment, the poisoning of water resources, skin and respiratory diseases, homeless-ness and economic migration among other issues all problems villagers testified to.

Villagers relied on streams for their water, including drinking wa-ter, but now the gold mining compa-nies take projects on the upper parts of streams, said Saw Albert, a KHRG field director.

When the streams are only left as mud, companies moved further up-river. Now, villagers suffer from skin, throat and lung problems, he said.

Another land-grabbing issue is Karen armed groups, as they build barracks and confiscate land for busi-nesses used to raise funds for their armies.

In one notable instance, a monks stand against logging was met with murder, according to the report.

In the past [the KNU/KNLA-Peace Council] wanted to do logging in a

garden. The monk did not let him do the logging, said a male villager, quoted in the report and interviewed in October of 2014.

On October 9 [the] monk was ar-rested ... After they brought monk to the army camp they went to Ka Nuh Hta road. They went one furlong away and hit and burnt his back and then killed him.

Though village voices have regu-larly been excluded from processes around projects and at times ignored after land was impacted, locals have striven to make themselves heard.

Villagers have engaged in negotia-tion, lobbying and outreach in order to help tackle land confiscation issues, the report says and have encoun-tered some success.

In Hpa-an township, a company hoped to put up a cement factory. They asked the opinion of the local armed actors, the report says, quot-ing a situation update from a KHRG researcher. The township leaders and some [KNU] officers had a meeting with the villagers.

The villagers were asked whether they agreed to the building of the ce-ment factory, the update goes on. No villagers liked the project, so they did not agree to it. Since the villagers did not give them permission, the KNU and KNLA leaders did not allow them to build the cement factory.

However, the report asserts that most of those whose land has been confiscated have not been able to re-cover their land or obtain full and fair compensation, it said.

After the ceasefire talks, the vil-lagers reported land issues more than before. Doors opened for business-men in the past they did not come to the Karen State because of the conflict ... They approach those in au-thority and they took away the lands of the people. The companies came in, they have no arms, but then the villagers know who is behind them, said Way Lay, an advocacy coordina-tor for KHRG.

U Kyaw Thu, founder of Paung Ku Forum, said land-grabbing issues were more common after the ceasefire because villagers now felt they could speak out about their problems.

There are so many business pro-jects in Karen State after the ceasefire, but before the ceasefire the villages were confiscated by both government and armed force armies, he said. The difference is that now villagers can speak out to NGOs and it has become a well-known issue.

CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN

NYEIN EI EI HTWE

After the ceasefire talks, the villagers reported land issues more than before.

Way Lay Karen Human Rights Group

Saw Albert (left) and Way Lay from the Karen Human Rights Group speak at a press conference in Yangon on June 30. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

Amnesty warns of new boat disaster in region

AMNESTY international has con-demned Southeast Asian governments for failing to sufficiently protect refu-gees and migrants, one month after a key regional summit on the crisis that saw thousands of people stuck adrift at sea in dire conditions.

In an open letter published yester-day, the rights group warned that fur-ther inaction could lead to disaster in the future, particularly when the sailing season resumes after the monsoon.

It remains unclear whether all the boats stranded at sea in May have made it to land since the summit, with hun-dreds of people still thought to be unac-counted for.

The Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean in Bang-kok on May 29 brought 17 countries

together to discuss the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

At the height of the crisis in May, the International Organization for Migra-tion estimated that there were as many as 8000 people mainly Rohingya Mus-lims from Myanmar and Bangladeshis stuck at sea, as regional governments had refused to allow them to land.

At the summit, Indonesia and Ma-laysia agreed to take in up to 7000 of the boat people on a temporary ba-sis. That figure was apparently based on estimates provided by Malaysian intelligence.

One month after the Bangkok summit, there are few signs that gov-ernments are doing what is neces-sary to address the desperate plight of migrants and refugees, said Richard Bennett, Amnesty Internationals Asia Pacific director.

Theres still inadequate coordina-tion on search and rescue operations, and a lack of clear protection measures for people who have landed on their shores, he added.

Vivian Tan, a spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Bang-kok, said yesterday that more than 4600 people had disembarked in Bang-ladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand in May. Several hundred people could still be unaccounted for perhaps still at sea, or perhaps hav-ing disembarked discreetly without us knowing, she added.

Ms Tan said she was not aware of any new reports of boats being sighted in June. Previous media re-ports from Myanmar have suggested a number of Rohingya refugees, who are not considered citizens by the Myanmar government, returned qui-etly to shore in Rakhine State before

authorities were officially involved in any rescue operations.

A clampdown by authorities in My-anmar in light of the crisis, along with the start of the monsoon, has brought the exodus of boats from Rakhine to a halt, according to local sources.

However, Amnesty warned that sail-ings could resume again in October once the weather improves.

Inaction now could pave the way for disaster later. Although it might look like the worst of the immediate crisis at sea is over, it is likely to escalate again once the sailing season starts. Those facing persecutions in their home coun-tries will continue to flee to seek asy-lum, Mr Bennett said.

It is crucial that regional govern-ments put measures in place to ensure that more lives are not lost, and ensure there are safe and legal means for seek-ing asylum or migrating, he added.

FIONA [email protected]

Ceasefire talks have created new problems in Kayin areas, including confiscation of previously insaccessible property

6 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015

Stone inscription fuels debate on historical sources

THE importance of using archaeo-logical evidence rather than long-enshrined folktales as a means of determining historical fact was high-lighted during a seminar in Yangon on June 26 about a recently discov-ered artefact known as King Sawlus stone inscription.

The event, held at Chin Tsong Palace in Bahan township, attract-ed local historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and econo-mists.

Six experts presented papers at the seminar, which was a follow-up to an introductory event on the stone inscription held in April.

The artefact was found in four pieces in late 2013 at the compound of Petaw Monastery in Myittha town-ship, Mandalay Region. The sections

were put back together, and the stone slab measuring 1.7 metres (5.7 feet) high and 1.04 metres (3.5 feet) wide now stands in the monastery.

The stone is inscribed on both sides and in four languages Pyu, Pali, Sanskrit and Mon most of which has not yet been deciphered. The few lines that have been trans-lated describe King Sawlus dona-tions of land, domesticated animals and slaves to the Buddha.

King Sawlu ruled Bagan from 1077 to 1084 following the death of his father, King Anawrahta.

