Wednesday, May 20, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 46)

WWW.MMTIMES.COM DAILY EDITION ISSUE 46 | WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015

500Ks.

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

Thousands stranded off Rakhine coast: UNFive boats thought to be carrying about 2000 people are stuck in Rakhine waters in urgent need of help, the UN says, with reports of food shortages, dehydration and violence. NEWS 3

PAGE

6PHOTO: WA LONE

BUSINESS 9

Importers express anger at car parking regulations New rules on parking are forcing car importers to pay K700,000 to brokers for government recommendation letters.

NEWS 4

Govt, ethnic groups wrangle over ceasefire NCCT plans to meet in Chiang Mai on May 25 to discuss governments proposal for a two-step process.

Kabyar Wa: Myanmars next beach

hotspot?

An idyllic and untouched

13-kilometre stretch of sand

in southern Mon State is at the

centre of a giant development

proposal but some are warning

the government not to move too

fast on the project, amid confusion

over the terms of the agreement and

land ownership.

A wooden boat rests on the sand at Kabyar Wa, a beach 25 kilometres south of Ye in southern Mon State.

2 News THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 20, 2015

Families fight university land grab

RESIDENTS arrested and detained for resisting attempts to evict them from their homes have accused Man-dalays Yatanarpon University of tyranny directed against women. On May 15, family members staged a demonstration in front of the uni-versity in protest against the univer-sitys decision to fence off land they say they own.

The dispute concerns No 74/75, plot No 591, on Obo Ground, in front of the university in Mandalays Am-arapura township. The university has begun fencing off the land to turn it into a car park.

They have given no reason for confiscating the land, said Daw Khin Ohn, one of the sisters who claim ownership of the plot. Do

they think they can bully us because we are women? This is the second time they have tried to confiscate the land by force. We have all the neces-sary documents proving our owner-ship of this land. They are just taking the land by force without negotiating a price. If they refuse to negotiate, we will take action against them un-der the law. Everybody, including the Settlements and Land Records De-partment, knows we own the land.

The family has also appealed for help to Pyithu Hluttaw Speaker Thu-ra U Shwe Mann.

Notice to quit was served in a let-ter dated May 8, signed by university rector U Khin Maung Oo. When the residents refused to move, the police came on May 11 and arrested them.

Another resident, Daw Mya Koon, a family member whose land was also confiscated, said police dragged

us to the car like animals. They dragged my daughter, who

is four months pregnant and who is now in pain. This is tyranny. They didnt take us to Amarapura Police Station but to Myitnge Seik Police Station. We were not allowed to see anyone and they kept us in chains. What did we do wrong? We are not the ones who have committed a crime. All we want is our land back.

The land is intended as a univer-sity parking lot under various docu-ments of the Mandalay City Develop-ment Committee and the Mandalay Region Government, which appear to serve as authority to require the removal of the residents.

The Myanmar Times had received no comment from U Khin Maung Oo at the time of going to press.

Translation by Emoon and Kyawt Darly Lin

Handful of payouts after Rakhine ferry sinking

INSURANCE officials are appealing to the families of the victims of the Aung Takon 3 ferry disaster to come forward to claim compensation. State-run Myanma Insurance says families that can produce a death certificate and documents proving that the in-sured deceased was a family member will be paid.

So far, third-party liability insur-ance has been paid out in the case of only nine of the victims, said U Aye Min Thein, managing director of My-anma Insurance, on May 18.

The official death toll from the March 13 disaster off the coast of Ra-khine State is 72. But eyewitnesses say the number aboard was far higher

than the capacity of the ferry, and the real tally is likely to be much larger. In the absence of any further recovery effort, however, the number of dead will never be established for sure.

So far, despite uproar in both the Rakhine State parliament and the Amyotha Hluttaw, no official inquiry has been published that sets out all the facts of the sinking, and no arrests have been made despite allegations

of overcrowding and drunkenness among the crew.

U Aye Min Thein said he expected claims from at least 20 more families of victims whose bodies had been recovered.

More than 30 bodies have been claimed. We have already paid com-pensation in respect of nine bod-ies, and we are inviting the fami-lies of the other victims to make a claim. We are trying to contact them through local residents, he said.

He added that neither the ship nor most of the passengers had been insured.

Claimants with the necessary docu-mentation could present it at the in-surers office in the Rakhine capital Sittwe, he said.

As soon as the documents reach us, we will send back the cheque. We need a death certificate and docu-ments showing that the deceased was a family member of the claimant.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

TRADEMARK CAUTIONARY NOTICEKRAFT FOODS BELGIUM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, a company organized under the laws of BELGIUM carrying on business as manufacturer and having its principal office at Brusselsesteenweg 450, 1500 Halle Belgium is the owner and sole proprietor of the following Trademarks:-

TUCMyanmar Registration Numbers.

4/5280/2008, 4/7554/2011, 4/11910/2011 & 4/15918/2014

The trade marks are used in respect of goods in International Class 30.

Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent intentions of the above marks will be dealt with according to law.

(For. Patrick Mirandah Co.(S) Pte Ltd, Singapore)Ph:0973150632Email:[email protected]. 20th May, 2015

PRINCEMyanmar Registration Numbers.

4/2825/2008, 4/7554/2011, 4/11907/2011 & 4/15916/2014

Myanmar Registration Numbers.4/2822/2008, 4/7554/2011, 4/11908/2011 & 4/15917/2014

TRADEMARK CAUTIONARY NOTICEJX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, a company organized under the laws of Japan and having its principal office at 6-3, Otemachi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan is the owner and sole proprietor of the following Trademarks :-

Myanmar Registration Numbers. 4/3226/2001 & 4/6594/2011

ENEOSMyanmar Registration Numbers. 4/3227/2001 & 4/6594/2011 Used in respect of : -

Industrial Oils, inedible oils and fats, fuels, lubricants, waxes. (International Class 4)

Services for repair and maintenance of machines and apparatus for gasoline station, services for repair and maintenance of automobiles and motorcycles, services for refueling of oils and fuels to automobiles and motorcycles, services for cleaning and washing of automobiles and motorcycles, services for repair of tires for automobiles and motorcycles. (International Class 37)

Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent intentions of the above marks will be dealt with according to law.

Tin Ohnmar Tun, Tin Thiri Aung & The Law ChambersPh: 0973150632Email:[email protected](For. Domnern Somgiat & Boonma, Attorneys at Law, Thailand)Dated. 20th May, 2015

We are inviting the families of other victims to make a claim. We are trying to contact them.

U Aye Min Thein Myanma Insurance

SHWEGU THITSAR

[email protected]

Mandalay residents protest on May 15 against their forced eviction to make way for a parking lot. Photo: Si Thu Lwin

SI THU [email protected]

News 3www.mmtimes.com NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | [email protected]

UNSTABLE conditions in the Bay of Bengal and the advancing southwest monsoon will bring severe weather to coastal are-as, including Rakhine State, over the next week, meteorologists said yesterday.

The Department of Meteor-ology and Hydrology issued a heavy rainfall notification on the evening of May 18, warning that Rakhine State and Magwe Region should expect heavy rainfall over the 48 hours to May 20. It also warned of the threat of thundershowers in Ayeyarwady, Bago, Mandalay, Magwe and Yangon regions, as well as Rakhine State, over the same period.

At 4:30pm yesterday the department said the unstable conditions in the Bay of Bengal had developed into a low-pres-sure area.

New 24-hour rainfall re-cords for May were measured at Nawnghkio in Shan State, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region, and Saga-ing in Sagaing Region on May 19. The highest rainfall was in Pyin Oo Lwin, where 6.65 inch-es (169 millimetres) fell, more than doubling the old record of 3.11 inches (79mm) set in 2009.

Department director U Kyaw Lwin Oo said the unsta-ble weather conditions would support the monsoon on its journey to northern Myanmar but would also bring severe weather to the Rakhine and delta coastal areas, including isolated heavy rain and wide-spread monsoon rain through to May 25.

About 8 to 10 inches of rain is forecast [to fall in Rakhine and delta areas] over the seven days from May 18 to 25, he said.

The unstable air condi-tions currently near the Rakh-ine coast are expected to move northeast and bring heavy rain to lower Sagaing, Magwe and Mandalay on May 20 and 21.

The department also an-nounced that the monsoon had advanced into southern Myan-mar on May 16 and is expected to reach delta areas, including Yangon, between May 21 and 26.

