Heartbeat of tHe nation

500
Ks.

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DAily eDition

issue 32 | thursDAy, APril 30, 2015

news 2

Muse police release

two foreigners
Foreign journalists detained at a
government milita-run checkpoint
in northern Shan State on April 28,
along with a local man who has been
charged with drug and arms offences.
news 4

Health ministry backed

Thingyan crackdown
Police campaign that pulled
contraception and other legally
registered drugs from shelves before
festival was coordinated with Ministry
of Health, officials reveal.

news 6

Koh Tao defence team

urges evidence re-test
Pre-trial hearing into murder of two
British tourists will begin today in Koh
Samui, with defence to seek new tests
on evidence and permission to shift the
case to an easier-to-access court.

PAGE

Photo: Aung htAy hlAing

Police raids shutter massage parlours in Yangons Patpong

Stung into action by a colourful media report, police closed three illegal massage
parlours in Sanchaung township on April 25, arresting 23 people. The township court
just as quickly sentenced three managers and 20 workers to prison on April 28, but
residents say they expect the massage parlours to return before long.

BUsIness 8

Parliament to amend
rent control act
Post-World War II legislation will be
amended to be fairer on landlords, say
officials, who have also ruled out any
attempt to cap rising rents.

Ko Par Gyi hearing begins

Kyaikmayaw Township Court in Mon State quietly begins hearing into the death of journalist while in military
custody in October 2014, as his wife accuses officials of trying to cover up the case by not informing her. news 3

2 News

Muse police
release two
foreigners
Wa Lone
walone14@gmail.com
POLICE in northern Shan States Muse
township yesterday released an American and an Austrian from custody, a
day after they were detained with a
Palaung man who has been charged
with drug and weapons offences.
Police said 40 WY methamphetamines tablets and 22 7.62-millimetre
bullets were found in the car in which
the pair was travelling on April 28.
Police Captain Mya Sein told The
Myanmar Times yesterday the two
foreigners had not been arrested.
We just interviewed them and
took care of their security because
this is a conflict zone, he said.
The police captain described the
pair as freelance media men but
said neither were working on an official journalist visa.
They had visited the area to see
the lives of Palaung ethnic minorities
in the countryside, he said, adding
that they were not related to either
the drugs or ammunition found in
the car.
However, Mai Nyi Aye, 26, the
ethnic Palaung driver of the car in
which they were travelling, has been
charged by Muse police for drugs and
arms offences.
The US embassy said yesterday it
was aware of the case and was providing consular assistance. Police said
they had been in contact with consular representatives from both the US
and Austria.
The car was stopped by members
of the Pansay militia, a pro-government armed group with alleged links
to drug trafficking, at a checkpoint
on the Namkham to Nam Phatka
Highway.
The checkpoint is close to where
the Tatmadaw and Taang National
Liberation Army have been engaged
in clashes regularly over the past several years.
U Maung, a resident of Muse, said
the presence of ammunition in the
car suggested links to an armed ethnic group or militia.

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

Government investigating
another China shell complaint
China angered over bombs allegedly from Myanmars forces straying over international lines for a second time

Lun Min Mang

Ye Mon

CHINA has again accused Myanmars armed forces of allowing their

fight with the Kokang armed rebel
group to spill over into Chinese
territory.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a daily
press briefing in Beijing on April
28 that Myanmar army shells had
fallen on Chinese territory, without specifying when the incident
occurred.
Recently, some shells from Myanmar have fallen into China causing damage to property, but fortunately no injuries or deaths, Mr Lei
told the press briefing on Tuesday.
China has already lodged stern
representations with Myanmar and
demanded they earnestly take effective steps to prevent this from happening again, Mr Lei added. Myanmar said they will try to severely
restrain the relevant personnel to
prevent it from happening again.
A senior official from the Presidents Office told The Myanmar
Times yesterday that Chinas claim
was under investigation.
The information is being examined, but has not yet been confirmed
by the Tatmadaw, said director U
Zaw Htay.
On April 27, the Tatmadaw published a photograph it said showed
heavy fighting between government
forces and fighters from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance
Army (MNDAA) on April 23 close to
the border with China. The Tatmadaw also said in a statement that it
had taken great care to ensure that
its shells did not cross the border,

Government forces patrol in Kokang region where fighting with armed ethnic groups is ongoing. Photo: Zarni Phyo

China has already

... demanded they
earnestly take
effective steps to
prevent this.
Hong Lei
Chinese Foreign Ministry

even though this had placed limitations on the execution of military

manoeuvres during the battle.
A colonel in the Tatmadaws
Public Relations and Psychological
Warfare section said yesterday the
allegations from China had not yet
been verified.
The Chinese spokespersons briefing coincided with the visit there of
Thura U Shwe Mann, the influential
Speaker of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. The Speaker left for the United
States yesterday on a separate trip.

Myanmar formally apologised

to China on April 2 for a separate
cross-border bombing by one of
its aircraft that killed five Chinese
farm workers and wounded eight on
March 13. Military analysts said the
incident highlighted the problems
facing the Tatmadaw in pursuing
MNDAA fighters close to the border.
Officials said the issue of compensation for the five Chinese villagers would be discussed later, but no
subsequent statement on the matter
has been issued.

www.mmtimes.com

News editor: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

News 3

EXCLUSIVE

Court begins
hearing into
death of
journalist
Kyaikmayaw Township Court quietly begins
hearing into the death of Ko Par Gyi, who was
shot while in military custody in October 2014

Lun Min
Mang
lunminlm@gmail.com

Daw Thandar speaks at an event at the 88 Generation office in Yangon in October 2014. Photo: Thiri Lu

Families join forces to seek justice

Public pressure the most important tool for finding answers to tragic deaths, say relatives
Yola Verbuggen
newsroom@mmtimes.com
ON October 23, 2014, Ma Thandar
returned to her room in a Bangkok
hotel. It had been a long day of meetings ahead of an award ceremony the
next day, at which she was to be recognised for her activism. Having been
offline all day, she opened her Facebook account and went through her
messages.
I am sorry to tell you one of the
messages began. It was a journalist
from Mon State informing her that
the military had released a statement
saying her husband, a journalist who
had been missing for several weeks,
had been shot dead. She froze with
shock. Naw Ohn Hla, a fellow activist who was sharing a room with Ma
Thandar in Bangkok, shook the motionless Ma Thandar, encouraging
her to cry.
The story had already made the
headlines back home, but at this
point Ma Thandar was unaware
of the public outrage in her home
country. In the coming days, the
killing of Ko Aung Kyaw Naing, who
was better known as Ko Par Gyi,
dominated the front pages of many
journals and newspapers. It also
prompted protests and international condemnation, which the government responded to by ordering an
investigation.
Since those early days, however,
Ma Thandar has battled to keep her
husbands name in the headlines, seeing it as the most effective way to fight

for justice. However, with the many

other events that have taken place in
Myanmars increasingly tumultuous
political sphere peace negotiations,
high-level political talks, rising Buddhist nationalism, contestation over
natural resources and more it has
been a hard fight.
At times, she says, it has seemed
an almost orchestrated campaign
to drown out news of her husbands
death.
Her efforts have run up against
official intransigence, with police officers in Mon States Kyaikmayaw
unable or unwilling to move her
husbands case forward. They have
blamed this on a lack of cooperation
from the military.
In December, meanwhile, the
Myanmar National Human Rights
Commission, which was ordered by
the president to investigate the killing of Ko Par Gyi, made its findings
public. It was not a real investigation, just a cover-up for the governments wrongdoing, Ma Thandar
says.
To maintain pressure on the government, she is working with the
families of other recent victims of
violent attacks who are also seeking
justice.
In December, Daw Khin Win
was participating in a protest at the
Letpadaung copper mine when she
was shot dead by police. The protest
was prompted by a decision by the
mines Chinese operator to forcibly
fence off contested land.
Meanwhile, in January, two young

Kachin women, Maram Lu Ra and

Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, were
found raped and murdered in a village in northern Shan State where
they had been volunteering as teachers with the Kachin Baptist Convention. Tatmadaw soldiers were camped
nearby when the killings happened,
although the military insists DNA
tests have cleared their troops of
involvement.
There are a lot of similarities between the four cases, as all involve the
government and all families are seeking justice peacefully, Ma Thandar
said.
To assist their campaign, a womens organisation, the Kindness Women Net Working Group, held a memorial service for the four yesterday,
during which it appealed for support
to reveal the true circumstances behind their deaths.
Ma Thandar is determined to
continue to fight for the people responsible for her husbands death to
be tried, but she doubts she will ever
succeed. I dont think I will ever get
justice for Ko Par Gyi. If I would, and
the public would know, this would set
a dangerous precedent for the military in other cases against them, she
said.
There was glimmer of hope yesterday, however, when she learned
that Kyaikmayaw Township Court
had begun a hearing into Ko Par Gyis
death on April 23 (see related story
right). Last night, she was preparing
to travel to Kyaikmayaw for the second hearing today.

HIS death made headlines across

the world, but a court hearing
into how journalist Ko Par Gyi
died while in military custody in
October 2014 has gone virtually
unnoticed. The first hearing in the
case took place in Kyaikmayaw
Township Court on April 23, with
the second scheduled for today,
according to police in Mon State.
Ko Par Gyis wife, Daw
Thandar, is expected to attend
the session today. Despite being
the complainant in the case, she
was not informed that the hearing
had begun and only learned in the
past few days.
I only knew when a local reporter, who once worked with
Ko Par Gyi, and members of Mon
National Party [MNP], who are
helping me with the case, told me
about it, she said yesterday.
Why have the police have not
informed me? I think they are hiding something, she said, adding
that she would question officials
today about why she had been excluded from the April 23 hearing.
A police officer in Kyaikmayaw
told The Myanmar Times that the
case was brought to court last
month. He declined to comment
on why Daw Thandar had not
been informed and said the case
was being handled by higher-level police officials.
He refused to even reveal the
nature of the hearing, and whether there were any defendants.
Ko Par Gyi was arrested in
Kyaikmayaw township while covering fighting between government troops and the Democratic
Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)
on September 30.
The Tatmadaw released a statement on October 23 saying Ko Par
Gyi had been shot dead as he tried
to escape detention. The Tatmadaw
has said he was a member of the
Klohtoobaw Karen Organization,
an organisation under the DKBA.
His death prompted protests
in Yangon and Mandalay, as well
as international condemnation.
In response, the Presidents Office
ordered the Myanmar National
Human Rights Commission to investigate. The commissions final
report, submitted in December,
suggested that the case be heard
in a civilian rather than military
court.
Daw Thandar and her lawyer,
U Robert San Aung, dismissed the
credibility of the investigation,
calling for an independent probe
including international rights and
forensic experts.
Since the reports release, little
has been heard about the case. On

February 16, Daw Thandar gave

the authorities 60 days to bring
the case to court. That deadline
passed on April 16 with no action
as far as she was aware.
U Robert San Aung said the
hearing came as he was preparing
a writ of Mandamus to the Union
Supreme Court, in an attempt to
force the authorities to proceed
with the case.
He said the writ was to be submitted in the first week of May,
and suggested this legal action had
helped move the case forward.
They are dishonest to bring
the case to court at this time. It is
intended to block our path to the
highest body in the judicial system, he said.
He said the exclusion of Daw
Thandar was a violation of legal
procedures.
I cannot imagine how a case
can be heard at a court for the
first time without the presence of
the complainant.
U Robert San Aung said he
was told by police during a visit
to Kyaikmayaw on February 10
that the Tatmadaws lack of cooperation with the investigation had
prevented the case proceeding to
court.

I cannot imagine
how a case can
be heard at a
court for the first
time without the
presence of the
complainant.
u robert San aung
Lawyer

A senior police officer told

me that [evidence] was not transferred to them so they could not
bring the case to court, he said.
The human rights commission
cited section 347 of the constitution the Union shall guarantee
any person to enjoy equal rights
before the law and shall equally
provide legal protection to justify its call for the case to be heard
in a civilian court.
It said this was important for
respecting the fundamental rights
of its citizens and transparency in
the eyes of the public.
Whether Daw Thandar gets to
enjoy those fundamental rights is
unclear. However, she is hopeful
that the hearing will shed more
light on her husbands death.
There are so many things I
want to know from them, she
said. I just hope they will let me
in the court.

4 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

Chief Executive Officer

Tony Child
tonychild.mcm@gmail.com
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A large container ship smacked into a much smaller sand-carrying vessel in Yangon River on April 26. The smaller ship broke into two and sank. Photo: Supplied IWT

Investigation begins into river collision

SHWEGU THITSAR
khaingsabainyein@gmail.com
A SAND carrier broke in two and sank
beneath the Yangon River after colliding with a container vessel waiting to
enter port. The accident occurred in
driving rain on the evening of April
26, the authorities said yesterday.
Inland Water Transport will now
launch an investigation into the
incident.
The collision occurred between
Wardan jetty and Ahlone dockyard.
According to initial accounts, the
front part of the stricken carrier sank

on the spot, but the rear part drifted

with the current before sinking near
Pansodan jetty.
We will establish an investigation
commission. Nobody was injured.
Vessels from Myanma Port Authority
tried to prevent the ship sinking, but
failed, U Aung Kyaw Htoo, master
attendant of the authority, a Ministry
of Transport body, told The Myanmar
Times.
The container carrier was waiting at flood tide to dock at Asia World
port. At that time, the sand carrier
Zwe Myint Myat Tun 3 was in the vicinity. Neither side saw the other be-

cause of the rain until they were about

100 metres [328 feet] distant. Despite
taking evasive action, they could not
turn quickly because of their weight,
and the collision occurred, with the
sand carrier diagonally in front of the
container ship, he said.
The accident location must now be
cleared to avoid any further incidents
with the sunken ships remnants.
First we have to clear the shipping
lane. Then we will locate the drifted
part of the sand carrier. We could
have salvaged if it had remained horizontal, but it subsequently sank between Pansodan and Dala jetty, said

U Aung Kyaw Htoo, adding that the

accident location had been marked
with lights with the help of divers to
avoid underwater collisions.
We are urging the vessels owner
to salvage the sunken ship as soon
as possible to clear the passage. The
Department of Marine Administration will do an investigation, while
Myanma Port Authority will clear the
waterway for ships, he added.
DMA officials inspected the scene
yesterday and will issue a statement
today. They say the results of the investigation will be made public.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

Health ministry backed polices

pre-Thingyan drug campaign
SHWE YEE SAW MYINT
poepwintphyu2011@gmail.com
THE Ministry of Health coordinated
with the Ministry of Home Affairs on
a campaign in the lead-up to Thingyan that resulted in contraception
being pulled from pharmacy shelves,
The Myanmar Times has learned, despite having signed a commitment
with the United Nations to expand
contraception use.
One prominent international NGO
working in the sector, Population Services International, said it was gathering information on the crackdown
to support a formal complaint to the
Ministry of Health over the project.
Officials involved have conceded
that the project was not properly implemented, with police on the ground
failing to follow the order correctly.
The crackdown is still being felt
in the pharmaceutical market, with
some distributors not sending out
new stocks of contraceptive products
to pharmacies for fear of arrest, despite the governments special project have already ended.
Retailers have reported a lack of
stock and even-lower-than-normal
sales of emergency contraception,
while birth control pills and erectile dysfunction medication remain
sharply down.
The project, aimed at reducing
sexual crime during Thingyan, resulted in registered contraceptive
pills and even condoms being
pulled from shelves. Owners of some
pharmacies were arrested, while others were forced to sign pledges not to
sell the products before and during
Thingyan.
Health professionals said the campaign was highly misguided, and

could result in unwanted pregnancies

and even women undergoing risky
illegal abortions.
Dr Theingi Myint, deputy director
of the Department of Maternal and
Child Health, confirmed that the Ministry of Health had cooperated with
the Ministry of Home Affairs on the
project.
The order came from the deputy
minister, Dr Thein Thein Htay, she
said.
She added, however, that the
police had gone far further than
planned.

They ordered us to
crack down on all
sex-related medicine,
particularly nonregistered products.
Khin Maung Lwin
police captain

The project was supposed to be

limited only to erectile dysfunction medicines. This was the police
forces mistake.
In 2013, Dr Thein Thein Htay
signed an agreement on behalf of the
Ministry of Health with the United
Nations Population Fund to increase
the increase use of modern contraception among women of child-bearing age to 50 percent by this year and
60pc by 2020.
UNFPA did not respond to requests for comment on the special

project or the ministrys role.