One of the speakers at the semi-nar, writer U Phone Thint Kyaw, said historical knowledge cannot be based in unsubstantiated legends.

It is important to prove history using contemporary evidence such as that provided by ancient stone in-scriptions, he said.

Writer Daw Shwe Yi Oo (Myittha)

gave a presentation on Myittha town-ship, which was the location of a Bagan-era fortress established during the reign of King Anawrahta.

King Anawrahta (ruled 1044-1077) is considered the first king of Myanmar, having unified the country and imported Theravada Buddhism from the Mon kingdom in lower Myanmar.

His heir, Prince Sawlu, is also

described in written accounts as a Buddhist devotee.

The story of King Anawrahta and his heirs is known through record-ed legends, but few scholars have attempted to corroborate these sto-ries using more recently uncovered evidence.

It would be interesting to re-search why King Sawlus stone in-scription was hidden from history for so long, and why it was broken into pieces, Daw Shwe Yi Oo said.

She said King Bodawpaya (ruled 1782-1819) had ordered a survey of stone inscriptions left by his prede-cessors, and 22 of the stones were collected in Myittha for safekeeping. However, King Sawlus was not in-cluded in the collection.

Research conducted in the 1950s by British scholar Gordon H Luce into the advent of Buddhism in Burma also failed to mention King Sawlus

inscription. The slab, it seems, was mysteriously lost for more than 800 years, but it has now been added to the other inscriptions that have been safeguarded in Myittha.

Its rediscovery and translation could bring interesting insights into Myanmars historical events, Daw Shwe Yi Oo said.

Minister for Culture U Aye Myint Kyu urged experts to cooperate in researching the true history of early Bagan instead of arguing over oppos-ing beliefs and ideas.

There will be different points of view, but it is important to help each other to reveal the truth of history for the benefit for future generations in Myanmar, he said.

Many stone inscriptions written in Mon, Rakhine, Pali and Pyu lan-guages have been found around the country, but few have been translat-ed or fully researched.

CHERRY [email protected]

Japan donates solar-powered lamps for polling booths

THE Japanese government has do-nated nearly US$900,000 to fund the purchase of solar-powered lamps to help electoral officials count votes overnight in the coming elections. Japanese ambassador Tateshi Higuchi signed an agreement on June 30 with Toily Kurbanov, the head of the United Nations Development Programme in Myanmar, which will buy and distrib-ute the lamps.

The $895,000 (111 million yen) do-

nation will buy 25,000 solar-powered lamps for distribution to some of the 40,000 polling stations throughout the country in areas without electricity.

Without electricity, it would be dif-ficult to count votes at night. I asked the UNDP for help, and they asked the Japanese government, said UEC director general U Tin Tun.

The lamps will be distributed to polling booths where there is no elec-tricity. It will take a considerable time to count all the votes once polling has closed. It could go on all night, since separate counts have to be made for

each house of the hluttaw, as well as the ethnic representatives.

Mr Higuchi told the donation cer-emony that the election, which is scheduled for November, would be a historical record for the democratic transition in Myanmar.

Anything that can help improve the credibility of the elections is im-portant, he said.

Were grateful for this donation, which will certainly facilitate the conduct of the election, said Mr Kur-banov.


It is important to prove history using contemporary evidence.

U Phone Thint Kyaw Writer

PYAE THET [email protected]

Electoral officials count votes under portable lights at a polling station in Mawlamyine, Mon State, in 2010. Photo: Staff

Business visa applications launch online

THE Ministry of Immigration yesterday began accepting appli-cations for single-entry business visas online, according to a senior official.

The e-visa for business appli-cants will be run concurrently with an existing business visa-on-arrival program, said deputy director of immigration and na-tional registration department U Aung Thiha.

He said it would support the de-velopment of Myanmars economy by encouraging more businesspeo-ple to visit the country.

Both business visa programs are open to nationals of 51 coun-tries who enter via Yangon, Man-dalay and Nay Pyi Taw internation-al airports, he said.

As with the existing system, ap-plicants must have an invitation letter from a Myanmar company that must be registered with the government, and be prepared to show a photograph and proof of identity. Payment is by credit card.

The e-visa costs US$70, $20 more than the business visa-on-arrival.

We will reply within an hour, but full acceptance will take three working days because we need to approve the required documents. The business e-visa will be valid

for 70 days, but can be extended with the agreement of the relevant ministry, he said.

Since the ministry allowed tourists to apply for e-visas last September, 111,734 have been is-sued, said U Aung Thiha.

Now we allow citizens of 100 countries to apply for a tourist e-visa for $50. The service might be expanded depending on survey fig-ures, he said.

While the changes have been welcomed, the benefits for those using the e-visa are likely to be limited to not having to wait for a visa-on-arrival to be issued at the airport.

In choosing a business e-visa, therefore, the business traveller will effectively be paying for con-venience, said Pedro Jose F Ber-nardo, a foreign consulting attor-ney at Kelvin Chia Yangon.

Travellers will still need to visit a Myanmar embassy for the issu-ance of a multiple-entry business visa, he said.

Furthermore, how the issuance of a business e-visa will affect ap-plicants of a stay permit will also need to be clarified.

Under the existing policy, ap-plicants for a stay permit need a multiple-entry business visa from a Myanmar embassy, and eligibil-ity for this visa is conditioned upon the issuance of a number of single-entry business visas.

We hope that business e-visa issued under this new method will be recognised as satisfying such requirement. Additional report-ing by Jeremy Mullins

EI EI THU

[email protected]

Prominent MP attends trial of actor accused of murder

A PROMINENT parliamentarian yes-terday attended the murder trial of a famous actor and director, who stands accused of killing a woman from the MPs constituency.

Ko Min Oke Soe handed himself into police on December 25, telling them that Ma Tay Nu Yin died after he punched and kicked her during

an argument. He has been charged under section 302 of the criminal code, for non-premeditated murder, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term.

U Hla Swe, an Amyotha Hluttaw representative, took leave from the constitution amendment debate in Nay Pyi Taw to attend the hearing at Yangons Western District Court yes-terday. He announced his plan to at-tend on Facebook on June 30.

At yesterdays hearing, which was also attended by a large number of television and print media jour-nalists, the defendant, Ko Min Oke Soe, was cross examined by the pros-ecutor.

He explained how he hit Ma Tay Nu Yin and then pushed her several times, during which she hit a dress-ing table and bed.

U Hla Swe took notes during the hearing. He said afterward that he

attended at the request of the Yaw Youth Group, who are active in his constituency.