UN urges rescue of 2000 people stranded off Rakhine

SOME 2000 men, women and children are believed to be stranded on human traffickers boats off Myanmars Rakh-ine State coast and are in urgent need of help, the UN Refugee Agency said yesterday as it appealed to the govern-ment to intervene.

The UNHCR said several hundred people had managed to get off the boats by paying K200,000 to K300,000 (US$200-300) each to the smugglers. At least five boats had been at sea for more than 40 days.

Their reports of food shortages, dehydration and violence on board are causing great concern, Vivian Tan, UNHCR spokesperson in Bangkok, told The Myanmar Times.

She said those on board were be-lieved to be from Rakhine State and also from Bangladesh.

Unverified reports suggest that the boats have been moving in and out of Myanmar territorial and international waters. They have at times been sighted from the shores of Maungdaw, Rakhine State, she said.

UNHCR is urging that stranded passengers should be disembarked im-mediately with a focus on saving lives. They should receive urgent medical care, assistance, and protection upon disembarkation, and should not be punished for irregular departure.

Diplomats following the case said they hoped that statements made by Minister for Information U Ye Htut on May 18 pledging cooperation with in-ternational partners in combating hu-man trafficking would be followed up

by concrete action to save those caught at sea.

Aid workers are anxious that My-anmar does not follow the example of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and push boats back to sea, although they also conceded it was not clear that all those on board would be willing to re-turn to their places of origin.

Those on board include Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine State where about 140,000 mostly stateless people have been living in what the UN has called abysmal conditions in camps since sectarian violence involving the Buddhist majority erupted in 2012.

The economic migrants, refugees and others stuck off the Myanmar-Bangladesh coasts had been intending to make the perilous journey to Thai-land, and possibly on to Malaysia, but became marooned close to their start-ing points after Thailand launched a crackdown on traffickers.

Chris Lewa, executive director of the NGO Arakan Project, said that since the crackdown thousands had been un-able to complete the voyage and were instead held in offshore camps.

She said traffickers unable to leave the Bay of Bengal began charging pas-sengers K200,000 to disembark in Maungdaw and in Bangladesh, sending them back to where they started.

Simultaneous to the push-backs of boats by Thai, Indonesia and Malaysian patrols this month, fresh clampdowns occurring further north in the Bay of Bengal have left the migrant-laden boats unable to turn back and un-able to press on through the well-worn trafficking route.

Recently, because of problems disembarking we have heard of boats throwing people overboard and leav-ing fishermen to come find them, Ms Lewa said.

The Bangladesh coastguard has announced patrols to find abandoned passengers before they drown, accord-ing to local media.

Ms Lewa also said she has lost con-tact with the boats abandoned by their smugglers nearer to the Thai camps they initially set out for.

We were hoping that the media at-tention would stop the push-backs and create pressure to allow people to land ... Its just a terrible situation. Weve lost all contact with the boats that were off of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. We can only hope they are not dead at sea.

Focusing on the immediate problem of push-backs, a joint statement yester-day by three senior UN officials and the International Organization for Migra-tion (IOM) strongly urged the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to protect migrants and refugees stranded on vessels, to allow them to land for screening and to give priority to saving lives, protecting rights, and respecting human dignity.

Mentioning Rohingya who the Myanmar government insists on call-ing Bengali and other refugees and

migrants from Myanmar and Bangla-desh, the statement said that in South-east Asia more than 88,000 people had made the dangerous voyage by sea since 2014, including 25,000 who ar-rived in the first quarter of this year alone.

Nearly 1000 are believed to have perished at sea due to the precarious conditions of the voyage, and an equal number because of mistreatment and privation at the hands of traffickers and abusive smugglers, the statement said.

In the Bay of Bengal, migrants and refugees are fed only white rice and are subjected to violence, including sexual violence. Women are raped. Children are separated from their families and abused. Men are beaten and thrown overboard.

The statement urged states in the region to allow passengers to disem-bark safely. A UN spokesperson said this also referred to Myanmar.

GUY DINMORE LAIGNEE BARRON

Reports of food shortages, dehydration and violence on board are causing great concern.

Vivian Tan UN Refugee Agency

AYE SAPAY [email protected]

A rescued Bangladeshi migrant recovers with a broken leg at a hospital in Langsa in Aceh province yesterday. The migrants, mostly Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh, were rescued by Indonesian fishermen off Langsa on May 15.

IN PICTURES

PHOTO: AFP

Dept warns of heavy rain to May 25

JOB VACANCYHumanitarian Programme Officer

Salary range 745.000 1.404.000 Kyats per month (Depending on skills and experiences)

DanChurchAid (DCA) is an international development and humanitarian organization working in more than 20 countries. Currently DCA Myanmar is seeking to recruit Humanitarian Programme Officerbased in Yangon with extensive travel to field. This position will steer preparedness, risk reduction and humanitarian response work. Myanmar National with a minimum of 5 years experience in humanitarian within an NGO/ INGO, UN, embassies are preferred for the position. A detailed Job Description is available on request from Ms. Hlaing Phyu Min, [email protected] applicants should submit application with a motivation letter (why are you qualified for this position),CV and contact details of two referees to HR Unit by email to [email protected] and [email protected] not later than 29th May 2015. Please quote reference: DCA Humanitarian Programme Officer application. (Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews.)


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CONCERNS are growing for those on board a boat carrying suspected Roh-ingya refugees that has been missing for three days after it was pushed out of Thai waters near the southern is-land of Ko Lipe on May 16.

Thai Navy authorities told The My-anmar Times yesterday that they had lost contact with the boat on the even-ing of May 16 and had no knowledge of its current position.

It is far, far away and out of our radar reach. We have lost contact with it, Thai Navy Lieutenant Commander Weerapong Naksparit said.

Malaysian maritime authorities de-clined to comment when asked wheth-er they had information regarding the boats current position. However, they are not thought to have provided those on board with supplies during earlier contacts, and it is unclear what sup-plies the passengers have left.

Indonesian authorities also de-clined to say whether they had in-formation regarding the boats whereabouts.

The boat, which is flying a flag pro-claiming those on board to be Myan-mar Rohingya, has been pushed back and forth between Thai and Malay-sian waters in what the International Organization for Migration has con-demned as a life-threatening game of maritime ping-pong.

The lost boat is last known to have been seen on May 16 between Ko Lipe and Langkawi. At around 12.30pm The Myanmar Times witnessed the Thai navy towing it back out to sea the second time it had done so in three days after mending its engine and providing food and water. The Thai navy chiefs said it had then been inter-cepted by Malaysian authorities.

Meanwhile, it was reported yester-day that another boat though to be carrying refugees and migrants had been spotted off the coast of Phuket, north of Ko Lipe, heading south.

According to the UN an estimated 8000 people, from both Myanmar and Bangladesh, are adrift in the ocean af-ter a clampdown on traffickers in Thai-land closed usual smuggling routes.

Fears were also growing for those stuck at sea, many of whom are be-lieved to have been adrift for months, after forecasters issued warnings to-day that heavy rain is due to hit the Andaman Sea in coming days, creating high wind and waves.

Chris Lewa of The Arakan Project, a rights group which monitors boat crossings, described the situation as very worrying.

She told reporters that her team had managed to make phone contact with those on the missing boat but had heard nothing more from them since the evening of May 16.

They had told us that the men were taking all the food and the women could not get the food. They were only getting little bits left over, she said.

Her comments echoed concerns ex-pressed by Thai navy officers, who told The Myanmar Times on May 16 that they had tried to make sure women and children received a fair share of the rations they gave to the boat that day.

Thai Navy officers who spoke to The Myanmar Times on May 16 said those on board the boat off Ko Lipe were hun-gry and sleep-deprived. The Myanmar Times saw distressed people, including many women and children, crying and making pleading gestures as the vessel was towed back out to sea.

FIONA [email protected]

Philippines refuge offer in doubt

OFFICIALS in the Philippines were unable yesterday to confirm a widely reported offer by their gov-ernment to accept thousands of people trapped aboard abandoned smugglers boats in the Andaman Sea.

We have no information on these concerns, said Zandro Sison, special assistant to the secretary in the Presidential Communications Office.

The international and local me-dia reports stating that the Phil-ippines would accommodate the Bangladeshi and Rakhine State passengers who have not been able to disembark all quote the same statement issued on May 18 by Herminio Coloma Jr, a spokesper-son for President Benigno Aquino.