But Dr Theingi Zin, director for
drug control at the Food and Drug
Administration, which is responsible
for registering pharmaceuticals, said
the campaign had been aimed just
at products containing sildenafil and
tadalafil, which are used to treat erectile dysfunction.
However, the order was never
made public, and Yangon police instead announced on March 30 that
they would arrest owners of pharmacies or other shops found to be selling
emergency contraceptives and birth
control pills, as well as erectile dysfunction medicine.
A spokesperson for a pharmaceutical company that distributes erectile dysfunction medicines said it had
received no notification from the FDA
about the project.
Our products are registered with
the FDA and we pay our taxes to the
government but we have no information from them that they banned
us from selling our products during
Thingyan. We werent told anything
about the special project and only
found out when our customers told
us, the spokesperson said.
Ko Nay Lin Oo, the owner of a
pharmany in North Okkalapa township, said many shops were being
conservative about which products
they sold.
He added that prices had increased for emergency contraception,
erectile dysfunction medication and
birth control pills, and there were few
buyers.
We are only selling some birth
control pills that the police did not
take action against, he said.
International organisations working in the sector told The Myanmar

Times they were unhappy with the

project, but were worried about the
potential repercussions if they criticised the Ministry of Health.
However, PSI Myanmar marketing director Dr Han Win Htat said
yesterday his organisation planned
to submit a complaint to the ministry once it confirmed the police
forces actions.
Despite selling registered contraceptive pills, it had similarly been left
in the dark about the special project and only learned of it through
the media.
We are now investigating and
collecting information on how many
shops stopped selling [contraception]
and where police arrested people for
selling our product, he said.
We also heard that police cracked
down on selling contraceptive pills
distributed by other NGOs. If police
really did force shops to stop selling
our products at legal pharmacies we
are going to complain to the Ministry
of Health.
Police Captain Khin Maung Lwin
from Dala township said police were
following orders from the Ministry of
Health.
They ordered us to crack down on
all sex-related medicine, particularly
non-registered products, he said.
He conceded that officers may
have been a little overzealous, but
added that they were not trained to
know which medicines were legal and
which were not.
When we go to pharmacy shops
normally we have to go to these shop
with health experts but sometime
they cannot join with us so some police take all sex medicines because
they cannot decide which are legal
and which are not, he said.

News 5

www.mmtimes.com

Govt defends hiring

US lobbying firm
Sandar Lwin
sdlsandar@gmail.com

Pot plants are placed to hide the locked entrance to a massage parlour in Sanchaung township. Photo: Aung Htay Haling

Police shutter three

massage parlours
Police respond rapidly to reports labelling a Sanchaung street Yangons Patpong

Toe Wai
aung
linnhtet.lt@gmail.com

A TOTAL of 23 people have been

jailed after police raided illegal massage parlours in Sanchaung township, in response to a local media
report. The township court on April
27 jailed three managers for three
months, and 20 female staff for seven days, said Police Captain Thein
Aye, head of Sanchaung Police. The
managers were identified as Ko
Maung Zaw, 32 from Khayay Yeik;
Ko Zaw Zaw, 33, from a parlour with
no name; and Ko Aung Ko, 27, from
Safari.
The raid took place on April 25,
within hours of the publication of
a story in The Voice weekly titled
Yangons Pat Pong Street. Referring to the notoriously seedy strip
in Bangkok, it exposed the massage
parlours in a lane off Baho Road.
The rented premises advertised
themselves as beauty salons. When
The Myanmar Times visited this
week, they were shuttered, and the
owner of one had attempted to conceal the entrance behind massed pot
plants.
At a press conference on April 26,
U Lin Ko Ko, director of the Yangon
Region government office, appealed
to the public to report suspicious
beauty salons in their neighbourhood to the police who, he said,
would take immediate action.
There are now no massage parlours masquerading as beauty salons
in Sanchaung township. We have
closed them down. The apartments
they occupied will be restored to
their owners after they have signed
a pledge not to rent their property
out to that kind of business again,
he said.
The government said police
made 1772 arrests last year for prostitution. Police Lieutenant Colonel
Win Bo said 258 cases had been filed
this year to April 25.
Police Captain Thein Aye said the
area in Sanchaung where the raids
took place was a known hotspot for
illegal massage parlours.
Nine massage parlours were

operating there last year as beauty

salons around Padonmar Kwin in
Sanchaung township. In response
to complaints from the public, we
closed six of them, he said, adding
that the other three were featured in
the April 25 news report.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw
Htut from Yangons western district accused some homeowners of
greed for renting out their property to spurious beauty parlours offering high rent. So far this year, police
have arrested 81 people on prostitution charges in west district, he said,
some of them on the basis of complaints by neighbours. He said last
year there were 449 cases of prostitution, including 38 connected to
massage parlours.
Apartment owners rented out
their property because they were
offered high rates. Its a question
of greed. The owners didnt check
what was going on in their apartments. Owners who think they have
rented out their property to illegal
massage parlours should tell the police, said U Ba Myint, the head of

23

People prosecuted following the

raids on three massage parlours in
Sanchaung township on April 25

Shin Saw Pu ward, where the raids

took place.
The city authorities have issued
licences to what they thought were
legitimate beauty salons. They operate as beauty salons for the first
year but dont apply to extend the
licence, he said.
Ko Yan Soe, a resident of Latha
township, said the raids appeared to
have prompted massage parlours in
other areas to close their doors. It
seems like most of them in Yangon
are currently closed. Im not sure
where the workers went maybe
back to their home towns, he said.
But if previous raids are any indication, the closures are only likely to

be temporary. Because sex work is illegal under the 1949 Suppression of

Prostitution Act, it often takes place
at massage parlours, beauty salons,
guesthouses and hotels, and karaoke lounges.
The venues typically have to pay
bribes to be allowed to operate, although police raids are not uncommon. However, in most cases only
duty managers, the women working at the venues and managers are
charged, with police failing to bring
the owners to justice.
Some have called for the legalisation of massage parlours, arguing
protecting women is more important than maintaining a blanket ban
on the sale of sexual services.
In December, Yangon hluttaw
representative for Yankin U Thaung
Kyaw called on the government to
enact regulations to govern massage parlours. However, the regional government ruled out regulating
sex work venues on the grounds it
would be ugly and is not suitable
for Myanmar culture.
Writing in The Myanmar Times,
columnist Sithu Aung Myint said
the governments refusal was driven
by greed, as the industry generates
millions of dollars of illegal taxes
that go into the pockets of police
and other officials.
Some MPs also spoke out in support of the proposal. Daw Nyo Nyo
Thin, the outspoken opposition
member for Bahan, said protecting
women was more important than
preserving cultural traditions and
cited Myanmars commitments under the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), to which
it became a party in 1997.
The government shouldnt
punish these women under the
1949 prostitution act they are oppressed, Daw Nyo Nyo Thin said.
Sanchaung resident Ko Khin Soe
said massage parlours were a fact of
life in his area, and were mostly unobtrusive. He said they would likely
return before long.
Police regularly close those illegal massage parlours but then they
open again shortly afterward, he
said. This case is only famous because of the feature in [The Voice]
journal.
Translation by Khant Lin Oo

STUNG by scornful comment about

its decision to hire American lobbyists
to promote its image, the government
yesterday said it needed the firms help
to cut through the maze of sanctions
that had grown up in Washington over
decades.
Success in rooting out all sanctionsrelated legislation would help the countrys economy, said U Zaw Htay, director of the Presidents Office.
The government last month signed
a one-year contract worth US$840,000
with the lobbying firm Podesta, immediately sparking off ironic commentary.
Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi said a government that truly represented its people should have no need
of foreign lobbyists. Other commentators accused the government of using
public funds to advance its chances in
the November elections.
But U Zaw Htay defended the decision, saying it would benefit the country, not necessarily the government.
The government has already improved relations with the White House.
If it had been a question of improving
the presidents image, it would have
been wiser to hire the lobbyists at the
beginning of his term, he said.
Despite these improved ties, blockages remain in the form of a tangled
thicket of complex legislation barring
American companies from doing business with Myanmar, he said.
In particular, many sanctions imposed by Congress, which is under Republican control, remain in place.
America is the financial hub of the
world. Some of these laws can be removed by executive order. But the laws
are intertwined with each othe, like a
maze. It is very difficult to untangle all

the interrelated rules and regulations,

he said, adding that it was necessary to
engage and retain the interest of Congress in order to do so.
Media reports said Podesta had
been engaged to provide strategic
counsel on strengthening ties to the
United States government and institutions [and] assist in communicating
priority issues in the United StatesMyanmar bilateral relationship to relevant US audiences, including the US
Congress, executive branch, media and
policy community.
U Zaw Htay also rejected criticisms
that the Podesta deal was intended to

To win the election,

you need the votes of
local residents, not a
US lobbyist.
U Zaw Htay
Presidents Office

improve the electoral chances of the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
To win the election, you need the
votes of local residents, not a US lobbyist, he said.
The former military regime also
hired US lobbyist during periods of
poor relations with the United States.
USDP leader and Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann today
departed for the United States on an official visit at the invitation of House of
Representatives Speaker John Boehner.
The visit will focus on improving both
political and economic ties, and is likely
to include a meeting with Podesta.

6 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

Defence seeks retest of

evidence in Koh Tao case
Pre-trial hearing to take place today for Myanmar defendants, who could face the death penalty if convicted

Threats of
legal action
thrown back
at bus line
Ye Mon
yeemontun2013@gmail.com

NyaN lyNN
N
auNg
29.nyanlynnaung@gmail.com

DNA evidence allegedly linking

two Myanmar migrants to the murder of British backpackers may be
subject to re-examination, if defence lawyers get their way in court
today.
The accused, Ko Zaw Lin and Ko
Wai Phyo, are set to appear at the
pre-trial hearing at the Koh Samui
Court where their attorneys will
press for several critical items of
physical evidence to undergo forensic re-examination. The defence is
also requesting Thai police provide
further information about the analysis of DNA samples taken from the
two suspects.
Ko Zaw Lin and Ko Wai Phyo
have been charged with the murder
of David Miller, 24, and Hannah
Witheridge, 23, who were found
dead while holidaying on Koh Tao
last September. The accused also
face a rape charge.
The defence teams forensics
experts need the original case evidence to conduct a proper analysis

The defence teams

forensics experts
need the original
case evidence to
conduct a proper
analysis to prevent
a miscarriage of
justice.
nakhon Chompuchat
Head of defence team

Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, who were killed on Koh Tao in September. Photo: AFP

to prevent a miscarriage of justice,

said Nakhon Chompuchat, head of
the defence team.
The case has come under fire
internationally with Thai police
accused of framing the Myanmar
migrants amid a botched investigation that included both alleged
confessions and claims of torture.
Both of the victims families have
previously said they are keen to see
the right people convicted.
We hope that the judge will
hear the case according to Thailands criminal law rather than be
undermined, said U Aung Myo
Thant, a lawyer assigned by the
Myanmar embassy to assist the
defence.

UN to make second
attempt on Kyauktaw
Laignee Barron
laignee@gmail.com
INTERNATIONAL humanitarian aid
agencies trying to assist hundreds of
people displaced by recent clashes in
northern Rakhine State say they are
not being blocked by authorities, as
local aid groups initially encountered,
but by geography.
Pierre Peron, a spokesperson for
the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs in Yangon,
said an aid team had departed on
April 28 for Kyauktaw township but
the boat they were travelling on met
with difficulties and they had to turn
back.
The team plans to make another
attempt on a new boat today, he said.
This again shows the many logistical challenges that we face in reaching remote communities in Rakhine
State, he said.
UN aid workers said they were given the green light by state authorities
to deliver non-food assistance, such as
family kits supplied by UNICEF that
include soap, pots, pans and blankets,
to displaced families in Sapa Seik
village.

UNICEF has supported the government to deliver supplies based on

their request, said Alison Rhodes, a
spokesperson for UNICEF.
Fighting erupted between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army at the
end of March, just as the government
was signing the draft ceasefire agreement with 16 armed ethnic groups.
A fresh round of clashes this month
displaced more than 400 people as
their hometowns became combat areas. Many have taken refuge in Kyauktaw township.
As the fighting persisted this week,
villagers were instructed to keep to
their homes, which caused fears of
food shortages, according to local volunteers in the area.
Rakhine State officials could not
be reached for comment yesterday
about the figures of displaced persons or the access to food supplies,
though the UN said the government
and local groups had delivered, food,
medicine, and mosquito nets.
If the assessment team finds humanitarian needs that are not currently being met, the UN and international
NGOs will be more than ready to provide further assistance, Mr Peron said.

Todays hearing will also include

progress updates from both defence and prosecution teams, with
65 plaintiffs, including 45 police officers and five doctors, expected to
participate.
In addition to requesting a retest of the physical evidence, the
defence has also asked that the
trial be moved for funding reasons.
The team said the frequent plane
trips to Koh Samui, costing 5200
baht a person (US$280), are taking
a financial toll, even with support
from the Myanmar embassy.
When we go [to Koh Samui]
there are at least six people going
each time and the funding is becoming a problem, said U Kyaw

Thaung, a member of the investigation council and director of the

Myanmar Association in Thailand.
The trial is scheduled to begin
in July. Thai prosecutors have said
they will seek the death penalty,
but the defence remains optimistic
of acquittal.
[We] are sure that after the defence team has a chance to present
all our evidence at court during the
18-day trial, and also cross-examine all of the prosecution, police
witnesses and evidence, the court
could not be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the two accused
were the ones who actually committed this heinous crime, said
Nakhon Chompuchat.

A BUS company that launched a K1

billion claim for damages against four
TV stations is now facing legal action
itself, after one of the stations said the
false accusations against it had driven
away advertisers.
On April 24, the Shwe Sin Sekyar
highway express bus line demanded
K1 billion (US$974,000) compensation from Shwe Than Lwin Media, the
Ministry of Information and Forever
Group for broadcasting what it said
was an inaccurate report of a highway
accident on their channels.
The bus line accused Shwe Than
Lwins MNTV, the ministrys MRTV
and Forever Groups MRTV-4 and 4TV
of airing the April 6 report, which
said a Shwe Sin Seikyar bus had overturned on the Yangon-Mandalay Highway when in fact the vehicle belonged
to a different company with a similar
name. It demanded payment within
two weeks.
MNTV apologised for their error,
but MRTV, MRTV-4 and 4TV all denied carrying the inaccurate story. As
a result, Shwe Sin Sekyar is now on the
receiving end of threats of legal action.
On April 25, MRTV said its channels did not report the accident story
and it would take legal action for suffering caused by the allegations.
The bus line withdrew the notice
for MRTV and Forever Group on April
26, but yesterday Forever said it too
would take the bus company to court
unless it received an apology. We lost
international and local advertising
and sponsors because of this false allegation, it said in a statement.
Advocate U Nay La, representing
the bus company, declined to comment on Forevers statement, adding
that the bus company would issue a
response in due course.
However, he told The Myanmar
Times his client refused to accept the
MNTV apology, and the demand for
K1 billion compensation from Shwe
Than Lwin company still stood.
Weve waited two weeks, but had
no compensation from Shwe Than
Lwin, he said.

Verbose speaker silences

ASEAN civil society members
nYan LYnn aung
29.nyanlynnaung@gmail.com
WHAT was meant to be a frank discussion between civil society representatives and their heads of state during
the recent ASEAN summit turned into
a blink-and-youll-miss-it 15-minute ordeal, according to attendees accounts.
Civil society representatives from
each of the 10 ASEAN member states
were set to jointly meet with the state
leaders for 30 minutes at the ASEAN
Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples Forum on April 27. But then
Cambodia rejected its civil society representative and picked a new, government-aligned official. Singapore went
straight ahead and picked its preferred candidate. And then Thailands
representative, upset with all the government interference, boycotted.
Adding to the comedy of errors, the
keynote speaker trailed overtime until just 15 minutes remained for civil
society representatives to address the
presidents and premiers.
Despite the limited window for
discussion, the seven attending civil

society representatives were able to

tackle a host of issues including widespread corruption, land and natural
resource grabs, police brutality, Rohingya refugees, religious extremism
and climate change.
Myannmars representative, Dr
May Shi Sho of the Karen Development Network, said she focused on
migration in Malaysia and the regions
use of the death penalty.
The format did not include a structure for the government officials to respond to the input from the NGOs, but

In the last 10 years

... the [civil society]
interface has gone
through some
choppy roads.
Jerald Joseph
ASEAN peoples Forum chair

Myanmars representative received a

brief reply from President U Thein Sein.
The president said he would put
into practice our message and said
that CSOs and government need more
cooperation, she said.
The delegations then reiterated the
need for enhanced working relations
between civil society organisations
and government leaders.
Dont keep us out because we present a critical and honest evaluation
on what we see, hear and feel on the
ground. We are convinced that being
open and transparent in our analysis
and proposals, is the most constructive way forward, read a statement
from a delegate after the event.
Jerald Joseph, chair of the ASEAN
Peoples Forum, acknowledged in a
statement following the event that
meeting had often been controversial.
In the last 10 years since the first
[ASEAN Civil Society Conference]
in Kuala Lumpur, the interface has
gone through some choppy roads
and at many times been extremely
disappoint[ed] by some governments,
he said.

News 7

www.mmtimes.com

Views

Never mind the elections:

embracing Silk Road splendour
RogeR
mitton

rogermitton@gmail.com

LTHOUGH it may not

have drawn front-page
headlines, an important
election was held on April
26 in an Asian nation four
times as big as Myanmar.
And just a month earlier, another
election was held in an adjacent nation that is also big far bigger than
Germany or Japan, for instance.
Having just returned from both
these places, let me explain a bit
about them and about the election
campaigns and the results.
The countries are, respectively, the
central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two huge and
resource-rich nations that in many
ways bear a startling resemblance to
Myanmar.
The similarity is not simply
because of their size and richness,
but because they have a veneer of
peaceful social stability and have endured decades of a repressive central
government.
Consider the smaller and nicer of
the two, Uzbekistan, whose orderly,
uncrowded capital, Tashkent, is the
largest city in central Asia.
In elections held on March 29, its
incumbent leader, President Islam
Karimov, was returned to office with
90.4 percent of the vote.
Although he is already 77 and has
been president since 1990, Karimov
now has a chance to serve for another
for five years.
Naturally, Western organisations that disparaged Myanmars
last election and dismiss this years
coming poll also derided the vote in
Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch, for
example, called it a sham election.