He represents a section of western Magwe Region that includes the town of Gangaw, also known as Yaw.

He had posted on Facebook that he attended the hearing because the case was complicated and possibly subject to outside interference.

I dont want to judge a court of law but I have a duty to balance the three

estates so I asked to come and listen at the hearing, he wrote.

U Hla Swe told reporters yesterday that he came simply to show my face and would attend future hearings where possible.

I believe that a decision will be made inside the boundaries of law, he said.

The Western District Court set the next hearing in the trial for July 8.

Translation by Khant Lin Oo

TOE WAI [email protected]

News 7www.mmtimes.com

Views

Jokowi loses way as support slides

THE crash of a creaking 51-year-old transport plane with an indeterminate passenger list in Medan on June 30 somehow encap-sulated the seemingly insurmount-able problems facing Indonesias president, Joko Widodo.

He has been in office for only nine months and it might be thought that he would still be expe-riencing an extended honeymoon. Unfortunately, though, the reverse is true.

Poor Jokowi as he is universally known is in the doldrums. Indeed, during a visit to Jakarta last week, it was stunning to discover how criticism of the new president has become widespread and intense.

After all, when the former furniture salesman and small-town mayor took office last October, he was viewed as a kind of new na-tional saviour who was untainted by ties to the entrenched and nepotis-tic establishment.

Not anymore. As the director of a Jakarta stock brokerage told me last week, Jokowi cannot cut the mustard. Hes not up to the job.

Thats rather harsh and likely

premature, given that other leaders like Singapores Goh Chok Tong and U Thein Sein in Myanmar were once likewise dismissed, yet notched up achievements others might envy.

That said, however, it is undeni-able that Jokowi is enduring a torrid spell. It has suddenly enveloped him after what appeared to be a sterling start to his presidency.

His prompt abolition of fuel sub-sidies was a brave and long overdue move, as was the introduction of electronic business approvals and a new One-Stop Centre for investors, plus the scrapping of tourist visas.

But somehow these positive steps have been overshadowed by other matters, like the bitter taste left by many of his cabinet choices.

During last years presidential campaign, he promised that he would pick ministers based on merit, not political expediency.

That promise was broken im-mediately by a slew of appointments designed to please former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is Jokowis patron and still the leader of his political party.

Most egregiously, he made Mega-watis daughter, Puan Maharani, the chief welfare minister. Maharani, a smug political neophyte, has openly referred to Jokowi as a poodle of her mother.

Worse followed in January when, after Jokowi named the corruption-tainted Budi Gunawan, a Megawati satrap, as the nations police chief, he was forced to withdraw Budis name due to a massive public outcry.

Sadly, these embarrassments have not caused the president to change his ways; last week he named a former army general,

Sutiyoso, as the new head of the State Intelligence Agency.

Sutiyoso, who concedes that he got the job as a reward for sup-porting Jokowi in the presidential election, said it was fine for the president to give key jobs to politi-cal and financial allies if they were capable people.

Yet that is exactly what Jokowi campaigned against.

As well, there is unease about how Sutiyosos appointment epitomises the militarys return to influence in civilian life, particularly in providing security for airports, transport hubs and administrative centres.

Indeed, Jokowi seems to increas-ingly rely on the military to help him resist Megawatis enduring clout, and that of the powerful police forces, who have tried to undermine his bid to strengthen the anti-corruption agency.

On June 10, he named General Gatot Nurmantyo, currently the armys chief-of-staff, as the next

commander-in-chief, and thus broke a tradition of rotating the post among the chiefs of each military branch.

Aside from helping him in his internal party battles, Jokowi needs the armys support as he tackles other daunting tasks, notably trying to kickstart Southeast Asias biggest and most troubled economy.

His visit last month to Jakartas main port of Tanjong Priok illustrat-ed the magnitude of the problem. Despite all government efforts, the turn-around time for unloading and loading a ship is still eight days.

Aside from the notoriously cor-rupt customs and excise office, there are 18 agencies involved in clearing different types of cargoes, and then, when a container is cleared, it hits Jakartas traffic and stops.

As Jokowi noted, in Malaysia and Singapore it takes less than a day to unload a cargo. If things dont improve at home, he said, I can fire the director general, the people on the ground, even the minister.

Well, yes, if he can find suit-able replacements. The fact is that Indonesias bureaucratic incompe-tence and inefficiency have made the country uncompetitive compared to its neighbours.

Compounding the malaise, its resources, like copper, gold and bauxite, which contribute 12 percent to the nations GDP, are suffering from the previous governments ban on exporting unprocessed minerals.

That move, though laudable in the long term, was rashly intro-duced before enough refineries had been built to do the processing and smelting at home, and it has already cost the nation about US$6 billion.

The fall in commodity prices has, of course, only made matters worse, especially as the key customer, China, is not buying anywhere near as much as before.

So Indonesias economy is wit-nessing its weakest growth rate in six years, investment is down, the stock market is moribund, unem-ployment is up, the rupiah is down, and Jokowi is getting all the blame.

Its not fair, but nor is life.And he did not help matters

by making grandiose promises to splurge on roads, ports, power plants and other infrastructure projects, few of which have materi-alised due to bureaucratic bottle-necks, land disputes and a chronic shortage of technicians.

Likewise, he has drawn flack for some provocative political decisions, which have often caused revulsion, such as his resumption of capital punishment for drug offenders.

Already, 14 have been executed by firing squad in the first nine months of his term, nearly all of them foreigners; Indonesian offend-ers usually get off lightly.

Shooting the bule (white foreign-ers) may be popular among common folks at home, just like his brash policy of incinerating boats that fish illegally in Indonesian waters, but outsiders have been appalled.

And few believe such actions will compensate for Jokowis continued obeisance to Megawati and her coterie, nor for his inept economic performance.

Unless he does something on both those fronts, and quickly, he may need to think about going back to selling furniture.

ROGER [email protected]

It is undeniable that Jokowi is enduring a torrid spell. It has suddenly enveloped him after what appeared to be a sterling start to his presidency.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo speaks during the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 20. Photo: EPA

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015

Business

Shipping containers sit at a Yangon port earlier this year. Photo: AFP

TRADE MARK CAUTIONNIHON NOHYAKU CO., LTD. a Company incorporated in Japan, of 19-8, Kyobashi 1-Chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, is the Owner of the following Trade Mark:-

FUJI-ONE( Reg. No. 6900/2008 )

( Reg. No. 2144/2012 ) (Reg. No. 5006/2015)in respect of Germicides and fungicides.

Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark will be dealt with according to law.

Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.Lfor NIHON NOHYAKU CO., LTD.P. O. Box 60, YangonE-mail: [email protected]: 2 July 2015

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday said it recommended the Central Bank of Myanmars official reference rate should reflect market conditions, and close the gap with the unofficial market rate.

The IMF also warned of the risk posed by growing inflation, widening trade deficit and credit growth, but said economic growth is expected to remain strong this year.

Under the managed floating ex-change rate system, the Central Bank sets a daily reference rate. It is illegal to trade outside of plus or minus 0.8 percent of this rate, though the prac-tice has become common as the mar-ket rate and the official reference rate diverged in 2015.

The Central Bank has slowly in-creased its reference rate this year as the kyat depreciated against the dol-lar, but it has not kept up with the market rate. The difference in rates has caused difficulty for domestic businesses, which in some cases have had trouble obtaining the dollars they needed. Banks and exchanges follow-ing the official rate have also been re-luctant to sell dollars.

The Central Bank subsequently be-gan programs in an effort to shore up the value of the kyat, including spend-ing foreign reserves to strengthen the local currency.

The IMF said in a press release yesterday that tighter monetary and fiscal policies are essential to stabilise exchange rate expectations.

At the same time, a more flex-ible CBM reference rate that reflects market conditions and closes the gap between the CBM reference rate and parallel market rates would help con-tain demand and bring back the sup-ply of foreign exchange to the market, it said.

It added that Central Bank of My-anmar foreign exchange sales to im-porters should occur at a competitive

market rate to reduce risks of exces-sive drains on international reserves.

An IMF team under Yongzheng Yang visited Myanmar from June 17 to July 1 for the annual Article IV con-sultations. The visit involves staff col-lecting economic and financial infor-mation and discussing the countrys economic developments and policies. The team of IMF staff then returns to headquarters, and prepares a report which forms the basis of discussion by the IMFs executive board.

The trip has coincided with con-cern over the exchange rate gap. Earli-er in June, the market rate reached as

high as K1300, while the official rate was around K1100. The market rate has subsequently climbed back down; yesterday, the market rate was about K1182, while the Central Banks official rate was K1110.

Several Central Bank of Myanmar officials declined to comment directly when contacted yesterday.

US dollar demand has increased on inflationary expectations. The Central Bank has lowered its limit on US dol-lar withdrawals to US$5000, twice a week, for the same bank account, and also announced plans to eventually re-quire payments only in the kyat.

The IMFs press release noted that with lower-than-expected foreign di-rect investment inflows, the foreign reserves held by the Central Bank are below three months of imports.

Mr Yang said in a press confer-ence yesterday that the Central Banks foreign exchange sales to importers should occur at competitively deter-mined market rates to reduce risk of excessive drains on reserves.

Still, the IMF said economic growth is expected to remain strong at 8.5pc for the 2015-16 fiscal year on the back of strong domestic de-mand. It added the economy is facing

a number of downside risks, includ-ing persistent dollar strength and low natural gas prices could further weaken Myanmars fiscal and exter-nal positions. It also pointed to vul-nerabilities from rapid credit growth, an expansionary budget and a widen-ing trade deficit potentially posing risks to price and economic stability.

It also recommended the Central Bank scale up deposit auctions to mop up excess liquidity and prompt-ly implement the transition to the newly calibrated reserve require-ment, as well as reducing the 2015-16 fiscal deficit.

IMF urges forex rate to reflect market

A NEW condominium project in Man-dalay is being planned by Asia Bright Land Development Company. It will be known as Khayae Residence, ac-cording to a brochure by Yangon-based creative design company Visible Project.

The condominium will be de-signed by Singapore SPC Consult-ants and built by Asia Speed Con-struction Company, according to the brochure. Global High Tech Com-pany and CPL Engineering Service from Singapore will be responsible for the engineering.

The project will be built on the cor-ner of Theik Pan Street and Khayae Street in Mandalay, three minutes by car from Mingalar Mandalay, a 46-acre mixed-use project which is being

built by CAD Construction, New Star Light Construction and Mandalay City Development Committee.

Khayae Residence will include 10 floors of residential units, with five units on storeys two to nine, and two penthouse units on the tenth floor. Each of the standard units will have two bedrooms and a maids room, according to the floor plan in the brochure.

In addition, the development will include facilities that are standard in Yangon but more unusual in Manda-lay, including a roof-top swimming pool, a gym, a function hall, car park-ing, and 24-hour power and water. The project is due for completion in October 2016.

The company is offering a 17-month payment plan, with 5 percent to be paid in the first and second months, and 6pc to be paid every month for

the remaining time. Buyers offering a down payment of 95pc of more will be given a 15pc discount.

Asia Bright Land Development Company was approved by the Direc-torate of Investment and Company Administration in December last year according to the government website. The company could not be reached for comment.

Aside from developments as part of the Mingalar Mandalay project, the city currently only has one condomin-ium which was built by Mann Myan-mar Construction in 2013.

This was the only high-rise residential development anywhere in the country aside from in Yan-gon until last year. However, since late 2014, a handful of companies have made plans to build high-rise projects in several towns across Myanmar.

Asia Bright Land to build Mdy condoCLARE [email protected]

JEREMY MULLINS AYE THIDAR KYAW

A team from the International Monetary Fund said the Central Bank of Myanmars official reference rate should reflect market conditions, and that the gap should be closed with the unofficial market rate, at the conclusion of its Article IV consultation mission yesterday

9BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | [email protected]

Exchange Rates (July 1 close)Currency Buying Selling

EuroMalaysia RingittSingapore DollarThai BahtUS Dollar

K1226K297K817

K33K1116

K1246K308K831

K36K1119

Report says majority of budgeted projects are not implemented

Greece contemplates next step after technical default

BUSINESS 10 BUSINESS 12

SOFT drinks giant Coca-Cola has confirmed that a director of Coca-Cola Pinya Beverages Myanmar (CCPBM) is also a director and mi-nority shareholder in Xie Family Company, which it says operates a local jade business an industry sanctioned by the US government.