Mr Colomas statement was released in response to an earlier

article that he said falsely suggest-ed the Philippines supported the push back policies employed by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to stop the boats from landing.

When contacted about claims in AFP and the Guardian that the Philippines has become the first nation to offer a safe haven for the migrants, the presidents office provided Mr Colomas full statement for purposes of clarification. The statement makes no mention of either the Andaman Sea or any plans to assist forsaken migrants.

What was cited in the Philip-pine Daily Inquirer report [on May 18] was a mere restatement of applicable provisions of our exist-ing laws, Mr Coloma said.

The Philippines, as a state par-ty to relevant instruments, such as the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, concretely manifested its solidarity with the

United Nations in providing suc-cor and relief to persons involun-tarily displaced from their home-lands as a consequence of political conflict.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs told Philippines media yesterday that the nation must balance commitments to the 1951 convention with our inter-ests, economic[s] and security.

The department also confirmed that should the boats reach the Philippines shore they would not be pushed back out to sea.

The UN Refugee Agency said the statement has not altered the primary concern: saving the thousands still stuck on what are feared to become floating coffins.

Currently the focus is still very much on having coastal states as-sume their moral and legal respon-sibility to rescue people in distress at sea, said Vivian Tan, spokesper-son for the UNHCR in Bangkok.

LAIGNEE [email protected]

Fears as stricken vessel disappears from radar

Ethnic groups to meet over ceasefire proposal

MYANMARS armed ethnic groups are to meet next week in Chiang Mai to consider the governments offer of a nationwide ceasefire pact that would exclude three factions fighting in the Kokang region but with a promise of bilat-eral talks once they halt military operations.

The governments proposal was reiterated by chief negotiator and minister U Aung Min in talks with political parties in Yangon on May 18. The Nationwide Ceasefire Coor-dination Team (NCCT), represent-ing 16 armed groups, including the three in question, has publicly re-jected the offer, although there are signs that some would be open to a two-step process.

U Aung Min said he believed a nationwide ceasefire agreement could be signed in June despite a general sense that a conference of ethnic leaders hosted by the Unit-ed Wa State Army in its Pangkham stronghold this month had been a setback for the peace process.

The minister stressed the need to sign a comprehensive ceasefire and move on to a broad political

dialogue before the run-up to par-liamentary elections in November. But negotiating ceasefires in Ko-kang, where fighting since Febru-ary has sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing to China, would take too much time, he said.

However, in what appeared to be a shift in the governments po-sition after months of refusing to recognise or negotiate with the ethnic Chinese rebels of the Myan-mar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), U Aung Min said the government could start bilat-eral talks with that faction and its two allies, the Taang National Lib-eration Army (TNLA) and the Ara-kan Army, once they stop fighting.

They started fighting, so they must stop fighting first. And then we can start bilateral talks. We never close the door on them, he told the meeting of political par-ties, which was also attended by President U Thein Sein.

Naing Han Thar, leader of the NCCT, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that the group had to stay united. He said the NCCT did not believe U Aung Mins pledge of bilateral talks with the Kokang mi-litia. Signing the ceasefire accord in June under such conditions was impossible, he said.

The NCCT plans to meet in Chiang Mai from May 25 to 26 to discuss holding a summit of ethnic armed groups, possibly in early

June in Law Khee Lar, the head-quarters of the Karen National Un-ion (KNU), which is seen as closer to the government than other groups. That summit would aim to decide whether to endorse, re-ject or amend the draft nationwide ceasefire agreement signed by gov-ernment representatives and the NCCT in Yangon on March 31.

Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, gen-eral secretary of the KNU and an NCCT member, yesterday appeared open to a two-stage ceasefire.

He told The Myanmar Times the KNU had decided its posi-tion. We should consider shall we sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement with NCCT members and then we try so that other groups join? We have to discuss the issue at the summit meeting. The KNU is ready to accept the re-sult from the summit, he said.

A source close to the MNDAA, which is fighting a rear-guard ac-tion on the border with China, said the group was ready to join a nationwide ceasefire pact if the government accepted them as an ethnic armed group in Kokang. He said the group would attend the Chiang Mai talks.

Mai Aike Kyaw, spokesperson of the TNLA, said the group wanted to stop fighting and sign a ceasefire but that the Tatmadaw was continu-ing to launch offensives.

-Additional reporting by Ye Mon

EI EI TOE LWIN

[email protected]

U Aung Min speaks at a meeting with armed ethnic groups in Yangon in December 2014. Photo: Wa Lone

KO LIPE, THAILAND


School exam results to go online

SCENES of students celebrat-ing or commiserating as they jostle to read their matricula-tion results on the school notice board at midnight could be a thing of the past. This year, the results will be released on the in-ternet and in the print media si-multaneously, parliament heard yesterday.

The exam results will be an-nounced simultaneously in the print media and on the official website of the Ministry of Edu-cation on a date to be specified. We have no plans to release the result earlier than that date, Deputy education minister U Thant Shin told the Amyotha Hluttaw.

The deputy minister was re-sponding to a question from rep-resentative U Phone Myint Aung on whether there was a plan to change the method of announc-ing the matriculation exam results.

The date of the release of the results is fixed by the heads of township education depart-ments, who then inform town-ship administrators to prepare the necessary security meas-ures, the deputy minister said.

U Phone Myint Aung said the method of releasing the results to the print media could result in delays, while an announce-ment over the internet could go straight to the public.

Generally, matriculation exam results come out in June, and at midnight. Students and their parents have to go to their respective schools to see their results, which causes a certain amount of jostling. It also an-noys teachers, who manage the printed results. If the Ministry of Education were to announce the results in advance on its website those problems would be re-solved, he said.

The government should an-nounce the results over the in-ternet, he told reporters.

Nowadays most people use the internet and many young people are on social media. So I suggested changing the method of announcement. But I am sat-isfied with the ministers reply, said U Phone Myint Aung.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe

Official blasts narrow-minded opponents of crematorium

A TOWNSHIP official in rural Sagaing Region has lashed out at local critics of a new crematorium as narrow-minded bigots after they voiced fears about the smells that would emanate from the building. Many villagers, rep-resented by local sayadaw U Nandob-hasa, have already complained to the Union government.

Even the promise of free cremation seems not to have mollified the angry residents.

The structure is being built at Zeegone village in Kanbalu town-ship, Sagaing Region. U Nandobhasa

told The Myanmar Times on May 15 that construction of the crematorium began in early April, without formal permission. The site is close to houses, schools and a monastery, and nearby residents have demanded a halt to the project because of the smell, he said.

Opposition has been strong from the day the project was announced, particularly from nearby residents, who are concerned about the smell.

Despite this, theyve built it so fast that now its nearly finished, he said. Villagers near the cemetery first complained at the township level. Last month they wrote to the Shwebo district level, the regional level and the chief minister. But they still kept

building. So now weve sent our com-plaints to the Union government.

A petition signed by more than 200 of the 12,000 villagers has been sent to the General Administration Depart-ment, the development committee, and the Department of Health offices at the township, district and region levels to demand the crematorium be relocated, he said.

Some residents are against the project while some turn a blind eye to it. Villagers near the cremato-rium dont like it because it will be right across the street. Why are they building it so fast? They should have consulted the residents first, said U Nandobhasa.

But U Kyi Aung, head of Zeegone village administration office, said the crematorium was sorely needed.

Our village is crowded, and the cemetery is running out of space. The people objecting to the crematorium are narrow-minded bigots. Weve ex-plained about this to everybody. Its not easy to relocate the crematorium because its hard to find a cemetery plot. We didnt have planning permis-sion at first, but we do now. Civil so-ciety has helped us build the crema-torium, which is now more than 80 percent complete. All we need is the peoples unanimous desire to run it, he said.

He added that farmland between

Zeegone village cemetery and the Muslim cemetery had been acquired for K2 million to extend the old cem-etery. Residents would not even have to pay for the cost of cremation thanks to the Parami Thukha Free Funeral Service, he said.

The chimney of the K20 million crematorium will be about 22 metres (70 feet) high. The funds have been mainly provided by former Kanbalu residents now based in Yangon, in-cluding U Kyaw Nyunt, chair of the Yangon-based Kanbalu Township As-sociation, who donated K5.5 million. The Kanbalu Township Association itself also contributed K1.5 million.