Men walk near a mosque in the ancient city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Photo: Anton Ivanov/Shutterstock.com

And thats exactly what it was. But,

and its a big but, not a lot of Uzbeks
seemed very bothered about it. Of
course, the reason may be because
there was no avenue for them to
express public discontent.
In Uzbekistan as was the case in
Myanmar until quite recently there
is no free press and ordinary people
are not so much shocked as perplexed
if the subject of politics is raised.
Well, lets now turn to Kazakhstan,
the worlds largest land-locked country, whose leader, President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, did even better than his
Uzbek colleague by winning 97.7pc of
the vote on April 26.
Echoing Singapores similarly authoritarian leader, the late Lee Kuan
Yew, Nazarbayev said, I apologise if
these numbers are unacceptable for
the super-democratic countries, but
there was nothing I could do.
The canny Nazarbayev, 74, who
has led his country since 1989, has
recently introduced market reforms
that have led to some US$200 billion

in foreign investments.
He has also established cosy ties
with neighbouring China and Russia,
as well as with the European Union
and the United States.
Sound familiar? The great powers
are jostling over central Asias riches,
as they are over those in those in
Myanmar and in Cambodia, Laos
and Vietnam, never mind how flawed
their elections might be.

The great powers are

jostling over Central
Asias riches, as they
are over those in
Myanmar and in
Cambodia, Laos
and Vietnam.

The hypocrisy is so sickening that

when visiting the Stans, it is best to
do what wise travellers did when visiting Myanmar in pre-reform times:
Dismiss the politics and embrace
everything else.
Before doing so, here are a few
friendly tips. First, focus on Uzbekistans Silk Road cities, especially Khiva,
the roads final desert rest stop before
reaching Persia. It is a jewel that ranks
with Angkor Wat and Bagan.
Oddly, for such an isolated spot,
it is easily reached by Uzbek Airways
nonstop flight from Bangkok to Tashkent, which connects with a short hop
to Urgench, where hotel drivers whisk
travellers 25 kilometres to Khiva.
Once there, stay within the Ichon
Qala, the walled inner city, a medieval
time warp whose mudbrick buildings provide all mod cons, including
excellent internet connections and
international news channels.
Arise early each morning and walk
along the 10-metre-high crenellated
walls, which provide a vista over the

entire living-museum city and probably be blissfully alone as you do so.

Then return to the kind of Uzbek
breakfast that has kept Karimov
going so well: yoghurt and fruit, jamstuffed pancakes, fried eggs and potatoes, salami and cheese, breads, sweet
cakes and a big pot of green tea.
When finally able to tear yourself
away from Khiva, the next stop will
be Bukhara, where equally incomparable but more classically imposing
sights await.
Adopt a slow pace as you amble
from the Ark Fortress, a huge mudbrick citadel, to the majestic Kalyon
Mosque with its amazing opaline
dome and its Great Minaret, one of the
few edifices spared by Genghis Khan.
Then, frankly, itll be time for a
cold beer and some shashlik (kebabs)
or somsa (flaky meat-stuffed pasties), before hopping on the train to
Samarkand.
Only Luxor and Xian have names
as evocative of ancient times and the
mystical magic world of our ancestors
as Samarkand. No need to describe
it just go.
Afterward take the short train ride
back to Tashkent for a show at the
avant-garde Ilkhom Theatre or the
ornate Navoi Opera House, before
heading home with enough tales to
fill the holes the sham elections left.
Among the most striking memories will be those of Uzbek openness
and hospitality and, as a European
diplomat told me over dinner in
Tashkent, This is probably the safest
country in Asia.
Whether it has anything to do
with Karimovs rigid rule or not, the
fact is that corruption, at least at the
petty level that might affect travellers,
seems to be non-existent.
Oh, and most definitely not to
be forgotten: Uzbekistan is absurdly
cheap. The highest denomination
banknote is worth about US$1 and
they seem to last a long time.
That may be why Uzbeks repeatedly vote for Karimov, as do Kazakhs
for Nazarbayev, and as do folks in
this region for the likes of Singapores
Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysias Mahathir
Mohamad and Cambodias Hun Sen.
Its not only out of fear.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES APRIL 30, 2015

Business
Urban Rent Control
Act gets a makeover
MYAT NYEIN AYE
myatnyeinaye11092@gmail.com
KO KO AUNG
pmkokoaung@gmail.com
A POST-WAR era law considered too
favourable to tenants and squatters is to be replaced with a more
even-handed legal framework, officials say. The Urban Rent Control
Act (1960), itself a revision of a
law dating back to 1946, has been
redrafted by the Ministry of Home
Affairs and the Department of
Housing Development and Human
Settlements to address more up-todate concerns, they said.
Those concerns will not include
regulating rents, however.
The draft will soon be submitted
to parliament for approval.
U Win Naing, a spokesperson for
the housing department, said the
new act would be more even-handed
than its predecessor. The old law
goes back to after the Second World
War, as the foreigners were leaving
Yangon. At that time, they were the
ones who owned the property, and in
their absence local people would occupy it, he said, a situation reflected
in the 1946 Urban Rent Control Act,

which tended to support tenants. The

new act will respect the rights of both
landlord and tenant, he said.
The new law will provide for
the mediation of disagreements
between the two parties, the frequency of rent increases and the
size of fees, as well as for resolving the issue when tenants refuse
to quit a property after the rental
term expires.
U Win Naing said that the new
act would not cap rents. We cant
control rising rents in the current
market, but the law will help solve
the problem of urban rent systems
better than now, he said, adding
that the government would use the
tax laws to try to regulate property
prices. If the government raises
property taxes, rents will fall because investors wont buy, he said.
Real estate lawyer U Tin Hla
commented, This law will solve
landlord-tenant conflicts to some
extent. But the government should
do more for renters.
Daw Aye Win, who rents property in Thingangyun township,
said, I hope the new law will stop
landlords increasing rents every six
months.

A worker sorts potatoes before packaging at the Salty Potato Farm in Den
IN PICTURES Horn, Netherlands. The farm, headed by Mark van Rijsselberghe, tries to
address the problem of how to feed the worlds ever-rising population by
growing potatoes and other crops with saltwater. The world loses around
2000 hectares of agricultural land a day to salt-induced degradation
in 75 countries, caused by bad or absent irrigation, according to a 2012
Photo: AFP
UN report. Agriculture Ministry experts say Myanmar suffers from land
salinisation along the coast, in the delta region and in central arid areas.

OPINION

BANGKOK

Asian games not zero-sum

JEFFREY FRANKEL
TWO society hostesses are rivals.
Both guard their social standing jealously and may even punish a guest
who attends the others party by
withholding future invitations.
China and the United States seem
to regard Asia-Pacific relations similarly: as a zero-sum game. Are countries signing up for Chinas Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank
(AIIB), or for Americas Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP)? Will China be
welcomed, or humiliatingly rebuffed,
in its effort to persuade the International Monetary Fund to include the
renminbi in its unit of account, Special Drawing Rights (SDR)? Is the US
still the worlds largest economy, or
did China surpass it in 2014?
However tempting it may be to
focus on such questions, they are
the wrong way to think about the
global economy. There is no reason
why some countries should not join
both Chinas AIIB and Americas TPP,
or why overlapping memberships
should not expand over time or, indeed, why the hostesses should not
eventually attend each others parties.
Unfortunately, that is not how
current issues of global economic
governance are being framed. When
the United Kingdom, Germany,
South Korea, Australia and others
unexpectedly decided in March to
join the AIIB, it was widely reported
(partly because of missteps by US
policymakers) as a mass defection of
US allies to a rivals party.
But there is nothing wrong with
joining the AIIB. Asia needs more
help with infrastructure investment
than the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank can provide; China can play a useful leadership role;

and the participation of countries

with high governance standards can
help prevent the cronyism, corruption, and environmental damage to
which large-scale infrastructure projects are prone.
Likewise, the TPP negotiations
are sometimes characterised as a US
attempt to isolate China. But, given
the Asia-Pacific regions high trade
volumes, and its dense set of trading arrangements running in every
direction, no one, including China, is
about to be isolated. And, with World
Trade Organization negotiations, in
which all countries could participate,
stalled for years, the TPP and other
regional initiatives (like Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation and various
intra-Asia free-trade areas) are better
than nothing.
Exchange rates are another area
where zero-sum thinking prevails.
On April 9, the US Treasury released
the biannual report mandated by
Congress to identify countries engaging in currency manipulation.
Neither China nor anyone else was
found guilty this time. But Treasury
officials believe that they must keep
up the pressure, lest Congress follow
through on threats to punish supposed currency manipulators, derailing the TPP and other trade agreements.
Then there is the SDR. Every five
years, the IMF reconsiders its composition, which currently is defined
in terms of the dollar, euro, yen and
pound. Chinas renminbi is unlikely
to be included in the basket now, because it is not freely usable. And,
though this will likely be reported as
a defeat for China, it should not be.
The issue is of little importance.
It might seem that all of this could
be shrugged off as a harmless media
spectator sport. But, to the extent

that a misplaced focus on country

rankings becomes a barrier to sensible policy, it can do real damage.
Such is the case with the stalled
IMF quota reform, an issue where
the rankings in fact are of some importance, but not in a zero-sum way.
By any measure of economic importance, China and other major emerging economies have long since merited much larger IMF quota shares,
implying greater financial contributions and greater voting weights.
But their increase in shares need
not come at the expense of the US.
It is the European countries that are
greatly over-represented. Despite European reluctance to cede ground,
US President Barack Obama succeeded in brokering such a reallocation of IMF quota shares at the G-20
summit in Seoul in November 2010.
Five years later, the US Congress is
still holding up IMF quota reform
not because it would imply any loss
of power or cost to US taxpayers, but
because many members do not want
to give Obama anything he asks for.
Thirty years ago, the West wanted
nothing more than for China to become a capitalist economy. It has
done so, with spectacular success.
The rules of the game now require
that China be given a bigger share
in the governance of international
institutions.
Making room at the table will
help the rest of us in the game that
matters most: world peace and prosperity. If the Congress does not pass
the IMF quota reform, the US can
hardly blame the Chinese for undertaking initiatives such as the AIIB on
their own.
Jeffrey Frankel is professor of capital
formation and growth at Harvard
University.

Worker dies in petmeat grinder

A MIGRANT worker from Myanmar was killed after he slipped into
a meat grinder at a pet food factory
in Thailand, police said yesterday.
The man, who police identified
as 37-year-old Zaw May Zir, died at
a factory in southeastern Chonburi
province, 80 kilometres (50 miles)
southeast of Bangkok.
It was an accident, Lieutenant Thaninthorn Suaypan, a case
officer with Chonburi police, said.
I went to examine the man with
the doctor and the lower half of his
body was crushed.
Police said they believed the
man, who had worked at the factory for five years, was unable to
extricate himself from the grinder
because it was filled with glue used
to create artificial bones for dogs to
chew on.
When he fell into the mixer
he could not move because of the

glue, Mr Thaninthorn said.

Police said the mans wife had
been informed of his death.
The factory, which police said
used the name Pet Smart, did not
respond to inquiries.
More than a million poor migrant workers are employed in
Thailand, mainly from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
Many work in the country illegally, something labour groups say
leaves them open to exploitation by
employers in industries where safety standards are notoriously lax.
Since seizing power last May,
Thailands junta have vowed to
document all migrant workers inside the country in a bid to crack
down on illegal employment.
In March they reported that at
least 1.6 million workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have
been registered so far. AFP

Sedona new wing to open

SEDONA Hotel Yangons new 29-storey Inya Wing will hold its soft
opening in October, Ang Wee Gee,
chief executive of Singapores Keppel Land, told The Myanmar Times
yesterday.
The 420-room wing will formally
open in the second quarter of 2016,
becoming the tallest building in Yangon, Mr Ang said. Its external structure is complete and a topping-out
ceremony was held yesterday.
We are very encouraged to see
so much reform, and the government has invited business to share
best experiences so we have been
strongly encouraging these kinds of

progress, he said. Mr Ang said he

saw tourist visits in Myanmar reaching 7.5 million in 2020. Government
officials have spoken of 5 million visits this year, although definition of
the statistics is controversial.
As our economy progresses on
track, we are heartened that one of
Singapores leading property developers, Keppel Land, is participating
in Myanmar, U Tin Shwe, deputy
minister for hotels and tourism, said
at the ceremony.
Keppel Land is also partnered
with Shwe Taung Group in developing a 23-storey office tower in the
Junction City project. Ei Ei Thu

BUSINESS EDITOR: Guy Dinmore | guydinmore@gmail.com

Obama and Abe say

China bank for Asia
must meet standards

Sinopec caught in
Chinas widening antigraft campaign

BUSINESS 10

BUSINESS 11

Exchange Rates (April 29 close)

Currency
Euro
Malaysia Ringitt
Singapore Dollar
Thai Baht
US Dollar

Buying

Selling

K1180
K307
K813
K31
K1091

K1195
K308
K822
K32
K1095

Shwe pumps more gas

for domestic industry
AUNG
SHIN
koshumgtha@gmail.com

MORE of the countrys vast natural

gas reserve is being made available
for domestic use, officials have announced. The Shwe project, which
pumps gas to China by pipeline, began releasing more gas for domestic users before the Thingyan festival, according to a statement from
the Southeast Asia Gas Pipeline
(SEAGP) company.
The Taungtha unloading point
in Mandalay Region started pumping extra gas for domestic users before the water festival, it said. The
gas is going to factories in Myingyan, it said.
Taungtha is the last unloading
point that can be used for domestic
purposes, as three others Kyaukpyu in Rakhine State, Yenanchaung
in Magwe Region and Mandalay
have been in operation since the
pipeline was opened.
The pipeline, 793 kilometres long
on the Myanmar side, is designed to
transmit 12 billion cubic metres of
natural gas a year, with about 5.2
billion cubic metres a year in the
first phase of operations.

The government plans to develop a new industrial zone, Myotha,

between Myingyan and Mandalay. The Ministry of Electric Power
(MOEP) and an international firm
have agreed to develop a 225-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Myingyan to supply electricity for the
new zone.
The China-Myanmar pipeline to
Chinas Yunnan province reached full
operation in October 2013, exporting
more than 400 million cubic feet per
day (mmcfd) of natural gas.
We are now taking more gas
from the pipeline. Last year we took
only about 25mmcfd, and now we
are taking about 60mmcfd, said
U Than Tun, an offshore director
of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise
(MOGE).
Kyaukpyu unloading point takes
10mmcfd, Yenanchaung 1mmcfd,
and Mandalay loading point uses
27mmcfd. Taungtha point is taking
24mmcfd at present, he said.
Last year, the gas-fired power
plant projects in Kyaukpyu and Myingyan were not yet complete, so we
pumped less gas than the sale agreement amount, said U Than Tun.
Myanmar is to obtain 100mmcfd
of natural gas from the pipeline,
paying US$8 per mmbtu (million
British thermal units) for gas supplied to local industries at subsidised prices of $5 per mmbtu for

state-owned factories and $7 for

private industries.
We hope to take 100mmcfd of
natural gas from the pipeline this
year as new gas-fired power plant
projects are under way, said U
Than Tun.
Daewoo
International
announced the discovery of the Shaw
gas field in Rakhine offshore in
2004. Myanmar awarded gas purchasing rights to China in 2008 under an agreement to export 6.5tcf
(trillion cubic feet) over 30 years.
SEAGP was formed as a company belonging to China, Korea, India
and MOGE responsible for day-today operations.
The Shwe project produces
about 415mmcfd and exports
350mmcfd to China. Its plateau production is 500mmcfd, said a MOGE
official.
The China National Petroleum
Corporation holds 50.9 percent of
the pipeline project while MOGE
holds 7.37pc, Daewoo 25.04pc,
KOGAS (the Korean Gas Corporation) 4.17pc, GAIL (the Gas Authority of India Limited) 4.17pc and
ONGC (the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India) 8.35pc.
Myanmar is set to receive an annual income of $1 billion over the
next 30 years from the gas pipeline, according to the Shwe Gas
Movement.

Farmers want more loans earlier

HTOO THANT
thanhtoo.npt@gmail.com
THE Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation will barely increase loans to
farmers from K1462 billion to K1470
billion this year, said U Soe Naing, supervisor from Nay Pyi Taw branch of
Myanmar Agricultural Development
Bank.
However, he told The Myanmar
Times on April 28 that it was still not
known when the loans would be issued. Weve received no directives
from head office, he said.
The new budget law says Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank
will issue three kinds of agricultural
loans, for the monsoon, winter and
pre-monsoon seasons. Daw Khin
Nann Myint, deputy general manager
of the bank, said yesterday they expected to receive the funds from the
Myanmar Economic Bank, perhaps as
early as next week.
The loan program will cover a total of 21 million acres, including 12.93
million acres of paddy fields across
the country. It is estimated that loans
will be issued at the rate of K100,000
per acre of rice and sugarcane, the
countrys staples, but only K20,000
per acre of other kinds of crops.
The agriculture sector represents
between 35 to 40 percent of gross domestic product, while up to 70 percent
of the labour force is directly or indirectly engaged in farming or depend
on agriculture for their income. The
government says modernising the sector is a top priority.
Some MPs and farmers believe
loans for non-staple crops should be
bigger, and say loans often come late.