In 2015 Global Witness brought to our attention information re-garding a director of Coca-Cola Pin-ya Beverages Myanmar (CCPBM), Daw Shwe Cynn, who is also a shareholder of Pinya Manufactur-ing, said the firms Responsible In-vestment in Myanmar 2015 Update, published yesterday.

The information from Global Witness showed that the CCPBM Director is also a director and mi-nority shareholder in Xie Family Company which reportedly oper-ates jade mines in Myanmar. Our original due diligence was based on the best information available at that time, it said.

A spokesperson from Coca-Cola confirmed to The Myanmar Times that Daw Shwe Cynn will remain a shareholder of Coca-Cola and that the US firm will facilitate direct

engagement between non-govern-ment organization Global Witness and Daw Shwe Cynn. Neither Coca-Colas local partner Pinya Manu-facturing nor its shareholders are Specially Designated Nationals as identified by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Daw Shwe Cynn did not respond to an emailed request for comment yesterday.

Coca-Cola confirmed that it car-ried out repeated and comprehen-sive due diligence based on the information available at the time before entering the Myanmar mar-ket in 2013. In addition, it report-edly conducted a search through independent firms on the reputa-tion, background and trade sanc-tion risks of the local partner and its shareholders and officers.

In mid-2014, the Directorate of Investment and Company Ad-ministration briefly published in-formation on registered company shareholders, including the identity

number of each shareholder, before removing the information from the website several months later.

This informed the Global Wit-ness report, according to the Coca-Cola spokesperson. Global Witness did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

While the jade mining industry is unrelated to our business, we en-couraged and facilitated engagement between Daw Shwe Cynn and Global Witness, said the Coca-Cola report.

Our findings from the addition-al due diligence conducted in 2015 are in line with our earlier assess-ment and we remain confident that our investment is in compliance with applicable laws, and that our local business partners fully under-stand our expectations regarding human rights, workplace rights and ethical business conduct.

US lawmakers maintain a decade-old ban on imports of rubies and jade, as part of wider restrictions on activi-ties or individuals that are believed to contribute to human rights abuses.

Up to 90 percent of the worlds ja-deite the most sought-after type of jade is mined in Hpakant in Kachin State, feeding a vast appetite for the green stone in Asia, particularly in China where it is believed to ward off evil spirits and bring better health. The famously murky jade trade has seen lower sales this year in part because of declining demand as the Chinese economy slows.

Coca-Cola admits link to local jade company

CLARE HAMMOND

[email protected]

2013Year Coca-Colas Myanmar plant opened, after a 60-year absence

BANKS are reluctant to allow farm-ers to take out loans by mortgaging their farmlands, despite a new by-law that will permit this in practice, said U Set Aung, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar, at a public meeting in Nay Pyi Taw on June 29.

A by-law under the 2013 Pro-tecting Rights and Enhancing Eco-nomic Welfare of Farmers Law will specify that farmers can take out a loan by mortgaging their farmland at a bank.

According to section 6f of the by-law, farmland can be used as collateral to borrow capital. Sec-tion 21 also states that government-approved companies, organisations and banks can offer loans of up to one year.

After the by-law is enacted, farmers are hoping to take out loans, said Nay Pyi Taw Council member U Myint Shwe. Farmers are expecting to be able to borrow loans of up to one year from the banks, he said.

The Central Bank will not require banks to take farmland as collateral, but most banks have concerns about the new by-law, said U Set Aung in the plenary session of the leading committee for protecting rights and enhancing the economic welfare of

farmers, held on June 29 at the Min-istry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Nay Pyi Taw.

The Central Bank asked all the banks if they would offer loans to farmers by mortgaging farmland. Out of 22 banks, only five banks said that they would. The other banks said they would be reluctant to do so, said U Set Aung to Vice President U Nyan Tun, the head of the leading committee.

He added that banks are con-cerned about the risk of fake owner-ship documents, because they have already had to deal with false own-ership documents for properties in-cluding houses, apartments and land.

Even for houses and residential land, fake ownership documents are made and people can even take out loans from two or more banks by showing them each the original documents. Banks are concerned about this, U Set Aung said.

He didnt say which banks have faced such cases. The Central Bank has been working with the Inter-national Finance Corporation to tackle issues with false ownership documents.

Banks are beginning to adopt an electronic security registry, said U Set Aung. When the system is in place, farmers will be able to use not only farmland but cattle as collateral.


Banks unwilling to take farmland as collateral HTOO [email protected]

A person handles the new K10,000 notes yesterday. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

K10,000 note debuts amid transparency concerns AYE THIDAR

KYAW

[email protected]

Rumours and peoples worry also fuel the flame of rising commodity prices.

U Soe Thein Former Ministry of Finance official

THE introduction of a new note always comes some uncertainty in the Myanmar market. Yesterday, the first day the newly-redesigned K10,000 note entered circulation, concerns that the note will fuel inflation came up again though were more muted than on previous occasions.

The Central Bank of Myanmars new version of the note has more security features and is more dura-ble. The old-style K10,000 note can still be circulated.

Economist U Hla Maung said the introduction of new notes rouses peoples suspicion as there are ru-mours that the note is in response to counterfeiting.

The growing budget deficit has also led to uncertainty, as it could climb as high as K3 trillion in the current fiscal year, he said.

The government had better make clear the true story, he said.

U Soe Thein, former deputy di-rector general at the Ministry of Finance, said the Central Bank is

responsible for offering notes in a safe and secure way.

Money printing isnt a problem, but it is not the proper time [to intro-duce a new note] when inflation hap-pens and the economy is weak as well, he said. There is also a connection in the general public perception that a new note means the government is

printing more money, which leads to inflation. People know the govern-ment prints money depending on new designs, yet people also dont know [how much] printing with an old design, he said. Rumors and peoples worry also fuel the flame of rising commodity prices.

Ministry of Commerce advisor U

Maung Aung said previous misun-derstanding over the Central Banks intention has caused commodity prices to spike.

The new notes will gradually re-place old notes, which will be taken out of circulation, therefore not un-duly increasing the money supply, he said. People have to know this to protect against inflation.

U Maw, marketing general man-ager of Aung Thamardi gold shop, said people hurriedly collected huge amounts of gold when the K5000 note was issued in 2009, as they thought inflation would follow.

I remember that, on that occa-sion, inflation wasnt up as people suspected, he said.

Gold is also different than most commodities as it is determined by international prices and the price of the dollar, rather than local fac-tors, he said.

U Maw added that gold shops realise the new Central Bank note is to protect against counterfeiting instead of unduly printing money.