Untouched Kabyar Wa beach faces an uncertain future

THE salty, humid breeze off the An-daman Sea soughs through the sparse pine trees on the edge of the shore and rolls as far as the clumps of areca palm farms along the ridgeline. The early May sun is high in the cloud-less sky, and the waves are placid and slow.

Kabyar Wa, arguably one of the most beautiful beaches in Myanmar, just 25 kilometres from Ye in south-ern Mon State, is untouched by any hint of development. For its 13km (8-mile) length it boasts almost 100 metres of golden sand at low tide, but there are no hotels, no guesthouses. Restaurants housed in small bam-boo huts lay out rickety plastic tables and chairs, for the two months a year that they are open. There is no public transport.

There are the first signs of invest-ment, though: bamboo fences mark-ing out plots on either side of the ochre road leading to the beach.

The residents of Kabyar Wa vil-lage, about 400 households, subsist on fishing and farming on the hill-side. Almost all the young people go across the border to Thailand as undocumented immigrant workers.

Things are starting to change, said U Aung San, the village chief. It started in 2012, when the government and the local armed group, the New Mon State Party, signed a ceasefire accord.

Now a developer wants to build a US$12 million beach resort. Yangon-based Myanmar Aurum managing di-rector U Htay Thwin told The Myan-mar Times the company already had permission from the state govern-ment to develop nearly 20 hectares (50 acres) of virgin land at the beach.

We will start working on infra-structure later this year, he said. The implementation of zones 1 and 2 will be complete within two years, he said. The company has plans for four zones located by the four villages along the 13 km of beach.

Local and international tourists are showing interest, just as land prices rise. Ko Aung Yin Oo, 47, a resi-dent of Ka Nyar Wa village, said the price of a typical 2400-square-foot plot in the area had risen tenfold, from K300,000 to K3 million.

The residents hope the project will bring economic development to the region and improve its infrastructure.

But critics point to the example of Ngwe Saung and Chaungtha beaches in Ayeyarwady Region, where the former military government grabbed land from the residents, paying low compensation and handing out jobs and contracts to the generals cronies.

Economist U Hla Maung said big projects must be conducted in a transparent manner, and particularly that their finances and relations with the government and major contrac-tors are known. Such projects should

favour local residents when it comes to job opportunities, he said.

Its important to avoid a situation where cronies are sharing out the spoils thanks to their monopoly, he said.

U Kyaw Thu, a program specialist with UN-HABITAT, said consultation with local groups was important be-cause the government still lacks the capacity to properly implement the findings of environmental and social impact assessments.

The final decision has been made by the regional government but for such a large project they should work together with civil society and INGOs who are experts on environmental and social impact analysis, he said.

Some Ye residents have accused senior state government officials of having shares in Aurum.

If you dont have close relations with government officials, its impos-sible to do business in Ye, said one environmental and political activist from the town.

U Htay Thwin of Aurum refused to disclose names of shareholders, but said the Mon State chief minister, U

Ohn Myint, was not involved.I got permission from the govern-

ment because Ive been involved [in this project] for a very long time, and Im from Ye, he said.

He said he had promised local residents that he would launch a re-gional development program on the 20 hectares of land for which he has received government permission. At an estimated cost of K1 billion, he will construction school buildings, a hospital, healthcare centres, a fire bri-gade, a research centre, better roads and a crematorium.

Saw Myat Sandar Win Maw, 33, the owner of a seafood restaurant near the beach, said she welcomed the prospect of more visitors to the beach.

We cant afford to improve our region, but the company could do it, I think, she said.

Resident U Thaung Win, 55, a fish-erman, said he had bought a plot in the village 18 years ago for a very low price.

But I never had any documents, he said. Id better check my owner-ship status.

AUNG KYAW [email protected]

PYAE THET [email protected]

WA LONE

[email protected]

It's important to avoid a situation where cronies are sharing out the spoils thanks to a monopoly.

U Hla Maung Economist

A Kabyar Wa resident walks along the beach earlier this month. Photo: Wa Lone

Government has awarded 13km of beach to a private firm, but not all are convinced it is the best way forward

YE, MON STATE

News 7www.mmtimes.com

ViewsCoalition government: just a fantasy?

DURING his recent visit to the United States, Py-idaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann said at a meeting in Washington that it would be possible to form a co-alition government. National League for Democracy chair Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was later quoted as saying she welcomed his cooperation.

On the feasibility of forming a coali-tion government, Thura U Shaw Mann, who leads the Union Solidarity and Development Party, said, NLD chair Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and I are good friends as well as good competitors. Re-garding the case of forming a coalition government, I am ready today, tomor-row and in the future to cooperate with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for the sake of the country and people.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi responded, This kind of co-operative spirit is good. We welcome it.

But is it even possible to form a coalition government? Close ex-amination of the 2008 constitution is required to answer the question.

According to the Constitution, the government in Myanmar is ruled by two senior officials: the commander-in-chief and the president.

The commander-in-chief controls at least five of the 11 seats on the pow-erful National Defence and Security Council. However, if a military officer is appointed president, vice president, foreign minister or speaker of one of the parliaments he would control a majority on the council.

The president has many powers too, though. The president can assign ministers and deputy ministers, chief ministers for the states and regions, attorney and auditor generals, the head of Nay Pyi Taw Council, the chief justice of the Union Supreme Court, the chair of the Union Election Com-mission, the chair of the Constitu-tional Tribunal and many more. The presidents mandate is huge.

The president is elected by parlia-ment, not directly by the people. Three candidates are selected: one each by elected representatives in the Pyithu Hluttaw, elected representa-tives in the Amyotha Hluttaw and the military MPs. The vice president proposed by the military representa-tives will already have been elected by the commander-in-chief.

The process of selecting the vice president among the elected MPs is straightforward. A member of parlia-

ment nominates an individual, and then another member of parliament seconds the proposal. If that occurs, the candidate is listed. When all nominees are announced, there is a vote. The winner is the candidate with the highest number of votes; there is no requirement to get above a certain threshold.

Based on the results of the 2012 by-election, the NLD would gain a majority in both the Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw, after Novem-bers election. The USDP and ethnic minorities would be somewhere further behind. If the NLD secures a majority in either of the houses in the 2015 election, it would certainly choose have the power to choose

candidates for the vice presidency. It could elect to give up one of those slots if it chose.

However, if the result is in some way in doubt for example, if no party has a majority it will com-

plicate the process. It would make it difficult for political parties to com-promise with each other in selecting a vice president because voting is by secret ballot. There would have to be an agreement reached beforehand.

The process of selecting the president is the same as for the vice presidents. There will be three candi-dates, including one selected by the military. The one who get the highest number of votes from all representa-tives, both elected and military, will become president. The winner does not require votes from more than 50 percent of MPs. Again, it is difficult to compromise because of secret voting. No one can know who will vote for whom. Those who vote for the

winning candidate also have little control over the new president, and have few avenues for removing them.

In most countries where parlia-ment selects a head of government, parties have to compromise with each other if they do not control more than 50pc of seats. If an elected prime min-ister and party break their promise, MPs from other political parties that supported the prime minister can seek to remove him or her by putting forward a motion of no confidence.

But under Myanmars current constitution, the president cant be easily removed. It requires 75pc sup-port from MPs in both the Pyithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw. Of course, the military controls 25pc in each house, so it effectively requires military support too. This means that even if a president who took power through a compromise between politi-cal parties breaks his or promises, the political parties and MPs who voted for the president have little power. Most of the power is in the hands of the president.

It is difficult to share power between political parties through compromise and cooperation under the 2008 constitution. These factors are likely to stymie any prospect of a coalition government between the NLD and the USDP. Even if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Thura U Shwe Mann reach an agreement, they would likely face strong opposition by other party members.

As a result, any statements about forming a coalition government under the current constitution should not be taken seriously.


SITHU AUNG [email protected]

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann talks to reporters in Nay Pyi Taw on February 11. Photo: AFP

It is difficult to share power between political parties through compromise and cooperation under the 2008 constitution.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 20, 2015

Business

A woman sells betel quid in Dala township. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

BETEL nut wholesalers in Mon States Ye township said a number of government departments are checking their bonafides with a crackdown on illegal imports from Thailand.

Authorities at checkpoints en-tering Bago Region cannot tell our betel nuts and Thailands nuts apart, so they are stopping our trucks and delaying our trade, said wholesaler U Aung Than Naing.

Wholesalers are being asked to show a number of documents from bodies such as the Township Gener-al Administrative Department, the agricultural ministry, the Internal Revenue Department and the Ward General Administrative Depart-ment, to prove the betel is locally produced and not imported.