A man walks in front of a sign advertising MPT SIM cards as the former state
monopoly battles intense competition. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

MPT holds lead but

telecom rivals are
expanding
AUNG KYAW NYUNT
aungkyawnyunt28@gmail.com
AS the countrys three mobile
phone providers continue to intensify their competition, benefits
to users continue to accrue. Some
observers now believe that further
penetration of the interior of the
country by Ooredoo and Telenor
could bring both lower charges for
rural users and cheaper internet
packages.
Qatar-based Ooredoo and Norways Telenor were awarded licences to operate in Myanmar in
February last year. Myanmar Posts
and Telecommunications (MPT),
formerly the countrys monopoly
provider, initially struggled to keep
up, but then rebounded with support from Japanese firms KDDI and
Sumitomo.
The two foreign providers initially made rapid inroads by gathering up the low-hanging fruit presented by urban markets. But most
of the population is in rural areas,
where infrastructure is weak, slowing the pace of mobile penetration,
U Thar Htet, managing director of
Zwenexsys company, told The Myanmar Times yesterday.
MPT still occupies the leading

position in the telecoms sector. The

foreign operators depend on MPT
internet coverage, he said.
Because MPT is the sole provider in much of the countryside, its
charges are high. But as the other
two operators continue to expand
that could change. If the others extend their networks into MPT territory, I think MPT will lower their
charges, he added.
Ooredoo now covers 41 percent
of the population, and has said it
was aiming to cover 75pc by the
end of the year. That would represent about 38.5 million, a huge leap
from the 5.4 million users, or 10pc,
of just a few years ago.
MPT will launch 3G service later
this year and will extend its network to 70pc of the population by
the end of 2016. Telenor covers 199
townships.
U Ravi Chhabra, president and
CEO of GMIT (Geo Mandalar Investment and Technology) predicted cheaper internet packages
as people rely more on mobile internet.
Operators should offer data
packages cheap because not everybody can use ADSL line and Wifi
internet. People depend on mobile
internet, he said.

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Farmers harvest rice. Loans for agriculture will barely increase this year and
borrowers say the money often comes too late. Photo: AFP

U Saw Taw Pale, Amyotha Hluttaw representative for Kayin State,

said, Sometimes loans for monsoon
paddy are issued only after cultivation
is complete.
May is the best time to grow
paddy, said U Hla Tun, a farmer from
Pyinmana township. Last year, loans
were issued in late May and early
June.
Farmer U San Win, who lives in
the Aye Chan Thar village tract east
of Lewe township, Nay Pyi Taw, said,
Farmers need the loans much earlier,
especially since labour shortages have
forced them to change their cultivation methods, and scatter seeds rather
than sowing them. If we dont get
loans in time, we have to borrow from
private lenders at higher interest.

An Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Ayeyarwady Region, U Khin Maung Yi,

said the term of the loans was too
short, obliging farmers to repay loans
in December and January immediately after the monsoon paddy harvest,
instead of allowing them to wait for a
better price.
Deputy agriculture minister U Ohn
Than said there was no plan to extend
the loan term, adding that seeking repayment at harvest time, when farmers are flush with money, was thought
to reduce the risk of defaults.
U Soe Naing, chair of Pyidaungsu
Hluttaws Agriculture, Livestock and
Fisheries Development Committee,
said the ministry lent K1462 billion
for 20 million acres of crops last year.
Translation by Zar Zar Soe

Johnson & Johnson, a corporation organized and existing under

the laws of the State of New Jersey, U.S.A., of One Johnson &
Johnson Plaza, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08933 U.S.A., is the
Owner of the following Trade Mark:-

DARELVIA

Reg. No. 18846/2014

in respect of Intl Class 5: Human pharmaceutical preparations.
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.L
for Johnson & Johnson
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 30 April 2015

10 International Business

THE MYANMAR TIMES APRIL 30, 2015

WASHINGTON

BANGKOK

Obama and Abe say Chinas

AIIB must meet standards

Thailand
in surprise
rate cut

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe say
they are not opposed to Chinas Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank, but
stress that it needs high standards and
transparency.
Neither said their country would
join the new AIIB which many European and Asian allies have signed
onto already but both said they
would work with it if its project and
loan standards are strong.
Asia needs infrastructure ... To the
extent that China wants to put capital
into development projects around the
region, thats a positive, Obama said
in a joint White House press conference with Mr Abe.
What is involved is exactly what
Prime Minister Abe said, which is
if were going to have a multilateral
lending institution, then you have to
have some guidelines by which its going to operate. Thats how the World
Bank operates, he said.
In Asia theres a tremendous demand for infrastructure. And for the
financial system to respond to this is
very important. On this recognition
we see eye-to-eye with China, Mr Abe
said.
But Mr Abe said any projects the
bank backs need to pay close heed to
the needs of societies and the environment. Its not only about the lenders,
but the borrowing nation, he stressed.
And so in that sense a proper review as to whether lending the money to a country will be of benefit to

THAILANDS central bank cut its

benchmark interest rate yesterday in a
surprise move highlighting the juntas
struggle to revive the faltering economy.
The Bank of Thailand said in a statement policy board members voted by
5-2 to cut the rate to 1.50 percent from
1.75pc, its lowest since July 2010.
The decision came just hours after
the finance ministry downgraded its
growth forecast for 2015 from 3.9 to
3.7pc.
The interest rate cut surprised most
analysts. A survey by Bloomberg of 20
regional economists found 18 had expected the bank to keep the rate steady
since it had already slashed the rate by
0.25pc.
Economic growth slowed sharply in
2014 to its weakest pace in three years,
as political instability compounded a
fall in agricultural prices, waning exports and low consumer confidence.
The military, which took over in a
coup last May after months of disruptive street protests, has vowed to kickstart the economy.
But aside from a bump in tourist
numbers since protests ended, the junta
has failed to ignite growth.
In February the finance minister
said he had been told by junta chief
Prayut Chan-O-Cha to push for at least
4.0pc growth for 2015, something many
analysts thought optimistic.
The World Bank estimates growth
for 2015 will be closer to 3.5pc.
In its statement the Bank of Thailand said it believed the economy
would recover at a slower pace than
previously assessed because of continued weaker than expected exports, low
consumer confidence and inflationary
pressures.
There is no denying the weakness
of recent economic data, Krystal Tan,
an economist at Capital Economics,
said in a note after the rate cut.
But she said there was still room
for optimism further down the track,
helped by an increase in government
spending, a resurgent tourism sector,
and earlier rates cuts.
Observers say prolonged weak
growth may heap pressure onto the
junta as it tries to pass a new constitution before fresh elections mooted for
next year. AFP

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold a joint press conference in the Rose
Garden of the White House on April 28. China should not view their alliance as a threat, Mr Obama said. Photo: AFP

the country, rigorous review is very

important.
So from such a standpoint Japan
and the United States should cooperate and we need to continue dialogue
with China.
Mr Obama insisted that, contrary
to media reports, Washington had not
opposed others like Britain joining the

AIIB, for which Beijing has signed up

some 57 founding members.
But he said the United States
wants to be sure its standards for the
projects it backs are high.
What we dont want to do is
just be participating in something
and providing cover for an institution that does not end up doing

right by its people.

Because when these countries
borrow money, even from a development bank, for a boondoggle project
that doesnt work, theyre oftentimes
still on the hook for paying that money back. And there have been experiences like that across continents and
across decades. AFP

SEOUL

Chinese rivals and Apple batter Samsung

SAMSUNG Electronics posted a near
40 percent fall in first quarter net
profit yesterday, missing analyst estimates despite a surge in memory
chip demand that cushioned a slump
in smartphone sales.
Facing increasing competition
from arch-rival Apple and smaller
Chinese manufacturers, the worlds
top handset maker reported a net

profit of 4.6 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) for the January-March period,
down 38.9pc from a year earlier.
It was the fourth straight quarterly decline in net profit and missed
the 4.9 trillion won average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.
Operating profit also fell 29.6pc
on-year to 6.0 trillion won, largely in

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha (also trading as Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.),
a Company incorporated in Japan, of 2-1 Asahi-machi, Kariya-shi,
Aichi-ken, Japan, is the Owner of the following Trade Mark:-

Reg. No. 3058/2015

in respect of Class 1: Anti-freezing liquids; coolants; coolants
for vehicle engines; LLC (Long Life Coolants); automatic
transmission fluids; CVT (continuously variable transmission)
fluids; transmission fluids; hydraulic fluids; automobile gasket
cement (adhesive); water based adhesives (other than for household
or stationery use). Class 4: Industrial oils; engine oils for gas heat
pumps; car engine oils; gear oils; industrial greases; fuels; liquid
fuels.
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.L
for Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 30 April 2015

line with the firms earlier forecast.

But in a sign that the South Korean electronics giant might be turning a corner after four successive
quarters of significant declines, the
operating profit was up 13.1pc from
the fourth quarter of last year.
In its earnings statement, Samsung said it expected overall earnings to increase in the second quar-

ter as premium smartphone sales

enter into full swing.
Samsung is pinning its hopes on
the sixth edition of its flagship highend smartphone launched in April.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with a
wraparound screen received rave reviews but Samsung cautioned competition would intensify in rapidly
growing emerging markets. AFP

SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter shares plunge on earnings

TWITTER shares plunged after an
earnings report fell short of market
expectations, despite a jump in the
number of active monthly users above
300 million.
Revenue during the first three
months of this year was US$436 million, Twitter said, but the San Francisco company had been expected to
bring in about $456 million.
The one-to-many messaging platform reported a net loss in the quarter
of $162.4 million, as compared with a
loss of $132.4 million on revenue of
$250.5 million in the same period last
year.
Twitter shares dived more than 18
percent after release of the earnings
figures and sank further to $41.50 in
after-market trades on April 28.
That kind of drop is really tough,
said independent analyst Rob Enderle
of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
Twitter has yet to show a quarterly
profit in its publicly released earnings
statements, but analysts say it may be
more important for the social network
to boost its user base as it moves toward profitability.
Separately it announced a deal to

buy marketing technology company

TellApart and a partnership with
Googles DoubleClick platform to improve advertising performance.
The results came out ahead of
schedule, through feeds on Twitter
itself, about half an hour before the
closing of the stock market and caused
a temporary halt of trading in the
companys shares.
We are investigating the source of
the leak, Twitter said.
Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said revenue growth fell slightly
short of our expectations due to lower-than-expected contribution from
some of our newer direct response
products.
But he noted, It is still early days
for these products and we have a
strong pipeline that we believe will
drive increased value for direct response advertisers in the future.
Advertisers balked at paying higher
amounts in auctions for ads designed
to deliver better results, and Twitter
expected that factor to weigh on revenue through the year, chief financial
officer Anthony Noto said during an
earnings call.

Some advertisers with limited

spending dropped out due to bidding
getting too high, Mr Noto said, adding that the model was being refined
and that he expected that it would
eventually pay off.
Mr Costolo remained confident in
Twitters strategy for long-term success.
Twitter does well on mobile devices for delivery of information, but
doesnt do well for ads, Mr Enderle
said. They dont have it figured out
yet.
Advertising revenue at Twitter tallied $388 million, a 72pc rise from the
same quarter a year earlier. AFP

International Business 11

www.mmtimes.com
HONG KONG

TAIPEI

Sinopec No 2 caught in
widening graft probe

Taiwan pursues
French slush funds
over 1991 arms deal

CHINA Petrochemical Corp has had another executive swept up in what seems
to be a relentless and widening array
of corruption investigations at stateowned enterprises ordered by President
Xi Jinping.
General Manager Wang Tianpu, the
No 2 official at Asias largest oil refiner,
is suspected of violating state law and
Communist Party discipline, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the countrys top anti-graft agency,
said in a statement.
The company, known as Sinopec
Group, totally supports the governments decision and will focus on
maintaining the stability of business
operations, it said on its official Weibo
microblog account.
Nothing will change within the
company, chair Fu Chengyu said in an
interview in Beijing on April 28. We
support the governments long-term
anti-corruption effort, not just cracking
down on illegal acts but disciplinary
wrongdoings as well.
Mr Wang is the highest-ranking Sinopec official to face investigation since
Mr Xi began his nationwide crackdown
in 2012.
The event demonstrates again the
Chinese regulators strong intent to probe
any disciplinary violations by SOE management members, and the ultimate
resolution of the investigations is expected to improve the visibility of overall

TAIWANESE prosecutors say they

will pursue the family of man accused of reaping hundreds of millions of dollars from a controversial French arms deal over two
decades ago, even after he died
this year.
Andrew Wang was indicted for
corruption in 2006 over his involvement in a slush fund linked
to a US$2.8 billion contract for
Taiwan to buy six Lafayette-class
warships in 1991.
Mr Wang was put on Taiwans
most-wanted list after he and his
family fled the island shortly before the scandal broke in 1993. He
died from an illness in London in
January at the age of 87, Taiwanese
officials said.
We will drop charges against
Wang since he had passed away.
However, we will continue to seek
the return of the ill-gotten funds
in Wangs case from Switzerland,
said Kuo Wen-dong, a spokesperson for the special investigation
unit under the supreme prosecutors office.
The funds are in various bank
accounts in the name of Mr Wangs
wife and children, who were also
indicted in the case, and have been
frozen by Swiss authorities pending the legal preceeding in Taiwan,
Kuo said.
Taiwans supreme court found

Ji Jianye, former mayor of Nanjing,

was sentenced this month to 15 years
in jail for corruption. Photo: AFP

business practices, HSBC Securities Asia

Ltds Hong Kong-based analysts Thomas
Hilboldt, Si Tingting and Zhang Hanyu
wrote in a research note.
Mr Wang resigned on April 27 as
vice chair and non-executive director
at the companys publicly traded unit,
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., according to a Hong Kong stock exchange
filing.
China has identified 26 state-owned
enterprises as targets for graft inspections

this year, after similar probes in 2014.

The nations biggest energy company, China National Petroleum Corp,
and its listed arm, PetroChina Co, have
lost more than a dozen senior officials
to CCDI investigations.
The anti-graft agency doesnt
have formal power to arrest or press
charges, but in practice is able to detain indefinitely and investigate any
of Chinas roughly 87 million Communist Party members.
That effectively includes every
government official or executive at
the state-owned enterprises that
dominate Chinas economy in finance,
energy, transportation and other industries.
PetroChina; China National Offshore Oil Corp, the countrys biggest
offshore oil and gas explorer; and State
Grid Corp of China were all on the list
for investigations this year, according to
a February statement.
Mr Wang, a engineer with a doctorate, was made general manager in August 2011, according to the companys
website. As recently as April 16, he hosted South Korean oil officials at the companys Beijing headquarters, according
to Sinopecs website.
In previous investigations, Sinopec
removed Xue Wandong, vice chair and
general manager of Sinopec Oilfield
Services Corp in December.
Bloomberg News

that Mr Wang solicited and received around $340 million in

kickbacks from French defence
company Thomson-CSF (now
Thales) over the frigate deal.
His accomplice, former navy
captain Kuo Li-heng, served a 20year prison sentence for accepting
bribes to facilitate the deal.
Allegations of backhanders
emerged after the body of the officer who ran the Taiwanese navys
weapons acquisitions office was
found floating in the sea off the islands east coast in 1993.
Investigators believed Yin Ching-feng was murdered because
he was ready to blow the whistle
on rampant corruption in the military, including the Lafayette deal.
A French judicial probe opened
in 2001 to investigate claims that
much of the money paid by Taiwan
went on commissions to local middlemen, politicians and military
officers, as well as in China and
France.
Taiwans highest anti-graft body
concluded in the same year that
as much as $400 million in bribes
may have been paid throughout
the course of the deal.
In 2011, Taiwan received $875
million from Thales, after the company lost an appeal over wrongful
payments of commissions on the
frigate deal. AFP

12 THE MYANMAR TIMES APRIL 30, 2015

13

World

WORLD EDITOR: Fiona MacGregor

Raid on Boko Haram

camp frees almost
300 girls and women

Riots abate as
police enfore
Baltimore curfew

WORLD 14

WORLD 14

KATHMANDU

Nepal riot police called in as

thousands of desperate survivors
attempt to flee capital
NEPALRESE riot police battled yesterday to contain anger among survivors of an earthquake that killed
more than 5000 people as rescuers
raced against time to find anyone
else alive in the rubble of the capital
Kathmandu.
Supplies are running thin and aftershocks have strained nerves in the
ruined city. Desperate to leave, thousands of people began gathering from
before dawn outside the main bus station after the government promised to
lay on special services.
But when the buses failed to materialise, anger began surging and scuffles broke out between the crowds and
the columns of riot police who were
sent in to try to contain the situation
near parliament.
We have been waiting since dawn.
They told us that there would be 250
buses coming but we havent seen any
of them, said Kishor Kavre, a 25-yearold student.
Were in a hurry to get home to see
our families but weve no idea when
theyre coming now. I think the government is struggling.
There was also desperation in devastated rural areas where people have
been pleading to be airlifted out when
the occasional helicopter has reached
their villages with relief supplies.
A total of 5057 people are so far
known to have died in Nepal alone
from the April 25 quake, and around
100 more in neighbouring India and
China.
Around 8000 were injured while
the United Nations estimates that 8
million people have been affected by
Nepals worst natural disaster in eight
decades.
Although the aftershocks have begun to subside, hundreds of thousands
of people were still sleeping outside in
the streets as their homes had either
been wrecked or were feared to be on
the verge of collapse.
Rescue teams from a large

number of countries are helping the

hard-pressed authorities in one of
Asias poorest nations.
French rescuers managed to pluck
one man from the rubble of his Kathmandu home late on April 28 after
he was trapped under masonry for
around 82 hours.
Barely conscious and covered in
dust, 27-year-old Rishi Khanal was
taken to hospital in an ambulance after being fitted with a neck brace and
having a drip attached to his right
arm.
But rescuers underlined the daunting scale of the task.