The headline in the June 30 ar-ticle UOB plans $300 million in local loans in 12 months incorrectly stated the bank is lending $300 million. Rather, UOB is facilitating US$300 mil-lion in foreign direct invest-ments into Myanmar over the next 12 months.

Correction

10 Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015

ONLY 20 percent of projects planned in the fiscal year 2014-15 budget have been completed and another 22pc of the projects have not been carried out at all, according to a report by local civil society groups.

The report on the budget for the 2015 financial year was con-ducted by the Yangon-based Insti-tute for Peace and Social Justice, Capacity Development Centre and Renaissance Institute was pub-lished in Yangon on June 29.

Fifty-six of the state projects approved by the Pyidaungsu Hlut-taw in the last financial year are still in the process of being car-ried out, according to the report.

More projects are being com-pleted all the time, so by this time, the numbers in the report may be out of date, said U Lwin Ko Latt from Renaissance Institute.

We encountered many diffi-culties when researching the re-port, he said.

We couldnt do much internal monitoring due to a lack of coop-eration from government ministries

and regional authorities. As a result, most of our monitoring was exter-nal, he said.

The report covers a total of 1299 state projects around the country with total value of K250 billion (US$181.5 million). The value of the stalled projects is K29.77 billion, said the report.

In addition, the report found that some government ministries are weaker than others in terms

of project implementation. The Ministry of Health has yet

to carry out 67 planned projects from the 2015 fiscal year budget, the Ministry of Communication has 63 projects to put into action and the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development still has 37 projects in the pipeline,

the report said.We also found an expendi-

ture gap in the implementation of projects. For example, one of the projects cost around K50 million according to regional prices, but was budgeted at K100 million.

Projects in some regions are not implemented at all even though the budget has already been approved. We also found projects that had been given a budget, without any approved land area, said an official at the launch of the report.

Some of the 31 government ministries are making money through projects approved by the state, he said.

The ministries of livestock, fishery and rural development, border affairs and co-operatives are making the most money by not implementing budgeted pro-jects, according to the report.

The groups also carried out training sessions on the budget in 21 townships around the coun-try, with a total of 835 people par-ticipating in the sessions.

Information and knowledge about the budget is very crucial. Most of the corruption cases hap-pen due to a lack of understand-ing. Furthermore, some of the ministries lack the skills to imple-ment projects properly, said the official.

Only 20pc of budgeted projects implemented

AUNGSHIN

[email protected]

ON July 11th and 12th, Pyay will host its fourth Barcamp a tech-focused un-conference that has seen multitudes of people attend past events.

Barcamp Yangon, held earlier this year, saw thousands register for the January 31 to February 1 event. The 2015 meet-up heard topics discussed touching on everything from data visualisation to A brief history of life on earth.

At Barcamps, attendees are invited to share their knowledge in 45 minute spurts on a myriad of topics that span fields from technology to agriculture to ancient culture.

I can get a variety of knowledge from Barcamp, and attendees can

listen to or share on topics they choose, said an attendee at Barcamp Yangon.

The meet-up will happen at No 1 Basic Education High School Pyay in Bago Region and last two days.

Those wishing to come by the Pyay Barcamp have the option of register-ing online, as well as on the day of.

Pyays first Barcamp in 2012 saw hundreds of people flock to the tech-oriented get-together. About 900 peo-ple have already registered this year, with the group organising the event targeting more than 2500 attendees.

The organisers will provide equip-ment for presenters across 10 discus-sion rooms, and arrange transporta-tion and accommodation for those in Yangon that wish to attend the Pyay Barcamp.

Pyay to host fourth un-conference Projects in some

regions are not implemented at all even though the budget has already been approved.

Civil society official

AUNG KYAW [email protected]

Attendees at a previous Yangon Barcamp. Photo: Boothee

International Business 11www.mmtimes.com

THE worlds top pharmaceutical companies yesterday told an Austral-ian parliamentary hearing they were compliant with local and interna-tional laws, despite claims they are charging higher prices to minimise tax.

Australia and other nations have been increasing their efforts to crack down on profit-shifting by multina-tional firms that use complex struc-tures to lower their tax bills in some jurisdictions.

The structures include transfer pricing where goods and services are sold within different entities in an international company.

Firms allegedly use high trans-fer prices, close to retail prices, in higher-tax jurisdictions to minimise the amount of profit generated. The lower profit reduces the amount of tax paid.

Hearing chair Senator Sam

Dastyari said the nine firms front-ing the committee collectively made A$8.0 billion (US$6.1 bil-lion) annual revenue in Australia.

They also received more than A$3.5 billion from taxpayer-subsi-dies through the governments Phar-maceutical Benefits Scheme, which helps lower the cost of medicines for Australians, but only paid tax of US$85 million collectively last year.

Senior executives from the local subsidiaries of the firms including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson told the hearing in Sydney they were meet-ing their tax obligations and transfer-pricing agreements under domestic and international regulations.

But they could not say how much other countries were being charged for their drugs compared to Austral-ia when questioned.

You couldnt even tell us whether

we are being ripped off, because you dont know what everyone else is paying for them, the hearings chair Senator Sam Dastyari said.

GlaxoSmithKlines Australian gen-eral manager and vice president Geof-frey McDonald said, Australians are paying very fair prices, but added, I dont know, when questioned about how he could claim this without hav-ing knowledge of other prices.

The other drug companies front-ing the hearing were Sanofi, Merck, Roche, Novartis and Eli Lilly.

What is so extraordinary is that youve had companies that have been able to arrange their affairs to be able to drive down their revenue to such an extent that their taxable income is simply 1 percent of the revenue that they have, Mr Dastyari said at a press conference.

The evidence is that they have done what they can to drive ... up

their costs to make themselves as artificially unprofitable as possible in Australia and make themselves more profitable in other jurisdictions to avoid paying tax here.

Senior figures from technology giants Apple, Google and Microsoft were grilled by the committee in April for allegedly shifting profits to countries such as Singapore, where corporate taxes are lower. The firms denied the claims.

Australia said in its federal May budget it would go after large mul-tinational firms shifting profits off-shore to minimise taxes, although no figures for revenue increases were forecast.