Even when we show these docu-ments, they keep asking us to show other documents. It is delaying our trade, said Aung Than Naing.

The authorities at the check-points say some betel traders are importing from Thailand without paying tax so they should seize those nuts.

Ko Win Thein said the move represents a departure from previ-ous policies allowing free internal shipment of betel. He added trad-ers have not received official notices from government departments that they must obtain additional docu-ments, but rather it is the check-points that are demanding them.

We are so disappointed that we need also these documents before we can distribute nuts, he said. I will keep going with my business at the moment because we can get these documents at a township level, but if we are told to go to the state level, I will stop my business.

Wholesalers said they are not sure why betel nut imported from Thailand is not simply checked at the border, rather than internally.

The can check imports when they enter there is no need to have to show documents at the gate to Bago Region when shipping betel nuts to Yangon, said Ko Aung Than Naing. Its simply causing delays.

There are a number of producers clustered in Mon States Ye, Than-byuzayat, Mudon and Mawlamyine townships, and Kayin States Kyain Seikgyi township.


MAWLAMYINE

Clampdown catches Mon betel tradersNAW SAY PHAW [email protected]

INFLATIONARY pressure is coming from several directions this year, push-ing up prices for a range of local goods, according to experts.

Myanmars rising inflation depends on a number of factors, including par-liamentary spending for the election, increased spending on health and edu-cation, and wage increases caused by policy change, said Asian Development Bank deputy country director Peter Brimble at a press conference on May 15 for the signing of an agreement be-tween the government and ADB.

The government, with the technical assistance of development institutions, can address some of the concerns lead-ing to rising prices. And to be honest, I hope the government and Central Bank will take action on the inflationary events, said Mr Brimble.

The ADB forecast inflation to hit 8.4 percent this fiscal year, before dropping to 6.6pc in the 2016 year, in its Asian Development Outlook 2015 report.

It said higher fiscal spending and expected higher wages will add to do-mestic demand, increasing inflation in 2015 fiscal year, before easing.

Inflation had picked up toward the end of 2014 fiscal year, partly due to ris-ing food prices and higher import pric-es, stemming from depreciation of the kyat, though it had hit 5.9pc that year.

Deputy finance minister U Maung Maung Thein said that local market practices do not always follow macro-economic principles, pointing to local fuel prices not declining as much as the world price drop would indicate is necessary.

The Ministry of Finance takes care

to avoid inflation when calculating wage increases and raising budget spending on social areas to protect against inflation, he said. U Maung Maung Thein added that some specula-tors raise commodity prices as soon as they hear about increases in inflation.

Not only the government is impor-tant in tackling inflation, but consum-ers also have responsibility to relieve in-flationary pressure, he said at the press conference.

Myanmar Oriental Bank chair U Mya Than said there are various causes for inflation. He said that the Myanmar kyat is weak not only against the US dollar, but also against other curren-cies, such as the Singapore dollar and the euro. This is the time for the gov-ernment and experts to reconsider the entire macroeconomic system, he said.

The kyat has lost about 10pc of its strength against the US dollar in the last year, according to the official Cen-tral Bank of Myanmar exchange rate. It said $1 traded at K1082 yesterday, compared to K968 for the same period last year.

Inflation pushed up by range of factors

%

10

8

6

4

2

0

Sources: International Monetary Fund; ADB estimates.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

AYE THIDAR [email protected]

AYE THIDAR [email protected]

FOREIGN-BACKED projects will assist in rapidly develop the in-frastructure sector in Myanmar, according to the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pa-cific 2015 by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Presidential economic adviser U Zaw Oo said the Union govern-ments strategy for infrastructure development which will result in special economic zones and tourism and energy projects has tied up with other countries in the region.

Speaking at the surveys launch in Yangon on May 18, U Zaw Oo also said the public that progress has been made, despite a lack of evidence in some sectors.

The governments coopera-tion with the United Nations has led to achievements, even though we cannot show our implementa-tion in some infrastructure areas such as the electricity sector yet, he said.

He added that power projects enabling the spread of electricity have been slow to develop in part because there have been delays setting policies.

These projects could come on the backs of foreign investors, whose financial support across energy, tourism, and manufactur-ing sectors, as well as for SEZs, could address issues around ris-ing inflation and exchange rate appreciation in Myanmar.

U Zaw Oo said the Myanmar Investment Commission has per-mitted about $38 billion in spend-ing for the energy sector, and that about 4 million tourists will visit the country this year.

The survey said economic re-form is important in Myanmar and that efforts should be made to speed up the expansion of its production base.

The survey also said low-wage manufacturing as well as agricul-ture held tremendous potential.

U Zaw Oo said he hoped an official minimum wage for the country, nearing solution through private discussions with stake-holders, would be enacted by par-liament and the Ministry of La-bour as soon as possible.

The survey predicts economic growth at 8.3pc for fiscal year 2015-16 and 8.2pc for 2016-17.

Performance this year for My-anmars economy could hinge on important political events, in-cluding the planned constitution-al referendum and the national elections, it said.

Continued momentum in eco-nomic reforms will also be impor-tant. In particular, efforts to ex-pand the production base should be accelerating in the light of the downward volatility in the global economy, the report added.

Infrastructure development comes with foreign support: U Zaw Oo

Efforts to expand the production base should be accelerating.

UNESCAP report

SMALL BUSINESS

LOCAL businesspeople said they are unconcerned about the future of be-tel nut chewing even as health advo-cacy groups push for lower tobacco use worldwide.

Betel quid sold locally is a mix-ture of betel and ingredients such as lime and tobacco, though imported finished products from India are common. Venders say they are not worried about the future of the betel business, claiming interest in their products is stronger than ever.

Betel shops are a common sight on what seems like every road in eve-ry village and city across the country. Most retailers are small-scale shops specifically for betel, though some-times also vend other products like cigarettes and snacks.

Location is crucial for a success-ful shop, according to Ko Min Min, proprietor of a South Okkalapa shop.

Our shop is open near a bus stop. Bus drivers and other bus workers are our main customers, he said.

Ma Aye Aye Naing, a vender in Tarmwe township, said she has not noticed any decrease in customers despite furtive attempts to prevent tobacco use. Rather, her biggest head-ache is rising costs of inputs, she said.

If people stopped chewing betel, future business would decline not only for me but for a lot of shops. But I dont think people are giving this up, she said. If people were giving

up betel, shops wouldnt be opening, and would already be shutting.

A number of world organisations held a high-profile anti-tobacco con-ference in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. It aimed to take steps to reduce consumption of tobacco, which it said is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide.

Attendees called for wider imple-mentation of World Health Organi-zation (WHO) guidelines for cutting smoking rates and reducing the bur-den of non-communicable diseases.

The conference declared all tobacco products harmful, say-ing they pose an especially heavy burden on low- and middle-in-come countries and should be de-normalised worldwide.

Tobacco is often a main ingredi-ent of betel quid, though local busi-nesses say so far there has been no

flight from betel.Some shops are the main sources

of income for their owners family.Ko Thet Paing, a betel seller in

Hlaing Tharyar township, said he has had to bring on more staff as his business grew. His stall is his familys main source of income.

Some shops operate in the street as a family business. They are not only selling betel but also snacks and juice, he said. Shops near bus stops usually only focus on chewing betel, though.

Betel farmer U Thein Nain said chewing has not become popular re-cently, but has long been a trend in Myanmar culture. If people didnt chew betel, we would have to change what we farm, he said. But Myan-mar people are continuing to buy it. We have chewed betel nut since the time of the kings.

Betel vendors shrug off tobacco trouble

MYAT NOE OO

[email protected]

Myanmar inflation figures (FY)

9BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | [email protected]

Exchange Rates (May 19 close)Currency Buying Selling

EuroMalaysia RingittSingapore DollarThai BahtUS Dollar

K1214K302K809

K32.5K1089

K1234K312K821

K34K1091

Japan plans $100b infrastructure rollout in Asia

Greek loan talks enter final stage as funds and patience run thin

BUSINESS 10 BUSINESS 12

THE government is not doing enough to provide car parking, even as it de-mands proof of a parking spot for each new vehicle import, according to car importers.

In a bid to cut down on over-crowded streets, Yangon Region has required that importers have written proof of a parking spot from their local township administration office since the beginning of the year. Im-porters have been vocal in their oppo-sition to the policy, saying it severely affects their business.