We have been
waiting since dawn.
They told us there
would 250 buses
coming but we
havet seen any.
Kishor Kavre
Student

Its a very difficult disaster zone,

very compact and on top of that its
been raining, Pascal Montant, part of
the French rescue team, said after one
fruitless search of wreckage.
When I took my dog off the leash
it didnt give out any signal, it didnt
bark, which means that possibly
theres no one inside.
In Gorkha, one of the worst-hit
districts, terrified residents ran with
outstretched arms toward an Indian
army helicopter to plead for food
and water.
Scores of houses across several villages in the district have been reduced

to mounds of wood and corrugated tin

roofs.
We havent had any food here
since the earthquake. Everything has
changed, we dont have anything left
here, Sita Gurung said, gesturing toward what was left of her home in the
village of Lapu.
An army officer lifted her onto a
stretcher and carried her away.
The Nepalese army said that an improvement in the weather should help
efforts to reach rural areas.
We are moving forward with intensive rescue operations today, said
Nepalese army spokesperson, Jagdish
Pokharel, said.
We are stretching our resources to
reach out to as many areas as possible.
The weather today has improved so
we hope to help more victims today.
Helicopters have been deployed to
bring the injured to hospital.
An army helicopter reached the
scene of an avalanche in the Ghoratabela district on April 28 afternoon in a
region that is popular with foreign
trekkers.
The scale of casualties was unknown but 18 survivors had been rescued and there were believed to be
200-250 people in the area, said Gautam Rimal, a senior local official.
Nepals only international airport
on the outskirts of Kathmandu has
been operating round-the-clock to
accommodate the arrival of military
planes carrying aid.
Among the arrivals was a British RAF C-17 flight that was bringing
1100 shelter kits and over 1700 solar
lanterns, along with a team of Gurkha
engineers the famed army unit that
hails from Nepal.
The quake is a serious blow to the
economy of the impoverished nation,
already reeling from a decade-long
civil war that ended in 2006, with one
estimate putting the cost of reconstruction at $5 billion.
AFP

Rescuers from Japan gather in the historical centre of Kathmandu on April 29. Photo: AFP

IN PICTURES
Photo: AFP

In their words ...

The executions have been successfully implemented,
perfectly. All worked, no misses.
Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad
Prasetyo

Crosses for
executed
drug convicts
Australians
Andrew Chan
and Myuran
Sukumaran,
and Nigerian
Okwudili
Oyatanze are
seen at a church
in Cilacap on
April 28, ahead
of convicts
imminent
execution at the
Nusakambangan
maximum
security prison
island.

[Australias relationship with Jakarta] has suffered

as a result of whats been done over the last few hours
We respect Indonesias sovereignty but we do
deplore whats been done and this cannot be simply
business as usual.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
I have just lost a courageous brother to a flawed
Indonesian legal system. I miss you already RIP my
Little Brother.
Michael Chan, brother of executed Australian
Andrew Chan
We had no more hope. My [other] children were
already in the island waiting to pick up her body.
We are all so happy. Her [Mary Janes] kids were all
awake, yelling, Yes, yes, mama will live!
Cecilia, mother of Mary Jane Veloso
[The execution of Rodrigo Gularte] marks a serious
event in the relations between the two countries.
Brazils President Dilma Rousseff

CILACAP

Cruel and uncessary: Indonesia rejects

mercy calls and executes seven foreigners

INDONESIA yesterday staunchly

defended its execution of seven foreigners including two Australians as
a vital front of its war on drugs as
testimony emerged of how they went
singing to their deaths.
The killings provoked condemnation from across the world, and
Australia withdrew its ambassador
in protest at the midnight executions, but Indonesian President Joko
Widodo said he was merely applying
the rule of law against narcotics
traffickers.
The seven convicts two from
Australia, one from Brazil and four
from Africa were shot by firing
squad along with one Indonesian,
despite strident foreign appeals and
pleas from family members.
A Filipina originally set to be
executed was given an 11th hour reprieve, apparently granted to allow
her to give evidence after a woman
who allegedly duped her into ferrying drugs to Indonesia came forward
to police in the Philippines.
Brazil expressed deep regret at
the execution of its national, who
is mentally ill according to his family, and said it was weighing its next
move.
The condemned men reportedly all refused blindfolds and sang
hymns, among them Amazing

Grace, as they went to face the firing

squad in a jungle clearing, according
to a pastor who was with them.
As the clock ticked down to midnight, a group of tearful supporters
also sang hymns, embraced and held
candles aloft during a vigil at the
port in Cilacap, the gateway to the
prison island of Nusakambangan.
After the executions, family members could be seen crying as they
were ushered away by friends and
supporters.
The reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso was hailed in the Philippines as a
miracle and a gift from God.
But Mr Widodo told the Jakarta
Globe, We did not cancel the execution. We only delayed it after we
received a letter from the Philippine authorities about an ongoing

[Our sons did] all

they could to make
amends helping
others.
Statement from families of
executed Austrailians Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

investigation of a human trafficking

case there.
And Indonesian Attorney General
Muhammad Prasetyo also stressed it
was only a postponement to allow
time for police investigations.
He added, We are fighting a war
against horrible drug crimes that
threaten our nations survival.
I would like to say that an execution is not a pleasant thing. It is not
a fun job, Mr Prasetyo told reporters
in Cilacap.
But we must do it in order to save
the nation from the danger of drugs.
Mr Prasetyo also played down
Australias decision to recall its ambassador, describing it as a temporary reaction, while Foreign Minister
Retno Marsudi stressed Jakartas desire to continue having good relations with one of its most important
trading partners.
Australia had mounted a sustained campaign to save its citizens,
who have been on death row for almost a decade, and Prime Minister
Tony Abbott said the executions were
both cruel and unnecessary.
We respect Indonesias sovereignty but we do deplore whats been
done and this cannot be simply business as usual, he said, announcing
Australias unprecedented step of recalling its Jakarta ambassador.

Australians Andrew Chan and

Myuran Sukumaran, ringleaders of
the so-called Bali Nine heroin trafficking gang, were described by Canberra as reformed men after years in
prison.
The families said their sons did
all they could to make amends, helping many others in the years since
their arrests, with Mr Sukumaran
teaching fellow inmates English and
art, and Mr Chan ordained as a minister in February.
They asked for mercy, but there
was none. They were immensely
grateful for all the support they
received. We too, will be forever
grateful, the families said in a joint
statement.
Mr Widodo, who took office in
October, says Indonesia is facing an
emergency due to rising drugs use,
citing figures from the national antinarcotics agency showing that more
than 30 Indonesians die every day
due to drugs.
However some academics believe
the agencys data is flawed, while critics accuse Mr Widodo of pursuing a
populist policy following recent political problems.
The bodies of Mr Chan and Mr
Sukumaran, in plain wooden coffins,
arrived in Jakarta after being driven
from Cilacap in two ambulances.

They were taken to a funeral home

and were due to be flown back to Australia for burial.
There were very different scenes
in the Philippines after the lastminute reprieve for Ms Veloso, whose
case attracted emotional appeals for
mercy from boxing superstar Manny
Pacquiao among others.
Miracles do come true, her
mother Celia told a Philippine radio station, adding that her daughters two boys aged 12 and six were
awake and yelling Yes, yes, mama
will live.
Little is known about the other
four executed foreigners. Three of
them are from Nigeria but it is not
clear whether the fourth held Ghanaian or Nigerian nationality.
The execution of the Brazilian,
Rodrigo Gularte, has generated much
criticism in his homeland, with his
family saying he suffered from schizophrenia and should not have faced
the death penalty.
Mr Gulartes cousin was seen crying as she left the port of Cilacap, accompanied by a religious counsellor.
A Frenchman was originally
among the group to be executed but
he was granted a temporary reprieve
after authorities agreed to allow a legal appeal to run its course.
AFP

[The French] government reiterates its opposition to

the death sentence, in all cases and all circumstances
[and] are fully mobilised to help [French convict
awaiting execution in Indonesia] Serge Atlaoui.
French foreign ministry spokesperson Romain
Nadal.
They asked for mercy, but there was none. They
were immensely grateful for all the support they
received. We too, will be forever grateful.
Statement by families of executed Australians
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
Indonesia executes eight
by firing squad
After midnight Tuesday
Seven foreigners and one Indonesian

Andrew Chan Myuran Sukumaran

Australia
Australia

Rodrigo Gularte
Brazil

High security prison

island where executions
are carried out

INDONESIA
JAKARTA
BALI
INDIAN
OCEAN
250 km

Raheem
Agbaje Salami
Nigeria
Others:
Okwudili Oyatanze

(Nigeria)

Martin Anderson
Sylvester
(Nationality
Obiekwe Nwolise unconfirmed)
Nigeria
Zainal Abidin
(Indonesia)

Reprieved at the 11th hour

Nusakambangan

Mary Jane Veloso

Philippines
A person suspected
of tricking Veloso had
handed herself in to
authorities
in the Philippines

14 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES APRIL 30, 2015

BALTIMORE

Violent protests continue in Baltimore as curfew takes effect

POLICE fired smoke bombs and pepper pellets at protesters who defied a
curfew across Baltimore late on April
28, but said the curfew was for the
most part effective.
A total of 10 people were arrested,
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts
told a midnight news conference.
The curfew is in fact working,
he said. Citizens are safe. The city is
stable.
His account of a relatively calm
city was a stark contrast from rioting
the previous evening and night that
racked Baltimore the latest US community roiled by unrest and stoked by
anger over police treatment of African
Americans. More than 250 people were
arrested.
Nervous authorities imposed the
emergency night-time curfew at 10pm
on April 28 in a bid to stave off another
night of violence.
But several hundred protesters initially refused to clear the tense streets
according to TV estimates, and a fire
was started near a library.
Mr Batts said that of the 10 arrests,
seven were for violation of the curfew.
A line of heavily equipped riot police
moved on the crowd who lobbed back
whatever they could get their hands on.
Police responded with pepper pellets and fired smoke bombs, and appeared to have quickly and successfully
dispersed the crowd.
National Guard troops were deployed to back up police in the gritty
port city of 620,000, where the violence and looting erupted on April 27
after the funeral of 25-year-old AfricanAmerican man Freddie Gray, who died
after suffering severe spinal injuries
during an arrest. AFP

A protester stands with his back to riot police minutes before a mandatory, city-wide curfew of 10 pm on April 28 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: AFP

ABUJA

300 women freed in

Boko Haram camp raid
MILITARY have claimed the rescue
of 200 girls and 93 women from a
notorious Boko Haram stronghold
in Nigeria, but said it was unlikely
the hostages were those kidnapped
from Chibok a year ago.
Troops have this afternoon captured & destroyed three camps of
terrorists inside the Sambisa forest
& rescued 200 girls & 93 women,
defence spokesperson Chris Olukolade said in a text message on
April 28, referring to the area in
northeast Borno state where the Islamists have bases.
It is not yet confirmed if the
girls are the Chibok girls. The freed
persons are now being screened &
profiled, he added.
Olukolade gave no indication as
to how long it would take for the
hostages to be identified.
Mr Boko Haram claimed the abduction of 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, also in Borno,
on April 14 of last year.
Fifty-seven girls escaped within
hours of the attack but 219 remained in captivity.
In the weeks following the mass
abduction, Nigerian security sources and locals in Borno said there
were indications the girls had been
taken to the Sambisa Forest.
But defence officials and experts
agreed that they were likely separated over the last 13 months, casting
significant doubt on the possibility
that they were being held together
as a group.
Boko Harams leader, Abubakar
Shekau, vowed to marry them off
or sell them as slaves.

Ayuba Alamson-Chibok, a teacher who has campaigned on the girls

behalf, said that he doubts those reportedly rescued from Sambisa on
April 28 were from Chibok.
I believe it is not possible for
our girls to be in one place, said
Alamson-Chibok, whose two cousins are among the hostages.
Nigerias military has in the past
released misleading and inaccurate
information concerning the Chibok
girls, including claims last year that
Boko Haram had agreed to their
release.
The Islamists have been blamed
for hundreds of other kidnappings,
especially targeting women and
girls across northeast Nigeria.
Amnesty International estimates
that the Islamists have kidnapped
at least 2000 women and girls since
the beginning of last year.
The Chibok attack brought unprecedented worldwide attention to
Nigerias Islamist uprising.
It also sparked sharp criticism
of the governments initial response
to the drama, with outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan accused of
indifference and of trying to downplay the severity of the kidnapping.
Celebrities and prominent personalities including US First Lady
Michelle Obama joined the Twitter
campaign #BringBackOurGirls that
attracted supporters worldwide.
Earlier this month, countries
around the globe took part in marches and candlelight vigils to mark the
first anniversary of the kidnappings.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai,
who was shot and nearly killed by

the Pakistani Taliban for advocating girls education, used the occasion to renew calls for their release,
describing the girls as my brave
sisters.
The 17-year-old criticised Nigerian and world leaders for not doing
enough to free the girls.
Boko Haram, whose name translates roughly from the Hausa language as Western education is
sin, is seeking to create a hardline
Islamic state and has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist
group.
The groups six-year insurgency
in northeast Nigeria has left at least
15,000 dead and some 1.5 million
people homeless.
The Nigerian military has in
recent months claimed a string of
successes against Boko Haram after
launching a joint offensive against
the militants with the help of soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and
Niger.
A series of towns previously
under Islamist control have been
retaken, and Nigerias military has
vowed to flush the insurgents out of
its bases in Sambisa in the coming
weeks.
But a string of recent attacks underlined the continuing risks posed
by the Islamists.
Niger on April 28 said 46 of its
soldiers and 28 civilians were killed
in a Boko Haram attack on an island
on Lake Chad on April 25. The assault came after 21 people were shot
dead in northeast Nigerias Yobe
state on April 24, in an attack also
blamed on Boko Haram. AFP

RIYADH

Saudi King names new

heir in dynastic shift
SAUDI Arabias King Salman yesterday
named his powerful interior minister
as heir in a major dynastic reshuffle
that also saw the worlds longest-serving foreign minister replaced.
A royal decree removed Crown
Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz bin
Saud as next in line to the throne and
replaced him with Prince Mohammed
bin Nayef, who headed a crackdown
on al-Qaeda in the oil-rich kingdom a
decade ago.
We have decided to respond to his
highness and what he had expressed
about his desire to be relieved from the
position of crown prince, said a statement from the royal court, carried by
the official Saudi Press Agency.
It added that Prince Moqren, 69,
was also relieved of his position as
deputy prime minister in the worlds
largest oil exporter, but insisted he will
always remain in high regard.
The decree named Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince as well
as deputy prime minister and said he
will continue in his position of interior
minister and head of the political and
security council, a coordinating body.
A separate decree yesterday said
King Salmans son, Prince Mohammed
bin Salman, who is in his early 30s, will
be deputy crown prince.
He retains his position of defence
minister, in which he has recently
played a key role in a Saudi-led coalition conducting air strikes on Yemeni
rebels.
The dismissal of Prince Moqren
removes one of the few remaining
high-level officials from the era of King
Abdullah, who died on January 23 and
was replaced by King Salman, 79.
Prince Moqren would have been the
last son of the kingdoms founder, Abdul Aziz bin Saud, to rule.
He was a confidant of the late King

Abdullah, who appointed him deputy crown prince behind then-crown

prince Salman in March 2014, an unprecedented move.
Prince Moqrens removal leaves
Prince bin Nayef as the first of the second generation, or grandsons of Abdul
Aziz, in line to lead the conservative Islamic kingdom.
The appointment of bin Nayef, 55,
further solidifies control of Salmans
Sudayri branch of the royal family.
Their influence had waned under King
Abdullah.
A Western diplomat said Prince Moqren had really only a protocol position under King Salman, describing
Prince bin Salman as the strong man
in Saudi Arabia.
Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia
has adopted a more assertive foreign
policy, leading the Arab-dominated
coalition targeting Iran-backed rebels
in neighbouring Yemen since late
March.
In another major change, Saudi
Arabias envoy to the United States,
Adel al-Jubeir, was appointed foreign
minister, a royal decree said.
He replaces Prince Saud al-Faisal
who asked to be relieved from his duties due to his health condition, said
the decree carried by the SPA.
Prince Saud had held the post since
1975, making him the worlds longestserving foreign minister.
The decree said Prince Saud has
been appointed as an adviser and a
special envoy of the king, as well as a
supervisor on foreign affairs.
Mr Jubeirs appointment is a rarity
as the position of foreign minister is
usually held by a member of the ruling family. King Salman also named a
new health minister in yesterdays reshuffle, the second major government
shakeup since he took office. AFP

World 15

www.mmtimes.com
SEOUL

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka parliament approves

curbs to presidential powers
SRI Lankas parliament has voted
overwhelmingly to curb the power of
the presidency, restoring a two-term
limit and reviving independent bodies to manage key institutions such as
the police and the judiciary.
A total of 215 out of the 225 lawmakers approved a constitutional
amendment on April 29 which restores presidential term limits, reversing a change by former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse who
scrapped them after being re-elected
in 2010.
The amendment was in line with
a pledge by President Maithripala
Sirisena. His election victory in January ended Mr Rajapakses decade in
power, during which he granted himself greater powers over the police,
judiciary and civil servants.
The bill also removed the presidents power to dissolve parliament,
until it has completed four-and-a-half
years of its five-year term.
Previously the president had the
power to sack parliament after one
year, a threat Mr Rajapakse had used
to keep lawmakers in line.
The amendment was watered
down, however, to ensure that the
minority government secured the
support of the opposition, whose
votes were crucial to gain a mandatory two-thirds majority. Mr Sirisenas
government does not enjoy a majority in parliament.