The nation made closing corpo-rate tax loopholes and endorsing a common reporting standard to in-crease transparency a key focus of the G20 meetings last year when it held the rotating presidency. AFP

Representatives from the worlds top pharmaceutical companies attend an Australian parliamentary hearing in Sydney. Photo: AFP

SYDNEY

World pharma companies tell Oz hearing they are within law

IN PICTURES

Photo: AFP

A man checks a machine he designed in a factory in Zouping, eastern Chinas Shandong province. Chinas official manufacturing index was flat at 50.2 last month, data showed.

THE World Bank yesterday urged China to accelerate reform of its state-dominated financial sector, warning that failure to address the issue could end three decades of stellar perfor-mance for the worlds second-largest economy.

The ruling Communist Party has pledged a wide range of economic reforms and the Washington-based institution said reducing the unique and distorted role of the state in banking and the wider financial sector was crucial.

Wasteful investment, over-in-debtedness, and a weakly regulated shadow-banking system had to be ad-dressed for the broader agenda to suc-ceed, it said.

The comments in the China Eco-nomic Update were unusually forth-right for the World Bank.

Unlike other countries, in China the state still maintains pervasive

ownership and control of banks and other financial institutions, it said, including with powerful internal Communist Party committees and au-thorities appointing and dismissing top executives. The state has formal ownership of 65 percent of commer-cial bank assets and de facto control of 95pc of these assets, making it an out-lier by international standards.

In some cases, it added, authorities were simultaneously owners, regula-tors and customers of banks.

Chinas financial system was still unbalanced, repressed, costly to main-tain, and potentially unstable, the bank said, repeating its description from a 2012 report.

Urgency for fundamental reform has further intensified as excess capaci-ty and indebtedness in many economic segments accumulate, amid growing evidence of financial distress, it said.

AFP

World Bank aims at China financial reform

BEIJING

KUALA LUMPUR

CREDIT ratings agency Fitch sur-prised analysts by upgrading Ma-laysias sovereign outlook to stable from negative, boosting the coun-trys currency yesterday and provid-ing welcome relief to the countrys controversy-plagued government.

In a statement just before mid-night on June 30, Fitch affirmed the countrys credit rating at A-, the fourth-lowest investment rating, and said Malaysias fiscal finances had im-proved since 2014, citing progress on a newly introduced consumption tax and fuel subsidy reforms.

Malaysias rating remains sup-ported by reasonably strong real GDP growth rates and low inflation volatil-ity, said Fitch, which had downgraded Malaysias sovereign outlook to nega-tive in 2013.

The positive news helped bolster the local currency on yesterday, with the ringgit at 3.7347 against the US dollar, up from 3.7733 on June 30.

It [the outlook revision] is a nice surprise, said Nicholas Teo, an analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.

We are seeing a big bounce on the ringgit now, presumably on the back of this.

IG Markets strategist Bernard Aw characterised the news as a 180-de-gree turn, noting that the market had been bearish towards the outlook with sentiment being driven by fears the rating would be downgraded.

The underlying fundamentals of Malaysias economy are still stable, he added.

Rising government debt, mounting stress on the ringgit and weakening oil prices have been denting Malaysias economy this year.

The Fitch statement will also be welcomed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is facing pressure to get Malaysias financial house in order.

Along with having to deal with public anger over a newly introduced consumption tax, Mr Najib, who is also the countrys finance minister, has been struggling to fend off a persistent campaign for his ouster by influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

Mr Najib was weakened by 2013 polls in which Malaysias long-ruling coalition nearly lost power. AFP

Malaysias outlook now stable, says Fitch

IN PICTURES

Photo: AFP

A man gestures as pensioners queue outside a national bank branch, to cash out what they could in Athens yesterday.

A BRITISH shoe shop worker launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise the money for Greece to meet its now expired IMF debt repayment, say-ing he just wanted to help austerity-stricken Greeks.

Thom Feeney said outside his shop in Londons Covent Garden that he had been overwhelmed by the response and the messages of support, raising over 451,000 euros ($502,000) by 2330 GMT on June 30 after just two days.

More than 28,500 people donated to the Greek Bailout Fund project, and a rush of visitors due to over-whelming worldwide interest caused the fundraising website IndieGoGo to crash, the site said.

But it was not enough to stop Greece missing a 1.5 billion euro pay-ment due to the IMF on June 30, mak-ing it the richest country to ever de-fault to the Washington-based lender and the first since 2001.

Watching politicians going round in circles and dithering somewhat with making a decision on Greece, I just thought, I think it just needs someone to step in and sort it, said bearded 29-year-old Mr Feeney, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

I think the people of Europe can do that much quicker than the poli-ticians can ... The amount that we need per person is only 3.19 euros per citizen of the EU, so its just a small amount, he said.

Mr Feeney said it was his first attempt at crowdfunding and he spoke enthusiastically to AFP about his project, rejecting any talk of it being a joke.

The creator said he had no person-al links to Greece but wanted to help Greek people in a time of hardship.

I just thought perhaps a better way to help would be to do something immediately, he said.

Since setting up the webpage on June 29, Mr Feeney said the reaction has snowballed, with hundreds, if not thousands of goodwill messages flooding in from across Europe.

Surprisingly, the bulk of dona-tions in the first 24 hours came from Britain, which is not a eurozone member, and Germany, which has taken a hard official line on Greeces debt repayments.

Should the project be success-ful, donors will receive perks rang-ing from a postcard of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a feta and olive salad, or even a Greek holiday for two, depending on the size of the contribution.

Initially, there was a small Greek island on offer for anyone who stumped up the full total, but Indie-GoGo asked Mr Feeney to remove the offer as the Greek government had not agreed to it.

I hope it can reach the total. It would be fantastic if it could, said Mr Feeney, from York in northern England.

Regardless, it has made a bit of a statement that real people do care about other people across Europe.

Donations will be refunded if the target is not reached within seven days under the terms of the crowd-funding site, but Mr Feeney hopes the money can still be put to good use if donors are willing.

It would be lovely if we could find a way for peoples donations to still count and go towards something perhaps some kind of initiative to help Greek people get into work or sell pro-duce abroad.

AFP

Britains Thom Feeney poses in central London on June 30. Photo: AFP

LONDON

ATHENS

ATHENS

British shoe seller tries to save Greece

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a fresh reform proposal to euro-zone ministers yesterday after Greece became the first advanced economy to default on an IMF payment.

Eurozone ministers were to con-sider the latest gambit by the leftist premier in a conference call late yes-terday even as debt-stricken Greeces creditors poured cold water on the latest plan.