Some say importers must wait from two weeks to a month to receive the recommendation letter for the township office. When the policy was initially put in place, some townships were slow to set up systems to pro-cess the requests, but now brokers say some townships require payments to receive the recommendation letters.

We now need to pay between K700,000 and K800,000 for a recom-mendation letter but if importers have bought the letters, they cant use their name for imports, saod Ko Min Min Maung, managing director of Wun Yan Kha car sales centre.

We have heard that there is injus-tice in the township administrative offices and corruption is growing, he said. The policy is a little deviated. I dont think its the best way to reduce traffic jams.

Importers say one of the biggest frustrations is that these payments are kept by the local officials and bro-kers, and do not reach government coffers.

Distinct Trading managing direc-tor Ko Htut Hthaik said it is difficult

to make deals when importers are not sure when their letters will be ap-proved.

Even when we buy the letter, it is not convenient because we dont know when we will receive it, he said. The letters are getting expen-sive, but the government does not re-ceive the money.

Ko Htut Hthaik said he would pre-fer to see a standard fee of K1 million or so on imported vehicles, with the funds specifically earmarked to build

car parking spaces, rather than the current system.

U Aye Tun, a senior member of the new car distribution association, said the policy has not been effective for everybody.

Instead of reducing traffic jams, other corruption will develop, he said. To build parking is the govern-ments task, and they should use their budget to do this. It is not the con-cern of importers.

U Aye Tun said a better method of

solving parking problems would be to build multi-storey car parking build-ings through taxes collected on cars that are applying for Yangon licence plates.

Car importers say so far the gov-ernment has said it intends to con-tinue with the policy for the long-term.

Ministry of Commerce and township administration officials did not return request for comment yesterday.

Authorities hoped to slow traffic congestion through a policy requiring vehicle importers to show proof of parking. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

Importers angry with parking ruleAYE

NYEINWIN

[email protected]

The letters are getting expensive, but the government does not receive the money.

Ko Htut Hthaik District Trading

ITS not exactly the return of the black market more of a brown-out market, perhaps. But as the US dollar continues its rise against the kyat, evidence is growing that some money changers are profiting from the spread between the reference rate set by the Central Bank and what customers are willing to pay.

The Central Bank of Myanmar has decreed that licensed exchanges, such as banks or money changers, must offer prices within 0.8 percent of its official daily reference rate. It is technically illegal to exchange kyat for dollars, or vice versa, outside this band but it happens anyway.

The two rates the Central Banks and the markets have diverged since the dollar started to rise at the beginning of this year. Yesterday, the Central Banks reference rate was K1082 to the dollar, against a market rate in the low K1100s, though both

started 2015 at about the same level, K1025 per dollar.

The difference in the two rates seemingly opens the door to arbitrage,

making money from buying dollars at the Central Bank rate and selling at the market rate. To do so, some

exchanges appear to be turning a discreet blind eye to Central Bank in-structions. Myanmar Times reporters visited a number of Yangon banks and currency exchanges to see first-hand how rigorously they are applying the rules.

One major banks downtown branch offered a set of exchange rates within the Central Banks offi-cial band though they had mysteri-ously few dollars to sell.

We dont have US$100 or $50 notes to sell we only have smaller change like $20, $10 or $5 at the moment, said a bank official. We dont have any dollars to sell, be-cause nobody is selling dollars to us. If nobody sells dollars to us, we cant sell them to anybody else. Were not sure if well sell dollars tomorrow, or in the next few days after that, he said.

A similar ambiguity in compli-ance had led an exchange house on Bogyoke Aung San Road in down-town Yangon to shut off its electronic signboard displaying rates. A woman supervising workers there said her business could not follow Central Bank rules. If customers want to buy or sell, we do it at our price. We

dont sell dollars to everybody.The woman said that even with

the recent uptick in the value of the dollar, few customers want to sell their greenbacks. Many may be wait-ing for even higher returns.

Customers hoping to take advan-tage of the spread dont have it easy, nonetheless.

Further downtown on Pansodan

Road our reporters found more money changers, but less clarity.

One establishment on Sule Pa-goda Road had taken down its sign-board displaying rates, which had been up the day before. Still, it was open for business if you were will-ing to buy a dollar for K1130, far out-side the Central Bank rate.

The price has been falling over the past three days. We cant guess whether it will keep dropping, said the clerk. Its up to you if you want to risk waiting.

The selective power cut affecting only money changers rate displays seemed to be widespread. At 35th Street and the corner of Anawrahta Road, there were others that con-tinued to do business, but were shy about announcing the cost.

How many dollars do you want? $1000, maybe $2000? said the own-er of an exchange that doubled as an electronics shop.

She said it was hard to predict the dollar market, but as long as there are more buyers than sellers, the price of dollars will likely continue to rise, and money changers will respond accordingly, whatever the Central Bank thinks.

How currency exchanges deal with rules or dodge them

We dont have any dollars to sell, because nobody is selling dollars to us. If nobody sells dollars to us, we cant sell to anybody else.

Bank official

KYAT

1082Central Bank of Myanmars official

exchange rate per dollar though the black market rate is often higher

[email protected] [email protected]

MYAT NYEIN AYE

TIN YADANAR

HTUNAYE

TIN YADANAR

10 International Business THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 20, 2015

An Afghan man counts cash at a money market in Kabul on May 19. The last decade has brought huge economic growth GDP has risen from US$2.5 billion in 2001 to more than $20 billion, according to the World Bank but the economy has stalled in the last two years, hit by a disputed presidential election and the end of NATOs combat mission. Photo: AFP

IN PICTURES

JAPAN will announce a US$100 bil-lion plan to invest in roads, bridges, railways and other building pro-jects in Asia, a report said yester-day, weeks after China outlined its vision for a new infrastructure de-velopment bank in the region.

In the latest twist of a tussle for influence in the fast-growing region, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to unveil the five-year public-private partnership this week, Jiji Press reported.

The sum is in line with the expect-ed $100 billion capital of the Asian In-frastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that Beijing and more than 50 found-ing member states are establishing.

The envisioned assistance is aimed at demonstrating Japans stance to contribute to building up high-quality infrastructure in Asia through human resource develop-ment and technological transfers and showing the difference from the AIIB, so that Japan can keep a high profile in the region, Jiji said, without naming its sources.

The report comes after Japans Finance Minister Taro Aso said ear-lier this month at an event hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a long-established body in which Tokyo plays a key role, that Japan was drafting a plan to boost investment in Asian infrastructure.

Japan and the United States were the biggest standouts earlier this year when Beijing began court-ing members for the AIIB.

Washington led a high-profile, and ultimately unsuccessful, at-tempt to dissuade allies from tak-ing part in the project, which critics say will not demand the same good-governance and environmental standards imposed by other inter-national bodies, such as the ADB.

But supporters say fears over undue Chinese influence are over-blown, and that the participation by more than 50 countries, including ones as diverse as Britain and Iran, will dilute Beijings power.

AFP

Japan plans huge Asia spend

TOKYO

Workers making higher wages shouldnt come from the pockets of francisees.

Scott Courtney Union official

INDONESIAS central bank held its key interest rate steady yesterday for the third consecutive month de-spite slowing growth in Southeast Asias biggest economy.

Bank Indonesias board of gover-nors kept the rate at 7.50 percent, in line with most economists.

The decision is in line with the tight-biased monetary policy stance to maintain the inflation to fall within the 3 to 5pc target range, central bank governor Agus Marto-wardojo told reporters.

But a few economists had ex-pected the central bank to cut the rate by 25 basis points to boost slowing growth, which sagged to only 4.7pc in the first quarter, the slowest in six years.

The full year growth for 2014 came in at 5pc.

The main obstacle to an imme-diate rate cut is the high rate of in-flation, which at 6.4pc year on year in April, is currently well above the central banks target, economist Gareth Leather of Capital Econom-ics said.

The bank added that it will soon make it easier to borrow money to make down payments on prop-erty and vehicles, in a bid to fuel growth.

The bank cut the rate by 25 basis points in February to boost growth, which slipped to a five-year low in 2014, and after inflation slowed on the back of falling fuel prices.

However, the cut led to steep falls in the rupiah against the dol-lar, prompting the bank to pause.