Sri Lankas leading Buddhist monk Maduluwawe Sobitha (centre) takes part in
a protest demanding constitutional reform on April 27. Photo: AFP

The government agreed to accommodate four more legislators in

a Constitutional Council which will
make key appointments to run 11
public institutions such as the police,
the judiciary, the elections office and
the civil service.
This is not ideal. We had to compromise because we dont have a twothirds majority on our own, Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told
parliament.

He said the government hoped

to reduce the number of politicians
in the Constitutional Council, which
aims to depoliticise state institutions
and ensure their independence.
Mr Wickremesinghe described
the statute amendment as an interim
measure ahead of more democratic
reforms.
After the next election, we can
have more reforms. We can turn the
next parliament into a constituent

assembly and adopt a (brand new)

constitution, the prime minister said.
The government did not say if
parliament would be dissolved soon
after passing the bill, in line with a
pledge by Mr Sirisena earlier this
month.
The current parliament can run
until April 2016, but Mr Sirisena had
said he would call fresh elections on
April 23. He delayed the dissolution
to give the opposition more time to
pass the bill.
The government had initially
planned to transfer many of the
presidents executive powers to parliament and return the country to
the Westminster-style parliamentary
democracy that existed till 1978, but
the Supreme Court shot it down.
The court ruled earlier this
month that power can be transferred from the executive, who is
elected directly by the people, to
parliament only if approved by a
referendum, which the government
said was too expensive.
Instead, leaders agreed to clip the
presidents powers and limit his immunity from prosecution.
In a rare address to the assembly
on April 27 at the start of a two-day
debate on the reforms, Mr Sirisena
said the bill was a meritorious act.
He is expected to dissolve parliament soon and legislative elections
could be held as early as June. AFP

Kim Jong-Un
killed 15 top
officials
NORTH Koreas Kim Jong-Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year, including several
who complained about the young
leaders policies, South Koreas intelligence agency said yesterday.
Those executed included two vice
minister-level officials, the Yonhap
news agency reported, citing legislators who attended a briefing by the
National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Both were punished for opposing
or complaining about Mr Kims directives, the legislators said.
The Kim dynasty has ruled reclusive and impoverished North Korea
for more than six decades with an
iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.
The NIS suggested Kim Jong-Un
was following the well-trodden path
of his father and grandfather in using regular purges and executions
to ensure discipline and loyalty.
Mr Kim had his uncle and onetime political mentor Jang SongThaek executed in late 2013 on an
array of charges, including treason
and corruption.
Mr Jang had played a key role
in cementing the leadership of the
inexperienced Mr Kim, who took
over after the death of his father
and long-time ruler Kim Jong-Il in
December 2011.
But analysts said Mr Jangs growing political power and intervention
in lucrative trade deals was resented by his young nephew. AFP

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

the pulse 17

www.mmtimes.com

it

ge
t

yo

gers o
n
i
f
n

the pulse editor: ChArlotte rose charlottelola.rose@gmail.com

Unlicensed Cambodian doctor Ken Mon (left) gives medicine to a patient at a village in Kampong Speu province. Photos: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy

Ken Mon rides his motorcycle to a patients house in Kampong Speu province.
Cambodian women with their babies wait in front of the Kantha Bopha hospital in Phnom Penh.

Cambodias
self-taught doctors
a Khmer Rouge legacy

SuY SE

hen the phone rings, former Khmer Rouge

soldier Ken Mon grabs a bag stuffed full of
medicine, jumps on his motorbike and heads
for an impoverished Cambodian village with the
haste of any diligent local doctor.
Yet the 55-year-old Mon has no formal medical training.
While doctor is a self-granted title for Mon, he and others
like him are the only source to treatment for thousands of poor
residents in Ang Ro Ngeang village, about 70 kilometres (45
miles) south of Phnom Penh.
Undeterred by his lack of qualifications, Mon drives 10
minutes down a bumpy track in Cambodias southern Kampong
Speu province, arriving at the home of Chei Tana, 27, who
complains of crippling stomach pains.
You have a lot of air inside your stomach, he explains after
examining his patient, giving him a packet of antacid pills.
Mon is one of hundreds of unlicensed doctors treating
patients across a country whose medical system was eviscerated
under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and is yet to
build a comprehensive public system.
Seventy percent of Cambodians seek healthcare from the
private sector including from pharmacies, illegal doctors or
traditional healers, known as Kru Khmer according to a 2012
survey by the World Health Organization.
But illegal doctors have fallen under intense scrutiny after a
mass outbreak of HIV at a remote village in western Cambodia
last November.
Authorities say the original infection was caused by an
unqualified doctor, Yem Chroeum, who has admitted he re-used
needles and syringes.
More than 200 of his patients have since tested positive for
HIV and Chroeum faces trial on charges of murder, deliberately
infecting people with the virus and operating an illegal clinic.
The scandal saw the government vow to crack down on

unlicensed health providers.

Their practice affects the lives of the people, and the
reputation of the country, according to Sok Srun, director of the
health ministrys hospital services department, which oversees
the licensing of medical staff and clinics.
Despite their concerns, officials are yet to come up with a policy
to persuade newly trained doctors to leave the relative comforts of
the cities and head into Cambodias remote, rural hinterlands.
Neither have they been able to adequately boost the ranks
of doctors, a profession decimated by the Khmer Rouge who
slaughtered a huge proportion of the countrys educated classes.
That legacy still haunts the country today.
World Bank figures say Cambodia, one of Asias poorest
nations, has just 0.2 doctors for every 100,000 people, on a par
with Afghanistan.
Similarly impoverished Myanmar has 0.4 per 100,000, while
France boasts 3.2 per 100,000.
For millions of Cambodians, doctors like Mon are their
cheapest and often only option.
I learned my medical skills at the university of life, he said,
adding authorities have never stopped him practising medicine.
Ironically that education came from the same people who
destroyed Cambodias health system.
Mon joined the Khmer Rouge as a fighter in 1974, shortly
before the hardline Communist regime seized power.
When it was finally toppled in 1979 after causing the deaths
of up to 2 million Cambodians through execution, starvation
or overwork he and many other cadres fled to Samlot, a
stronghold on the Thai border.
There he learned his medical skills, first from Khmer Rouge
medics and later from foreign doctors working for the Red Cross.
The first day, they gave me a syringe and medicine and asked
me to inject a wounded soldier, he recalls, adding he can now
deal with a myriad of procedures from treating diseases such as

malaria and typhoid to suturing wounds.

Nuch Dy, a 56-year-old widow from a nearby village, has never
seen a qualified doctor.
[The health centre] is far and I dont have money to pay
immediately, she says.
Instead she treats her long-time stomach problems with
painkillers and antacid pills bought from Mon often on a tab.
Neighbour Uon Sreang, 35, said that everybody in the village
is aware their doctor has no formal training.
But we trust him. He always used new syringes and needles
when he gave injections to my family members, she says, her
nine-month-old baby in her arms.
There is a logic to their faith in Mons skills with official health
centres often failing to guarantee a better quality of care.
The WHO has said that 43pc of the 11,000 health centres
across Cambodia the first port of call for medical treatment
are unable to provide full services due to a lack of physicians,
medicine or equipment.
Meanwhile, a World Bank survey last year found only one in
three official doctors in rural health centres were able to correctly
diagnose a series of illnesses.
Of those who could, just 17pc were able to prescribe relevant
drugs.
For the seriously ill and the very young a city clinic is
almost always the only option.
Outside a childrens hospital in Phnom Penh, Heng Hen, 45,
waits patiently with three sick grandsons after making the 80km
journey at dawn.
Medics in the countryside dont have ability to treat children
yet, Hen says.
He admits the recent HIV outbreak has given him pause for
thought over the wisdom of continuing to seek treatment from
unlicensed medics.
But we have no choice because we are poor, he says. AFP

18 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

BOURGES

Middle East musical rise on

display at French festival
FROm Palestinian hip-hop to
Egyptian electro to Lebanese bluesrock, artists from the middle East
are making inroads into Europe as
witnessed at the latest Printemps de
Bourges festival in France.
The latest edition of the annual
music event in central France features
artists from the middle East as
diverse as hard-edged Palestinian
rappers DAm to Asaf Avidan, the
Israeli folk singer who has won
growing acclaim with his unique,
high-pitched, androgynous voice.
The artists selected for the
festivals 39th edition, which
concluded April 29, show the
dazzling and extremely creative
scene in the contemporary middle
East, said Elodie mermoz, who was
involved in programming.
The six-day festival also featured
plenty of stars from the broader
music world including the Australian
folk rock duo Angus and Julia Stone,
gender-bending singer Christine and
the Queens, and French-Finnish indie
band The Do.
But with a showcase of eight
artists from the middle East, the
festival aimed to highlight some of
the talent of a musical scene that
much like the regions politics is
fast-moving.
mermoz said that the rising
interest in middle Eastern artists
went hand-in-hand with the eruption
of the Arab Spring.
The region-wide revolt has woken
up the youth and from the moment

they left the streets, they needed

another ground for expression and
that was music, she said.
Islam Chipsky, an energetic
keyboardist from Egypt who brings
an electro dimension to percussionheavy songs, received an ecstatic
response when he performed Friday.
Chipsky, whose trio has also played
under the name EEK, had a career
performing at weddings in Cairo and
debuted in Britain last year.
He played down the significance of
the Arab Spring on his music part of
the growing Electro Shaabi genre that
combines traditional Arab forms with
Western instruments.
We were always there in the
underground scene before the Arab
Spring, but maybe for [the festival]
you started to look at young people in
these countries because of the Arab
Spring, he said.
Of course we get different
exposure right now not only us but
all the art scene in these countries
but that is not exactly that much
related to the Arab Spring.
Chipsky said that the Electro
Shaabi genre had initially been
written off as ghetto music for the
poor, but that the appeal has rapidly
spread.
Right now you cant just ignore
the fact that everyone knows about
this music in Egypt if not in the
area, in the middle East, he said.
Such a marriage between traditional
and modern forms is increasingly
widespread in the middle East.

Israeli singer Asaf Avidan

performs on stage as part of the
39th edition of Le Printemps de
Bourges rock and pop music
festival in Bourges. Photo: AFP/
Guillaume Souvant

Among other artists who enjoyed

a warm reception in Bourges was the
Lebanese band mashrou Leila, who
bring together rock form with more
traditional Arab vocals and violin.
The group has already won
a loyal following in the middle
East, despite lyrics that touch on
sometimes sensitive topics such as
homosexuality, and will tour Europe
in the coming months.
But some artists from the middle
East are unconcerned about whether
their music represents traditional
elements.

Sary moussa, a Lebanese

experimental electronic musician who
goes by the stage name RadioKVm,
said, Like plenty of Lebanese, Im
a mix of all the cultures around me,
including on television.
I come up with a synthesis of all of
this culture and I dont necessarily feel
a need to be recognisably Arab, he said.
The same philosophy holds
true for another Lebanese act, The
Wanton Bishops, whose blues songs
in English come off as more from
the banks of the mississippi than the
mediterranean. The band plans an

Nude art is still new

ZON PaNN PwiNt

zonpann08@gmail.com

ULTURAL factors still

govern art appreciation
for many people.
Traditionally, nude
paintings were considered
offensive and inappropriate, and
were suppressed by the authorities
accordingly.
But starting in mid-2014, the
censors stopped prowling the
galleries, and artists dusted off the
nudes they had been keeping under
wraps.
But visitors still dont want to
look.
People turn their heads away
when they see the paintings in the
exhibition, said Sandar Khine, who
has been drawing nudes for 18 years.
Not one of them has been sold at
home.
Colour Image, an exhibition
staged by 17 artists, has been on
display at Lokanat art gallery, 62
Pansodan Road (ending today). It
features seven of Sandar Khines
nudes.
Photos: Zon Pann Pwint

She started painting in 1996,

asking mothers to pose when single
women modestly declined.
Our culture teaches people to
be shy about the body. most people
would never look at a nude, she
said. Even the University of Art and
Culture anatomy class doesnt use
live models.
All her work depicts women with
generous curves.
In the city, women are too
shy to pose naked. I have hired
12 models, married women, my
neighbours. At first they refused, but

when I persisted, they indulged my

passion, she said.
Repeated sittings bring intimacy
between artist and subject.
Colour Image features two of
her works, portraying the artists
sister and her neighbour.
Though shunned here, Sandar
Khines work has been hailed in the
United States, Britain, Singapore,
Indonesia, malaysia and Chiang mai,
where her art has been exhibited.
If I exhibit here, my fellow
artists will trade me one of their
paintings for one of mine, she said,

saying she hoped more nudes would

be displayed in order to get people
better acquainted with the practice.
Even without censorship, some
galleries darent display nudes. Art
here is still evolving, she said.
U Tin Oo, who has six landscapes
on display, said, Sandar Khines
work is not realistic, and nudes
painted by women are considered
more acceptable.
The exhibition also features
landscapes, cityscapes and
contemporary works in oil,
watercolour and acrylic on canvas.

extensive tour of France through July.

Hip-hop has been a force for social
commentary since its birth, and the
Palestinian rappers DAm won a wide
following a decade ago with meen
Irhabi (Whos the Terrorist?).
DAm has increasingly found an
audience outside the region, with
touring in recent years across Europe
and North America as well as Japan.
Avidan is not the only Israeli
singer at the festival, with the FrenchIsraeli star Yael Naim who scored a
top 10 US hit with New Soul also
performing. AFP

LONDON

Barking mad?
Doggie DNA to
track foulers in
London
A LONDON borough aptly named
Barking and Dagenham unveiled
plans on April 28 to crack down on
irresponsible dog owners by checking
their pets poo against a DNA
database it will build up.
The local authority is encouraging
owners to enter their dogs in the
database by taking them to the vet for
a cheek swab, warning that the areas
27 parks will be out of bounds for any
animals that are not registered.
DNA testing for dogs will also
be made a condition for tenants in
public housing in the area in east
London.
The initiative is a first in Britain,
although similar schemes in the
United States have been successful.
We are the first council to get really
tough on dog mess and pet owners who
do not act in a socially responsible way,
Darren Rodwell, the council leader, was
quoted as saying in a statement.
Rogue dog owners will get an
80 (US$122) fine and the council is
hoping to cut down on an annual street
cleaning-bill of 2.3 million ($3.5m).
The pilot scheme was unveiled at a
Dog Fouling Forum called Leading
a New Way, the council said in its
statement, adding that it hoped to
implement the programme fully from
September.
Gary Downie, managing director
of Streetkleen, the company that
would carry out the testing, said,
I believe the combination of DNA
testing and enforcement could be
the most effective means of ensuring
owners are held accountable.
In the US, we have experienced
reductions in dog fouling by as much
as 90 percent after introducing the
program, he said. AFP

the pulse 19

www.mmtimes.com
LONDON

Fake Chinese painting dupes London gallery-goers

he results are in of a
battle that pitted Londons
culture vultures against
a Chinese workshop
churning out replicas of
the worlds most famous paintings,
revealing a clear victory for the cutprice masters.
For nearly three months, visitors
to Londons Dulwich Picture Gallery
have pored over 270 paintings in
its permanent collection, including
works by Rembrandt, Rubens and
Gainsborough, knowing that there
was one US$120 (109 euro) fake in
their midst.
Around 3000 people voted for
their pick of the replica, but only 300
correctly identified it as French artist
Jean-honore Fragonards 18th-century
portrait Young Woman.
The white looks too bright and
fresh, said visitor emma hollanby,
as she looked at the two paintings
side-by-side, depicting an unknown
woman with rouged cheeks and
red lips, peering seductively at the
viewer.
But its easy to say when its next
to it [the original], and I probably
wouldnt have got it, admitted the
26-year-old, who works in a gallery.
The experiment was the
brainchild of American artist Doug
Fishbone, who wanted to throw
down the gauntlet to museum-goers
and make them look more closely at
the great works.
Chief curator Xavier Bray said he
chose the Fragonard painting as its
one of our great pictures, but tends
to be something that doesnt engage.