German finance minister Wolf-gang Schaeuble effectively ruled out all negotiations, saying that no Greece deal was possible before July 5s Greek referendum on bailout terms.

First of all Greece must clarify its position on what it wants, and then we will have to talk about it, under conditions that are now far more difficult, Mr Schaeuble told a Berlin press conference.

The crisis is hitting hard in Greece, where banks will be closed all week, although around 1000 branches opened yesterday to al-low the elderly to receive pension payments.

The Greek proposal was sent by Mr Tsipras to heads of the institu-tions that have overseen Greeces two bailouts worth 240 billion euros (US$266 billion) since 2010, just as the European part of the EU-IMF bailout expired.

The Hellenic Republic is pre-pared to accept this ... agreement subject to the following amendments, additions or clarifications, the letter said, referring to the reforms-for-cash contract binding Greece with its creditors.

The government said any deal would have to allow Greece to main-tain a 30 percent VAT discount on islands and postpone a 2012 pension reform until October 2015.

But Mr Schaeuble pointed out that the proposal doesnt exist any-more and never existed because the European offer in question was rejected by Athens last week and

the aid program formally expired on June 30 night.

Greece is seeking a new two-year bailout package worth nearly 30 bil-lion euros to avoid pushing it further toward an exit from the eurozone a day after it failed to make a 1.5 billion euro ($1.7 billion) payment to the In-ternational Monetary Fund.

The missed payment underlined the failure of more than five months of wrangling between Greeces radi-cal left government and its creditors to reshape its bailout and prevent it dropping out of the eurozone.

European leaders also want Mr Tsipras to drop July 5s referendum, in which the embattled far-left gov-ernment in Athens is asking voters to say No to reforms demanded by Greeces creditors.

Greek officials have indicated they would be willing to suspend it if yes-terdays talks produce an eleventh-hour agreement on the new funding request.

Ratings agencies cut their ratings on Greeces debt as the chaos mount-ed, predicting it will return to reces-sion this year.

In Athens, around 20,000 people braved torrential rain late on June 30

to turn out to show their support for a bailout deal.

Despite the opening of some banks for the elderly, the only op-tion for everyone else was to queue sometimes for hours at cash ma-chines to withdraw a maximum of 60 euros a day.

The ongoing uncertainty hit Euro-pean stocks and the single currency on June 30.

But in Asian trade on yesterday, the euro held steady buying $1.1136 compared to $1.1139 in New York late on June 30.

The European Central Banks governing council was also to meet yesterday to discuss the crisis in Greece.

It was the ECBs decision on June 28 to refuse to increase emergency funding for Greek banks that pushed Athens to close lenders and impose the capital controls.

The ECB is thought likely to stick with its current stance on Greek banks but could take measures to prevent contagion in other eurozone markets.

Greece has now entered unchart-ed waters without financial assis-tance from either the EU or IMF for the first time in five years.

An IMF spokesperson in Wash-ington confirmed the payment due by June 29 had not been received, making Greece the wealthiest ever to default to the Washington-based global lender.

We have informed our executive board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive IMF financing once the arrears are cleared, Gerry Rice said in a statement.

The IMF is now considering ex-tending Greeces payment deadline something it has only done twice before in 1982 for Nicaragua and Guyana giving it the power to ease pressure on Athens as it starts fresh talks with the EU.

AFP

Tsipras makes fresh proposal after default

NEARLY one in two Greeks intend to vote No in a weekend referendum on the terms of its bailout, but capital controls are boosting the Yes camp, a poll showed yesterday.

The Prorata survey was carried out between June 28 and June 30, follow-ing the governments decision to im-pose strict capital controls and close the banks after a breakdown in talks with its international creditors.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called on Greeks to vote No in the plebiscite, which will ask voters whether they want to accept the latest deal from Athens creditors a deal he has branded humiliating.

Preparations are already underway for the July 5 referendum, which could seal the countrys financial fate.

Before the capital controls came into effect, 57 percent said they would vote No to the bailout, with 30pc planning to vote Yes and 5pc undecided.

But after the measures includ-ing a daily cap of 60 euros (US$66) on

withdrawals at ATMs were imposed on June 29, the Yes camp grew amid fears that Mr Tsiprass stand will inflict more pain on recession-hit Greece, al-ready struggling with sky high unem-ployment and mammoth debts.

Some 46pc of those polled on June 30 said they would vote No, com-pared to 37pc in the Yes camp and 17pc still undecided, according to the survey carried out for the Ephimerida ton syndakton daily.

Around 20,000 people demonstrat-ed in Syntagma square in Athens on June 29 in favour of a Yes vote, which is being seen by many as a vote to stay in the eurozone and the European Un-ion. Some 13,000 people had rallied for a No demo against the bailout and austerity on June 29 evening.

Mr Tspiras has staked his job on the referendum. A Yes victory could see the government forced to resign, while a triumph for the No camp could see the country exit the eurozone, with un-told consequences for the EU. AFP

No vote the early lead in Greek referendumWe have informed

our executive board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive IMF financing once the arrears are cleared.

Gerry Rice IMF official

12

Cuba and US agree to reopen embassiesWORLD 17

China climate change pledges lack ambitionWORLD 16

14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 2, 2015 15

World WORLD EDITOR: Fiona MacGregorMEDAN

Medan plane crash tollrises to more than 140

HONG KONG

Thousands to attend democracy march

MAHACHAI

Fishery workers adrift in Thailand as authorities tighten net on illegal boats

Soldiers search the crash site of an Indonesian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft a day after the accident, next to a destroyed commercial building in Medan, in northern Sumatra province on July 1. Photo: AFP

THE death toll from the crash of an Indonesian air force plane packed with military personnel and their families rose to 142 yesterday, as wit-nesses described people fleeing the disaster zone covered in blood with their clothes alight.

The Hercules C-130 transport plane crashed into a residential area in the city of Medan on June 30, shortly after taking off from an airbase in the city on Sumatra island.

Buildings were severely damaged, cars reduced to flaming wrecks and the plane itself was almost completely destroyed, with the mangled tail the only part of the 51-year-old aircraft still recognisable after the disaster.

Many of those on board the flight to an island off Sumatra, which was carrying 122 people, were believed to be servicemen and women and their families. The air force has said no one survived the crash.

It is unclear how many people died on the ground, but a steady stream of bodies has been arriving at a Medan hospital as rescuers pull them from

Documents

Thursday, July 2, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 77)