AFP

Indonesian rates stay steady as economy begins to slow down

JAKARTA

JOSE Quijano, a McDonalds fran-chisee in Puerto Rico, said the burger chains corporate office is destroying our livelihoods. Jas Dhillon, a 7-Eleven store owner in Los Angeles, charged his parent company with forcing old fran-chisees under so the chain can re-sell the stores at a profit.

Those are old accusations, but they got a louder airing on a con-ference call hosted by the Service Employees International Union, which has been fighting for raises for franchise workers.

The conference call announced that the union has filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commis-sion challenging the agency to investigate the franchise indus-try to determine the existence and extent of abusive and predatory practices by franchisors toward franchisees.

That made it the latest salvo in the SEIUs offensive against fran-chisor businesses, in which it has lent support to pro-franchisee leg-islation and highlighted the high failure rate of government-backed franchise loans.

Most franchise industry rules are written at the state level, where the intensity of regulation varies greatly. The FTCs oversight is mostly confined to requiring franchises to file disclosure docu-ments that help would-be fran-chisees decide whether to buy into a system. The SEIUs petition is in part an entreaty to Washington to take a greater role in regulating the industry.

To that end, the union asked the commission to document the

extent of abusive franchisor prac-tices and recommend ways to curb these practices in the future. The petition probably means more coming from the union than it would from an individual store-owner. The SEIU has more than 2 million members, ties to the White House, and traction from its work advocating for higher fast-food wages.

Its not uncommon for us to get petitions from any number of sources on any number of topics, said Frank Dorman, a spokesper-son for the FTC. Theyre all taken seriously.

The petition focuses on two main points: Franchisors are not required to share much finan-cial information with prospective franchisees, and once a franchisee buys into a system, she has little power in her relationship with the corporate franchise system. The SEIUs research into 14 major franchise chains, including Burger King, Great Clips and Dunkin Do-nuts, found that each franchisor reserved the right to terminate a store owners franchise license for any violation of the systems oper-ating manual.

All 14 chains also reserved the right to change the operating

manual unilaterally.Franchisees have made such

claims in the past. Mr Quijano was criticising McDonalds 2007 deci-sion to sell Puerto Rico franchis-ing rights to an Argentine compa-ny called Arcos Dorados, echoing an FTC complaint brought by Pu-erto Rico franchisees in 2014. Mr Dhillon has sued 7-Eleven, which has denied his claims in the past. The petition is driven by a union-financed campaign that has tar-geted the McDonalds brand, said McDonalds spokesperson Lisa McComb in an emailed statement.

Its ironic that this organisa-tion, that has spent more than US$80 million during the past two years to disrupt operations

of these same businessmen and women, is now appealing to them for an alliance, she said, alluding to SEIU-organized protests.

How far is the union willing to go for store owners? Union of-ficial Scott Courtney said corpo-rate franchisors are abusive and predatory toward franchisees. Workers making higher wages shouldnt come from the pockets of franchisees, he said, adding that franchisors are the ones with the money and power to change the system.

But the interests of franchisees and their employees align only so far. Franchisees may say they would pay higher wages if fran-chisors loosened the reins on profit margins, but thats different from wanting to employ organised workers.

Likewise, asking the FTC to in-vestigate franchisors control over franchisee operations is different from the SEIU wanting truly inde-pendent store owners. Ultimately, its a lot more efficient to organise a franchise workforce employed by a handful of enormous compa-nies than to advocate for workers employed by thousands of inde-pendent franchisees.

Bloomberg

Customers buy meals at a McDonalds restaurant in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

NEW YORK

Union fight opens new front

International Business 11www.mmtimes.com

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An Indian scavenger known as a nyara pans for precious metals from drains that run from the gold and silversmith shops in a market in Amritsar yesterday. A nyaras daily earnings can vary greatly, from 300 rupees (US$5) to 5,000 ($80). Photo: AFP

THE head of global miner BHP Billiton yesterday warned an inquiry into the iron ore industry in Australia would send a terrible signal about the na-tions competitiveness and turn off key buyer China.

The government is considering a parliamentary probe amid claims min-ing giants BHP and Rio Tinto have been flooding the market, driving down prices, to wipe out smaller competitors.

BHP chief executive Andrew Mac-kenzie said this was absolutely not the case and warned an inquiry could backfire on Australia, which earns bil-lions of dollars from the steel-making commodity the nations largest export.

This is a ridiculous waste of taxpay-ers money on providing a basic eco-nomics course on supply and demand, he told ABC radio. Its red tape, pure and simple.

Calls for an inquiry came to a head this week with Andrew Forrest, chief executive of Fortescue Metals, another Australian iron ore producer, spear-heading the charge, backed by inde-pendent Senator Nick Xenophon.

Mr Forrest alleges BHP and Rio have deliberately flooded the market, leading to smaller mining companies, which have higher production costs, battling

to survive the challenging conditions.Prime Minister Tony Abbott has in-

dicated he is leaning toward an inquiry but Mr Mackenzie said he should seri-ously consider the signal it would send, with the government potentially being seen as regulating the market.

He added that it would be an amaz-ing gift to our major competitor Brazil, suggesting an inquiry would drive cus-tomers away from Australia.

It sends a terrible signal to our cus-tomers and flies in the face of commit-ments weve made at the highest levels in places like China, Japan and Korea

that they can turn to us for a secure supply at fair prices, he said.

Mr Mackenzie said the Chinese were already serious investors in Brazil.

And Im certain when they see some of these things happening they will be only more concerned to increase their investments in Brazil so they can stimulate an alternative and competi-tive supply to Australia.

So this inquiry is very bad for Aus-tralias competitiveness, he added.

Rios head of iron ore Andrew Hard-ing has also denied the company is ma-nipulating the market.

Treasurer Joe Hockey yesterday said the government would discuss the call for an inquiry with the Labor opposi-tion and other stakeholders as part of a carefully thought-through, methodi-cal process.

The price of ore has dived by 60 per-cent over the past 12 months to reach a decade-low of US$47.08 per tonne in early April, badly hurting Australian government revenue.

Budget figures last week showed that Australias forecast tax receipts will be cut by A$52 billion ($41.6 billion) over the four years to 2017-18, largely driven by the plunging iron ore price.

AFP

BHP Billiton pushes back at iron inquiry

SYDNEY

ULAN BATOR

SINGAPORE

This is a ridiculous waste of taxpayers money on providing a basic economic course on supply and demand.

Andrew Mackenzie BHP Billiton chief executive

ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN mining gi-ant Rio Tinto and Mongolia agreed a multi-billion-dollar expansion of a vast copper and gold mine, officials said yesterday, ending a two-year dispute as Ulan Bator seeks to re-store its foreign investor appeal.

The deal on the underground second phase of the Oyu Tolgoi project, estimated to cost US$5.4 billion, comes with Mongolia look-ing to boost its flagging economic growth after foreign direct invest-ment plummeted by three quarters last year.

Mongolia is back to business, said Prime Minister Chimediin Sai-khanbileg, according to a statement released by Rio Tinto late on May 18.

Unlocking Oyu Tolgois under-ground mine will have a significant impact on the Mongolian economy, which will benefit Mongolian citi-zens for generations to come, he added. Our joint agreement clearly positions Mongolia as an attractive country for investment.

Mongolias vast reserves of under-ground resources are estimated to be worth more than US$1 trillion and it enjoyed world-leading economic growth in recent years peaking at 17.5 percent in 2011 on the back of a minerals boom exemplified by Oyu Tolgoi.

But efforts to extract the wealth have stumbled in the face of internal fighting over how much control and profit foreign companies should be allowed.

Oyu Tolgoi is a multi-billion-dollar deposit and when it is in full production it is expected to provide as much as one-third of Ulan Bators annual revenues.

The government and Oyu Tolgois shareholders have been locked in ne-gotiations since 2013 on the second

phase of the mine, with Ulan Bator alleging unpaid taxes and looking to renegotiate the ownership terms.

Rio subsidiary Turquoise Hill last year priced the underground expan-sion at $5.4 billion. It will unlock 80pc of Oyu Tolgois value.

The statement said the two sides agreed on a financing plan for the next phase which addresses the key outstanding shareholder issues and sets out an agreed basis for the fund-ing of the project.

This is an extremely positive development for Mongolia and all those involved with Oyu Tolgoi, Batsukh Galsan, chair of the mines operating company Oyu Tolgoi LLC, said in a separate statement re-leased yesterday.

Turquoise Hill owns 66pc of the firm, with the Mongolian govern-ment holding 34pc.