A woman looks at an original painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard titled Young Woman (left) and a replica ordered from
China by the gallery at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. Photo: AFP/Ben Stansall

The replica was ordered from

Meisheng Oil Painting Manufacture
Co Ltd in Xiamen, in Chinas
southeastern Fujian province.
The gallery emailed a jpeg of its
chosen picture, paid $126 including
shipping via PayPal, and received the

rolled-up replica within three weeks

by courier.
Bray called the response to the
gallerys spot-the-fake challenge very
gratifying and said it had boosted
visitor numbers.
People have been actually looking

at the pictures, he said. Rather than

looking at the label first and then the
picture, they did the opposite.
he added that children had been
particularly engaged.
They dont seem to have that
mindset that makes them think what

an Old Master should look like. They

go straight for what looks different,
he explained.
On cue, a group of young
schoolchildren gathered to play
a highbrow game of spot the
difference.
That ones not the fake one
because its browner, it looks older,
said one, followed by a classmate,
who noted that the fake was all
white and brighter.
As well as examining the type of
canvas used, how it was prepared,
the brushwork and what type of
pigments and varnish were employed,
the experts rely on the artists innate
creativity to identify the fakes.
The original is almost what a
magician would paint, said Bray.
You look at this [the fake]. Its
industrial and the expression is
empty.
Painter Jane Preece, a regular
visitor, said she would have
recognised the fake because Ive
always loved that painting.
Its dark but shines through. It
has a luminous quality about it,
explained the 75-year-old.
Whereas the fake just looks
wrong. It hasnt got that magical
quality.
The ultimate aim of the
experiment, Bray said, was to give a
kick of life to the old collection.
In this country we take for
granted a lot of the great art that we
are surrounded by, he said. It was
part of my intention to make people
realise how lucky they really are.
AFP

20 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

Yangon to MandalaY
Flight
Y5 775
W9 515
YH 909
YH 917
YJ 891
YJ 891
K7 282
W9 201
YH 826
YH 835
YH 909
YH 831
YH 911
W9201
YH 829
7Y 131
K7 266
8M 6603
YJ 751
YJ 601
YJ 201
YJ 761
YJ 233
YJ 211
YH 729
YH 737
YH 727
W9 251
K7 822
YJ 151/W9 7151
K7 622
K7 226
YH 731
Y5 234
W9 211

Days
Daily
1
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
1,2,4,5,6
3
Daily
Daily
3
1,7
7
4,6
2
1
5
Daily
Daily
4
5
6
1,2,4
1,2,4
6
5,7
2,4,6
3,5,7
1
2,5
4,7
1
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
Daily
Daily
4

Dep
6:00
6:00
6:00
6:10
6:00
6:30
6:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:15
8:00
9:00
10:45
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:15
11:15
11:30
12:30
13:00
13:00
13:30
14:30
15:20
15:30

Arr
7:10
7:25
7:40
8:30
8:05
8:35
8:10
8:25
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:25
11:05
9:20
10:05
10:10
14:50
12:25
12:25
12:55
12:55
12:25
14:00
13:25
13:25
12:55
16:55
16:45
14:25
14:55
16:40
16:30
16:55

MandalaY to Yangon
Flight
Y5 233
YJ 891
K7 283
YH 918
YH 910
W9 201
YJ 891
7Y 132
K7 267
YH 830
YH 912
YJ 762
YH 832
YH 827
YH 836
YH 910
YJ 212
YJ 212
YJ 202
YJ 602
YJ 762
YH 732
YH 732
YH 728
W9 152/W97152
Y5 776
W9 211
K7 823
8M 6604
K7 227
8M 903
YH 738
K7 623
YH 730
YJ 234
W9 252

Days
Daily
1,2,4,5,6
Daily
Daily
7
Daily
3
Daily
Daily
5
2
4
4,6
3
1,7
1,2,3,5,6
5,7
5,7
1,2,4
7
1,2
6
Daily
1
1
Daily
4
2,4,7
4
2,4,6
1,2,4,5,7
3,5,7
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
6
2,5

Dep
7:50
8:20
8:25
8:30
8:40
8:40
8:50
9:35
10:20
11:05
11:30
13:10
13:20
13:20
13:20
13:20
15:00
15:00
15:30
15:40
16:35
16:40
16:40
16:45
17:05
17:10
17:10
17:10
17:20
17:20
17:20
17:25
17:40
17:45
17:45
18:15

Arr
9:00
10:15
11:30
10:45
10:05
10:35
10:45
11:30
12:25
14:55
13:25
17:00
14:45
14:45
14:45
14:45
16:25
16:25
16:55
17:35
18:00
18:05
18:45
18:10
18:30
18:20
19:15
18:35
18:30
18:45
18:30
18:50
19:05
19:10
19:10
19:40

Yangon to naY pYi taw

naY pYi taw to Yangon

Flight
FMI A1
FMI B1
FMI C1
SO 102

Flight
FMI A2
FMI B2
FMI C2
SO 101

Days
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
Daily

Dep
7:15
10:45
17:00
18:00

Arr
8:15
11:45
18:00
19:00

Yangon to nYaung u
Flight
K7 282
YJ 891
YH 909
YH 917
YJ 891
YH 909
K7 242
7Y 131
K7 264
YH 731
W9 129
W9 211
W9 129

Days
Daily
1,2,4,5,6
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
3,7
4
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
1,3,6
4
1

Dep
6:00
6:00
6:00
6:10
6:30
6:30
7:00
7:15
14:30
14:30
15:30
15:30
15:30

Days
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
Daily

Dep
8:35
13:30
18:20
7:00

Arr
9:35
14:30
19:20
8:00

nYaung u to Yangon
Arr
7:20
7:20
8:25
7:45
7:50
8:05
8:20
8:35
16:40
17:25
17:35
17:40
17:35

Flight
YJ 891
YH 918
YJ 891
YH 910
YH 910
K7 242
7Y 131
K7 283
K7 265
YH 732
W9 129

Days
1,2,4,5,6
Daily
3,7
4
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
1,3,6

Dep
7:35
7:45
8:05
8:05
8:25
8:35
8:50
10:10
16:55
17:25
17:50

Arr
10:15
10:45
10:45
9:25
9:45
11:45
11:30
11:30
18:15
18:45
19:10

Yangon to MYitkYina

MYitkYina to Yangon

Flight
YH 829
YH 826
YH 835
YH 831
YJ 201
YJ 201
W9 251

Flight
YH 827
YH 832
YH 836
YH 830
YJ 202
YJ 202
YJ 234
W9 252

Days
5
3
1,7
4,6
1,2,4
3
2,5

Dep
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
11:00
11:15
11:30

Arr
9:40
10:05
10:05
10:05
13:50
14:05
14:25

Days
3
4,6
1,7
5
1,2,4
3
6
2,5

Dep
11:55
11:55
11:55
12:30
14:05
14:20
16:20
16:45

Arr
14:45
14:45
14:45
14:55
16:55
17:10
19:10
19:40

Yangon to HeHo
Flight
YJ 891
K7 282
YH 917
YJ 881
YJ 891
K7 242
7Y 131
K7 266
Y5 649
YH 505
YJ 751
YJ 751
YJ 761
YJ 233
YH 727
YH 737
YH 727
K7 828
K7 822
K7 264
YH 731
W9 129

Days
1,2,4,5,6
Daily
Daily
7
3
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
1,2,3,4,5,6
3,7
5
1,2,4
6
1
3,5,7
3
1,3,5
2,4,7
Daily
Daily
1,3,6

Dep
6:00
6:00
6:10
6:30
6:30
7:00
7:15
8:00
10:30
10:30
10:30
10:45
11:00
11:00
11:15
11:15
11:15
12:30
12:30
14:30
14:30
15:30

HeHo to Yangon
Arr
8:50
9:00
9:35
8:45
9:20
9:15
10:05
9:15
12:45
11:55
11:40
11:55
12:10
12:10
12:40
12:40
12:40
13:45
13:45
15:45
15:55
16:40

Flight
YJ 881
YJ 891
K7 283
W9 201
K7 243
YH 918
YJ 891
7Y 132
K7 267
YH 506
YJ 752
YJ 762
YJ 762
YH 732
K7 829
YH 728
K7 264
YH 738
YJ 752
W9 129

Arr
8:15
9:05
13:50
17:00
10:40

Flight
Y5 326
7Y 532
K7 320
Y5 326
SO 202

Yangon to MYeik
Flight
Y5 325
K7 319
7Y 531
Y5 325
SO 201

Days
1,5
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
2
Daily

Dep
6:45
7:00
11:45
15:30
8:20

Days
1,3,6
Daily
1,3,5,7

Dep
11:30
11:45
12:00

Days
Daily
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,3,6
1,3,5,7
Daily
1,3,4,6

Dep
7:00
10:30
11:30
12:00
13:00
15:45

Days
1
2,4,6
Daily

Dep
7:00
11:45
8:20

Flight
W9 309
6T 612
K7 423

Arr
10:35
13:10
13:50
12:50
13:35
16:40

Flight
K7 243
YH 506
7Y 413
W9 309
K7 422
Y5 422

Days
3,7
5
2,4,6
1,3,5

Dep
10:30
10:45
11:00
12:30

Days
3
4,6
1,7
2,5

Dep
7:00
7:00
7:00
11:30

Dep
8:35
16:05
11:30
17:15
13:20

Arr
10:05
18:10
13:35
18:45
15:40

Air Bagan (W9)

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air KBZ (K7)

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

Asian Wings (YJ)

Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640
Fax: 532333, 516654

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)

Days
1,3,6
Daily
Daily

Dep
13:10
13:15
15:10

Days
Daily
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,3,5,7
1,3,6
Daily
1,3,4,6

Dep
10:50
13:10
13:05
14:05
14:10
16:55

Arr
8:10
12:50
9:40

Flight
K7 320
7Y 532
SO 202

Arr
12:45
13:00
13:00
14:50

Flight
YJ 752
K7 829
K7 829
YJ 752
YH 730

Arr
11:00
11:00
11:00
15:25

Flight
YH 836
YH 832
YH 827
W9 252

Days
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
Daily

Dep
12:25
17:05
14:20

Arr
14:55
14:20
16:30

Arr
11:45
14:00
15:25
14:55
16:30
17:50

Arr
13:35
18:10
15:40

lasHio to Yangon
Days
5
1,3
5
3,7
2,4,6

Dep
13:15
15:05
15:05
15:40
16:45

Arr
16:30
15:55
17:25
17:55
19:10

putao to Yangon
Days
1,7
4,6
3
2,5

Dep
11:00
11:00
11:00
15:45

Yangon Airways (YH)

Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264
Fax: 652 533

FMI Air Charter

Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545

APEX Airlines (SO)

dawei to Yangon

Yangon to putao
Flight
YH 826
YH 831
YH 835
W9 251

Days
1,5
2,4,6
1,3,5,7
2
Daily

tHandwe to Yangon

Yangon to lasHio
Flight
YJ 751
YJ 751
YH 729
K7 828

Domestic Airlines

Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020

Arr
12:55
12:55
13:50

Yangon to dawei
Flight
K7 319
7Y 531
SO 201

Arr
10:10
10:15
11:30
10:35
11:45
10:45
10:45
11:30
12:25
14:00
16:30
17:00
18:00
18:45
17:25
18:10
18:15
18:50
17:55
19:10

sittwe to Yangon

Yangon to tHandwe
Flight
K7 242
YH 505
W9 309
7Y 413
K7 422
Y5 421

Dep
9:00
9:05
9:15
9:25
9:30
9:35
9:35
10:20
11:10
11:55
14:20
15:50
15:50
15:55
16:10
16:00
16:30
16:40
16:45
16:55

MYeik to Yangon

Yangon to sittwe
Flight
W9 309
6T 611
K7 413

Days
7
1,2,4,5,6
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
3
Daily
Daily
1,2,3,4,5,6
5
4
1,2
Daily
1,3,5
1
Daily
3,5,7
3,7
1,3,6

Arr
14:45
14:45
14:45
19:40

Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311

Fax : 95 (1) 533312

Airline Codes
SO = APEX Airlines
7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines
K7 = Air KBZ
W9 = Air Bagan
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines
YH = Yangon Airways
YJ = Asian Wings
FMI = FMI Air Charter

Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday
4 = Thursday
5 = Friday
6 = Saturday
7 = Sunday

the pulse 21

www.mmtimes.com
VICTORIA

InternAtIonAl FlIGHt SCHeDUleS

YANGON TO BANGKOK

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

PG 706
Daily
6:05
8M 335
Daily
7:40
TG 304
Daily
9:50
PG 702
Daily
10:30
TG 302
Daily
14:50
PG 708
Daily
15:20
8M 331
Daily
16:30
PG 704
Daily
18:35
Y5 237
Daily
19:00
TG 306
Daily
19:50
YANGON TO DON MUEANG
Flights
DD 4231
FD 252
FD 256
FD 254
FD 258
DD 4239
Flights

Days
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily

8:20
9:25
11:45
12:25
16:45
17:15
18:15
20:30
20:50
21:45

Dep
8:00
8:30
12:50
17:35
21:30
21:00

Arr
9:45
10:20
14:40
19:25
23:15
22:55

YANGON TO SINGAPORE
Days

Dep

Arr

BANGKOK TO YANGON

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

TG 303
Daily
8:00
PG 701
Daily
8:45
Y5 238
Daily
21:30
8M 336
Daily
10:40
TG 301
Daily
13:05
PG 707
Daily
13:40
PG 703
Daily
17:00
TG 305
Daily
18:05
8M 332
Daily
19:15
PG 705
Daily
20:15
DON MUEANG TO YANGON
Flights
DD 4230
FD 251
FD 255
FD 253
FD 257
DD 4238
Flights

Days
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily

8:45
9:40
22:20
11:25
13:50
14:30
17:50
18:50
20:00
21:30

Dep
6:30
7:15
11:35
16:20
20:15
19:25

Arr
7:15
8:00
12:20
17:05
20:55
20:15

Dep

Arr

8M 231
Daily
8:00
12:25
Y5 2233
Daily
9:45
14:15
TR 2823
Daily
9:45
2:35
SQ 997
Daily
10:25
15:10
3K 582
Daily
11:45
16:20
MI 533
2,4,6
13:35
20:50
8M 233
5,6,7
14:40
19:05
MI 519
Daily
16:40
21:15
3K 584
2,3,5
19:30 00:05+1
YANGON TO KUALA LUMPUR

TR 2822
Daily
7:20
Y5 2234
Daily
7:20
SQ 998
Daily
7:55
3K 581
Daily
9:10
MI 533
2,4,6
11:30
8M 232
Daily
13:25
MI 518
Daily
14:20
3K 583
2,3,5
17:20
8M 234
5,6,7
20:15
KUALA LUMPUR TO YANGON

8:45
8:50
9:20
10:40
12:45
14:50
15:45
18:50
21:40

8M 501
AK 505
MH 741
8M 9506
8M 9508
MH 743
AK 503

11:50
12:45
16:30
16:30
20:05
20:15
23:20

AK 504
8M 9505
MH 740
8M 502
8M 9507
MH 742
AK 502

8:00
11:15
11:15
13:50
14:50
15:05
18:25

Arr
0550+1

Flights
CA 905

Flights

Flights
CA 906

Days

Dep

Arr

1,2,3,5,6
7:50
Daily
8:30
Daily
12:15
Daily
12:15
Daily
15:45
Daily
16:00
Daily
19:05
YANGON TO BEIJING
Days
3,5,7