Rio Tinto added it has already ploughed $6 billion into the mine, with $1.3 billion paid in taxes, fees and other payments.

In 2014 foreign direct investment into the landlocked country plum-meted 74pc, Mongolian central bank data shows. AFP

Rio Tinto ends its Mongolia impasse with agreement

PROSPECTIVE founding members of the China-led Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank (AIIB) will hold a three-day meeting in Singa-pore this week to discuss policies, the city-states finance ministry said yesterday.

The fifth chief negotiators meet-ing on establishing the AIIB will begin on today and involve its 57 prospective founding members, the ministry said in a statement.

It will be co-chaired by Shi Yao-bin, Chinas vice minister of finance, and Yee Ping Yi, deputy secretary of Singapores finance ministry.

The meeting will discuss the draft articles of agreement and operational policies for the AIIB, it said, without providing further details.

Japan and the United States were the biggest standouts earlier this year when China began courting members for the AIIB, which some analysts see as a vehicle to expand its economic influence.

Washington led a high-profile, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to dissuade allies like Britain and Germany from taking part.

US President Barack Obama and

Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last month they did not oppose the bank, but stressed it needs high standards and transparency.

Critics have said the bank will not demand the same governance and environmental standards imposed by other international bodies, such as the US-based International Mon-etary Fund and World Bank, and the Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

But supporters say fears of undue Chinese influence are overblown, and participation by more than 50 countries will dilute Beijings power.

AFP

AIIB founders to gather in Singapore

IN PICTURES BILLION US$

5.4Estimated cost of the second phase of the Oyu Tolgoi project, which was

agreed to yesterday

12 International Business THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 20, 2015

BRITAINS annual inflation rate sank into negative territory last month for the first time in more than half a century, official data showed yesterday.

The rate hit minus 0.1 percent in April, the Office for National Sta-tistics (ONS) said in a statement, risking a period of deflation for Britains economy.

Prices were pushed into nega-tive territory on the back of falling transport services notably air and sea fares and the earlier timing of Easter.

That was the lowest rate since the data series began in 1996 and

comes after two previous months of zero inflation.

The ONS added that it was the first time that inflation has turned negative since 1960, citing compa-rable historic estimates.

An experimental data series cre-ated by the ONS indicated that CPI was last negative in March 1960, when it stood at minus 0.6pc.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell by 0.1pc in the year to April compared to no change in the 12 months to March, the ONS added.

George Osborne, finance min-ister in the British Conservative

government which won the gen-eral election earlier this month, de-scribed the data as good news for families.

Today we see good news for family budgets with prices lower than they were a year ago, Mr Os-borne said.

As the governor of the Bank of England said only last week, we should not mistake this for damag-ing deflation.

Instead we should welcome the positive effects that lower food and energy prices bring for households at a time when wages are rising strongly, unemployment is falling

and the economy is growing.Deflation a sustained period of

falling prices can be good for con-sumers because it means that their wages go further.

However, deflation can also trig-ger a vicious spiral in which compa-nies and households delay their in-vestments and purchases. In turn, that can throttle demand and spark hefty job cuts.

Mr Osborne added, We have to remain vigilant to deflation-ary risks and our system is well equipped to deal with them should they arise.

AFP

UK inflation turns negative for first time in 50 years

British Finance Minister George Osborne poses. Photo: AFP

LONDON

PAKISTAN will investigate a firm accused by the New York Times of earning tens of millions of dollars by running a global fake degree empire, officials said yesterday.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has directed the Federal In-vestigation Agency (FIA) to probe if the said company is involved in any such illegal work which can tarnish the good image of the country in the world, a ministry statement said.

According to the Times article pub-lished on May 18, the Karachi-based company called Axact set up an elabo-rate network of hundreds of websites for fake universities with names like Columbiana and Barkley, complete with paid actors who appeared as fac-ulty members and students on promo-tional videos.

The report, which quoted former employees and analysed more than 370 websites of fake universities, ac-creditation bodies and other pur-ported institutions, sparked a wave of criticism on social media even as the company denied wrongdoing.

Axacts media venture named Bol is set to launch a news channel, featur-ing leading TV anchors and journal-ists lured from previous employers by high salaries, heightening interest in the story.

The New York Times article cited clients from the US, Britain and the United Arab Emirates who had paid sums ranging from thousands to hun-dreds of thousands of dollars for their degrees with some believing the universities were real and they would soon receive coursework.

The university websites mainly route their traffic through servers run by companies registered in Cyprus and Latvia, and employees would plant fictitious reports about Axact universities on CNN iReport, a website for citizen journalism.

Axact and its CEO, Shoaib Ahmad Shaikh, did not respond to requests for comment.

But a message on its website de-clared the story baseless, substand-ard, maligning, defamatory, and based on false accusations and added it would sue the New York Times.

The message did not directly ad-dress the allegations but accused do-mestic media rivals of colluding with the US newspaper to plant a slander-ous story in order to harm its business interests.

According to an FIA official who did not wish to be named, the allega-tions raised by the newspaper would be a crime. AFP

Pakistans degrees under scrutiny

ISLAMABAD

GREECE entered the final stretch of tortuous talks with its interna-tional creditors on a bankruptcy-saving loan deal, with the govern-ment calling for a breakthrough by the end of the month.

A deal is required immediately. This is why we are talking about the end of May, to resolve these critical liquidity issues, govern-ment spokesperson Gabriel Sakel-laridis told reporters.

Greeces new radical Syriza-led government and its EU-IMF credi-tors have been stuck in a deadlock for four months over the reforms needed to release a final 7.2 billion euros (US$8.2 billion) in bailout funds.

European economic affairs chief Pierre Moscovici lamented that the Greek anti-austerity government seemed more interested in ditching promised reforms than in making proposals of its own.

They are more eager to say what they dont want to keep in the program than to propose al-ternatives, Mr Moscovici told a news conference in Berlin, while insisting that some progress had been made in some areas in recent days.

Later on May 18, To Vima daily reported a European Commission proposal to break the deadlock.

It offered to give Athens next month a combined 3.7 billion euros in EU and ECB funds from the ongo-ing bailout in return for legislation

on fiscal measures worth 5.0 billion euros, To Vima said.

Both the Greek government and the European Commission could not confirm the reported proposal.

We are not aware of such a proposal. We continue to work toward a comprehensive deal, together with the ECB and the IMF, as well as the Eurogroup. Progress is being made, albeit at a slow pace, Commission spokes-person Annika Breidthardt said in Brussels.

Mr Moscovici insisted that the only scenario we consider at the Commission is a strong Greece in the eurozone.

He added, Nobody is working on others. We all consider that its possible to reach an agreement.

Athens objects to further wage and pension cuts in an economy sapped by a six-year recession, but has offered to make a number of privatisations and step up tax collection.

The delay has led to concerns Athens is running critically short of cash and may soon end up de-faulting, which could set off a messy exit from the euro.

The country faces a hefty repay-ment schedule to the International Monetary Fund and the Euro-pean Central Bank in the coming months, and also needs to continue paying salaries and pensions.

I think we are very close to an agreement, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Greek television late on May 18, pointing to maybe in a week.

A break with creditors is not in our plans nor a change of cur-rency, he said.

At the same time, Mr Varou-fakis said, Pensions and salaries were sacred ... an absolute prior-ity and that he would prefer a default with the IMF rather than on salaries.

Over the weekend, Greek news-papers reported that the country came close to not making a 750 million euro debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund last week.

Creditors had been warned in writing of the risk, Mr Varoufakis confirmed, expressing confidence

Greece would not arrive at the point of being unable to pay the IMF.

He also criticised creditors of bringing nothing new to the dis-cussions, unlike Greece.

Around 1.5 billion euros are now due to the IMF in June, and then more than 6 billion euros must be paid to the European Central Bank in July and August.

This year is Greeces toughest in terms of bond maturities until 2030, Mr Sakellaridis said.

German economy minister Zig-mar Gabriel over the weekend float-ed the idea of a third bailout pack-age if reforms are implemented.

The country is on the tail end of back-to-back bailouts totalling 240 billion euros, and the prospect of another lifeline remains controver-sial for many eurozone partners.

However, as Greece remains unable to borrow on the markets, another bailout seems inevitable, Greek daily Naftemboriki said on May 18.

By the end of December, the state must repay 12.55 billion euros in [principal] debt

Documents

Wednesday, May 20, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 46)