Dep
23:50

YANGON TO GUANGZHOU
Flights

Days

8M 711
CZ 3056
CZ 3056
Flights

Days

Daily

Dep

Arr

CA 416
MU 2012
MU 2032
Flights

Days

13:15
15:55
22:10

Dep

Arr

10:50

16:10

VN 956

1,3,5,6,7

Dep

Arr

Flights

Days

2,4,7

Days

CZ 3055
CZ 3055
8M 712
Flights

Days

CI 7915

Daily

Dep

19:10

MU 2011
CA 415
MU 2031

Arr

Flights

21:25

Dep

Days
1,4,6

17:05

Flights

Days

Flights

4,7
Daily

Dep
7:55
Dep

0:50
23:55

Arr
11:40
Arr

8:50
07:45+1

YANGON TO HONG KONG

Days

KA 251
KA 251

1,2,3,4,6,7
5

Flights

Days

Daily

Arr

05:45
05:55

Dep

22:10

Arr

06:45+1

YANGON TO DHAKA

Flights

Days

BG 061
BG 061
Flights

Dep

01:10
01:30

YANGON TO TOKYO

NH 914

2
5

Dep

Arr

11:45
19:45

YANGON TO INCHEON

PG 724
W9 607
8M 7702
8M 7502

Days

1,3,5,6
4,7
Daily
4,7

Dep

12:50
14:30
23:30
00:35

Days
2,4,6
1,5
4,7

VN 957

Flights

Days

3,5,6
2
1,5

Flights

Days

VN 943

2,4,7

Flights

Days

Flights

AI 234
AI 228

1
5

Dep

7:00
13:10
14:05
Dep

13:10
Dep

14:05
18:45

MANDALAY TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 710

Days

Daily

Dep

14:15

MANDALAY TO SINGAPORE

Flights

MI 533
Y5 2233

Days

2,4,6
1,2,4,5,6

Dep

15:45
7:50

MANDALAY TO DON MUEANG

Flights

FD 245

Days

Daily

Dep

12:50

MANDALAY TO KUNMING

Flights

MU 2030

Days

Daily

Dep

13:50

NAY PYI TAW TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 722

Days

1,2,3,4,5

Dep

19:45

Days
3,5,7

10:35
16:40
15:50

Dep

Arr

7:00

9:50

Dep

Arr

11:50
11:30
14:00
Arr

16:40
Dep

11:45

Flights

Days

KE 471
0Z 769

Daily
3,6

Flights

Days

KA 252
KA 250

4
1,2,3,5,6,7

Flights

Days

Daily

Flights

Arr

Days

2
5

INCHEON TO YANGON

Arr

Arr

Days

2
3,5,6
5
Days

Dep
9:25
13:45
17:20
Dep

9:10
9:20
15:00
Dep

7:00

KOLKATA TO YANGON

AI 227
AI 233

Days

1
5

Dep

10:35
13:30

BANGKOK TO MANDALAY

Flights

PG 709

Days

Daily

Dep

12:05

SINGAPORE TO MANDALAY

Flights

Y5 2234
MI 533

Days

Daily
2,4,6

Dep

7:20
11:30

DON MUEANG TO MANDALAY

Flights

15:15

FD 244

Arr

Flights

Days

Daily

Dep

10:55

KUNMING TO MANDALAY

16:40

MU 2029

Arr

Flights

22:45

11:00
17:20
18:45
19:50

DELHI TO YANGON

Flights

Flights

20:50
14:15

1,3,5,6
4,7
Daily
3,6

Dep

GAYA TO YANGON

Flights

Arr

Arr

Days

Days
2,4,6
1,5
4,7

AI 235
8M 602
AI 233
AI 235

16:40

Dep

8:30
16:30

CHIANG MAI TO YANGON

16:30
17:20
19:45

Dep

11:45

DHAKA TO YANGON

Flights

Arr

Dep

22:50
21:45

TOKYO TO YANGON

NH 913
BG 060
BG 060

Arr

Dep

18:30
19:30

HONG KONG TO YANGON

13:00
21:00

8:20
14:10
15:05

Dep
19:45

Days

Daily

Dep

12:55

BANGKOK TO NAY PYI TAW

PG 721

Days

1,2,3,4,5

Dep

17:15

Tel: 255412, 413

Air Asia (FD)

Tel: 09254049991~3

Air Bagan Ltd.(W9)

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air China (CA)

Tel: 666112, 655882

Tel: 253597~98, 254758, 253601. Fax 248175

Bangkok Airways (PG)

Tel: 255122, 255265. Fax: 255119

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG)

Tel: 371867~68. Fax: 371869

Condor (DE)

Tel: 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Dragonair (KA)

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

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Malaysia Airlines (MH)

Tel: 387648, 241007 (ext: 120, 121, 122)

Fax: 241124

Myanmar Airways International (8M)

Tel: 255260. Fax: 255305

Nok Airline (DD)

Tel: 255050, 255021. Fax: 255051

Tel: 379845, 379843, 379831. Fax: 379730

Singapore Airlines (SQ) / Silk Air (MI)

18:10

Thai Airways (TG)

Arr

Tiger Airline (TR)

13:25
Arr
0459+1
Arr

22:30
23:40
Arr

00:30
23:30
Arr

17:15
Arr

10:45
18:45

Tel: 255491~6. Fax: 255223

Tel: 371383, 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Vietnam Airlines (VN)

Tel: 255066, 255088, 255068. Fax: 255086

Airline Codes
3K = Jet Star
8M = Myanmar Airways International
AK = Air Asia
BG = Biman Bangladesh Airlines
CA = Air China
CI = China Airlines
CZ = China Southern

Arr

11:55
18:10
22:25
23:25

DD = Nok Airline
FD = Air Asia
KA = Dragonair

Arr
10:15
14:35
18:10
Arr

12:10
12:30
18:00
Arr

12:10
Arr

13:20
18:00
Arr

13:25
Arr

16:30
14:50
Arr

12:20
Arr

12:50
Arr

19:15

KE = Korea Airlines
MH = Malaysia Airlines
MI = Silk Air
MU = China Eastern Airlines
NH = All Nippon Airways
PG = Bangkok Airways
QR = Qatar Airways
SQ = Singapore Airways
TG = Thai Airways
TR = Tiger Airline
VN = Vietnam Airline
AI = Air India
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday

Argyle Attic features a variety of Canadian whiskys. Photo: The Washington Post/
Liza Weisstuch

Victoria: small city

with a big farmto-table scene
LIzA WeIssTuCh

Qatar Airways (QR)

Tel: 255287~9. Fax: 255290

Dep

SEOUL TO YANGON

Flights
Y5 252
7Y 306
W9 608

YANGON TO KOLKATA
Days

Flights
QR 918

Arr
8:05
12:50
16:20

Dep
6:15
11:00
14:30

YANGON TO DELHI

AI 236

Arr

3
8:25
Daily
11:10
1,2,4,5,6,7 13:30
HANOI TO YANGON
1,3,5,6,7

PG 723
W9 608
8M 7701
8M 7501

YANGON TO GAYA

8M 601
AI 236
AI 234

Days

Days

14:45
16:20
07:50+1
09:10

YANGON TO CHIANG MAI

Flights
Y5 251
7Y 305
W9 607

Dep

DOHA TO YANGON

YANGON TO SEOUL

0Z 770
KE 472

Arr
22:50

HO CHI MINH CITY TO YANGON

Arr

14:25

Flights

YANGON TO DOHA
Flights
QR 919

Dep
19:30

3,6
8:35
1,5
14:40
2,4,7
14:15
TAIPEI TO YANGON

15:55
18:50
18:15

YANGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY

VN 942

Arr

KUNMING TO YANGON

Daily
12:30
3
12:40
1,2,4,5,6,7 14:50
YANGON TO HANOI
Days

Dep

Daily
6:55
Daily
10:05
Daily
10:05
1,2,3,5,6
12:50
Daily
13:40
Daily
13:55
Daily
17:20
BEIJING TO YANGON
Days
3,5,7

Flights

YANGON TO KUNMING
Flights

Days

GUANGZHOU TO YANGON

2,4,7
8:40
3,6
11:35
1,5
17:40
YANGON TO TAIPEI

CI 7916

Flights

All Nippon Airways (NH)

Air India

SINGAPORE TO YANGON
Days

International Airlines

4
5
6
7

=
=
=
=

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

SpinnakerS Brewpub, on
Vancouver island, bills itself as
relentlessly local. That seemingly
hyperbolic tagline, i came to see, is
actually an understatement. after all,
few are the gastropubs that offer a
selection of vinegars produced from
the beers brewed on the premises.
Opened in 1984 and recognised as
the first brewpub in Canada, the place
is decked out in dark wood furniture
and features floor-to-ceiling windows
that offer a sweeping view of Victoria
Harbors Lime Bay. The space evokes
a classically cozy French countryside
retreat, but dishes are decidedly
anti-classic: Oysters on the half-shell
are doused in pumpkin-ale-infused
vinegar; a brick-oven pizza selection
is strewn with house-smoked wild
salmon, blackberries from a nearby
farm, red onion, local brie, honeyinfused sour cream, and fresh basil
and rosemary. and the beers are
designed for pairing. The days india
pale ale was, surprisingly, a pleasing
complement to the pizza, the hops
playing easily off the basil and creamy
brie.
in most metropolitan cities these
days, restaurants wear local as a
badge of honour, but in Victoria, the
capital of British Columbia, and 72
miles (115 kilometres) southwest of
Vancouver, local cuisine is axiomatic.
The Capital region District, which
is composed of Victoria and its
bordering townships, covers about
7 percent of the 290-by-50-mile
(466-by-80km) island, but its home
to almost 350,000 people, which
accounts for nearly half of the islands
population. You can bet that leaves
plenty of land for farming. and it has
a temperate climate, making for ideal
growing conditions.
Victoria has a college-town vibe,
what with its quaint streets, and
a bevy of coffeehouses and indie
shops that outnumber the Starbucks
outlets and retail chains. Old stately
buildings, many of which now
stand as modern hotels, have been
revamped in a manner that maintains
the properties heritage.
On the recommendation of a
bartender at Spinnakers, i visited 10
acres, an airy, rustic-chic spot that
bills itself as Bistro + Bar + Farm.
Mike Murphy, the burly owner and
Victoria native, owned restaurants
in the city for 25 years and opened

10 acres in 2013. His newest spot,

pescatores, opened this week.
The menu here is determined
by Murphys 10-acre (4-hectare)
farm, located 17 miles (27km) north
and gloriously documented on the
restaurants Facebook page with
photographs that could qualify as
agriculture porn: piles of spindly,
colourful heirloom carrots, close-ups
of plump tomatoes ripening on the
vine, dirt-dusted magenta radishes.
Meanwhile, Murphy, who has a
linebackers build, a grizzled voice
and an easy laugh, was wandering the
floor. When i asked whats growing
now, he rattled off numbers like
a stock analyst running through
yesterdays gains: 450 fruit trees, 700
crowns of asparagus, 110 hazelnut
trees, and so on.
The regions bounty goes far
beyond fruit. The Victoria public
Market, which opened in the autumn
of 2013 in a 102-year-old building
that had long housed a historic
department store, was a long time
coming. Farmers set up a market
outside in the spring, but inside, its a
year-round home to local purveyors.
i strolled through, picking up a pot
of truffle goat cheese one of 10
varieties sold at the Salt Spring island
cheese counter and a warm wild
mushroom pie from the Victoria pie
Co. nearby i bought a handmade
natural hand lotion from a man
selling nightingale natural, so named
because it was developed by his wife,
a nurse.
But there was one more local
treasure i wanted to try: Canadian
whisky, which is in the throes of a
renaissance. its an industry thats
growing at a fast-enough clip to
merit the creation of the Canadian
Whisky awards. its an industry
piquing enough interest to make
liquor conglomerates pay attention.
in March 2014, for instance, Campari
america spent US$120.5 million for
Forty Creek Whisky, a company in
Ontario started in 1992 by a former
winemaker.
i kicked back in a stately leather
couch in front of a fireplace, a
taxidermied deer head watching
from above. i thought about all the
bogus jokes that ive heard about
my northerly neighbour (Whats
the difference between yogurt
and Canada? Yogurt has an active
culture), and i laughed.
Washington Post

22 Sport

THE MYANMAR TIMES April 30, 2015

Sport 23

www.mmtimes.com

FIGHT OF THE CENTURY

Mayweather

Pacquiao

Money throws another verbal jab

Pac-man readies killer instinct

loyd Mayweather swaggered into the MGM Grand

Garden Arena on April 28
with a jab for Manny Pacquiao for failing to join him
in launching the final build-up to their
blockbuster bout.
So many different sponsors and
networks came together to make this
big event happen I think we both
should have been here, Mayweather
said after Pacquiao opted out of the
event at the fights host venue.
The Filipino icon instead feted fans
down the street at Mandalay Bay. The
several hundred who attended his rally were far outnumbered by the thousands who turned out for Mayweather.
Mayweather, who brings an unblemished record of 47-0 to the May
2 welterweight world title showdown,
didnt disappoint.
A hip-hop master of ceremonies
and a university marching band kept
the crowd entertained until Mayweathers arrival at the MGM in a glistening black van emblazoned with a
white M logo.
The crowd cheered as the video of
the vehicle gliding to the curb played
on a giant screen and Mayweather
emerged.
Shortly thereafter he was walking
the short red carpet to the stage, pausing for a handful of hugs and selfies.
Everybody thats in this arena
is the Money Team, he declared to
cheers from the crowd.
The brief appearance was done
with all the smoothness expected
from the highest-paid sportsman in
the world.
But in remarks to a select group

Anny Pacquiao warned

Floyd Mayweather on
April 28 that he has
spent his time in the
United States honing his
killer instinct as he was welcomed to
las Vegas by a deafening horde of supporters.
A day after wrapping up his los
Angeles training camp, the Filipino
superstar delighted hundreds of loyal
fans at a rally in Sin City as the final
countdown to his career-defining
Fight of the Century began.
Most bookmakers have made the
unbeaten Mayweather the favourite
for the May 2 eagerly-anticipated welterweight bout at the MGM Grand, the
most lucrative in boxing history.
But Pacquiao told reporters he is
revelling in his underdog status as he
spoke excitedly about the prospect of
finally stepping into the ring to face
Mayweather.
My confidence is different than for
other fights. I am not nervous. I am
excited, Pacquiao said.
I have something to prove. I like
being the underdog because my killer
instinct and my focus is there, added
Pacquiao, describing the bout as one
of the most important fights in my
boxing legacy.
I want to make it a good result,
Pacquiao said. My goal is to win.
Pacquiao was all smiles as he took
the stage in a cavernous room at the
Mandalay Bay Hotels convention
center to greet hundreds of Philippine
flag-waving supporters.
Pacquiaos arrival was preceded
by Filipino singers and folk dancers,
which included a rousing rendition

Floyd Mayweathers glitzy final build-up to the long anticipated Fight of the Century. Photo: AFP

of media after, Mayweather sounded as if hes going into what promises to be the most lucrative boxing
match in history with a chip on his
shoulder.
I think the bar is always set higher
for Floyd Mayweather, he said. Its always set a little bit different than everybody else. If I didnt show up to the
grand arrival it would be front page.
But Mayweather said he didnt

really get caught up in the theatrics of

the event.
After a solid training camp, he
doesnt believe Pacquiao, winner of
world titles in an unprecedented eight
weight divisions who owns a record of
57-5 with two drawn, will be the first
to put a blemish on his record.
I truly believe Im the smarter
fighter, Mayweather said reiterating
his oft-expressed belief that Pacqui-

aos reckless style could land him in

trouble.
Certainly he doesnt believe that a
hard-charging start by Pacquiao could
be a path to victory for the underdog
Filipino.
I think everybodys game plan is
to come forward and throw a lot of
punches, he said of his opponents. It
hasnt worked for 19 years 47 fights
it hasnt worked. AFP

Bout a family affair for Mayweathers

Floyd Mayweather Jr and his father
have had a stormy relationship, but
they are back together for the fighters
toughest test yet.
over the years, Mayweather Sr has
spent long stretches estranged from
his son because of their clashing egos
and the fathers stints in jail, including
a five-year sentence two decades ago
on a drug trafficking conviction.
Mayweather Sr, who turned to
training after his own boxing career
was cut short when he was shot in
the leg during a family dispute, once
almost took a job training oscar de la
Hoya against his son.
But the Mayweathers have reconciled and Mayweather Sr has been
in his sons corner for the last four
fights.
And on Saturday, the 62-year-old
Mayweather Sr. will shepherd his
now-grown namesake into the ring
at the MGM Grand Hotel to take
on Filipino icon Pacquiao in a fight
that will go a long way to determining who was the greatest fighter of
their era.
Its just a blessing, Mayweather
Jr told reporters at a media workout
in las Vegas as part of the build-up
to the blockbuster bout at the Grand
Garden Arena.
I come in the gym and work. I try
to focus on doing my job and being
the best at my job. My father deserves
credit because I wouldnt be a fighter
if it wasnt for my father.

Dancers and a marching band accompanied Mayweathers arrival. Photo: AFP

Mayweather Sr likes to tell a story

of when his son was just a baby and
he would put him down on the bed at
their house and move his tiny hands
in punching motions.
one day I came into the room and
hes laying back on the pillow doing
just what I was showing him, Mayweather Sr said.
I said, This is it. Hes going to be
a fighter.
Theres another story involving his
son that Mayweather Sr is less comfortable talking about, but he tells it
anyway.
Sitting in a chair in his Grand

Rapids, Michigan, home with his toddler son in his arms, Mayweather Sr
found himself staring down the barrel
of a 20-gauge shotgun.
The shotgun was held by his brother-in-law, who had decided to take
matters into his own hands after being told he had worn out his welcome
at the Mayweather home.
Mayweather Sr ignored the pleas
of the childs mother, hanging onto
the boy as the only thing saving him
from death.
She was trying to get the baby.
Give me my baby, give me my baby,
Mayweather Sr. said. But you are not

Manny Pacquiaos final build-up event was a more timid affair than his flash rivals. Photo: AFP

of the national anthem and a music

video played on giant screens that
featured the boxer, politician and singer performing his new song.
After taking the stage with his
long-time trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao had to wait several minutes
for the roars to die down before he
assured the crowd of a victory in the
world title mega-bout.
Are you excited? asked Pacquiao,
who was wearing a white MP Tshirt and light brown pants. dont be
nervous. Saturday I am going to win

the fight so relax. I am so excited for

Saturday.
The brightly lit stage was decorated with a giant poster of Pacquiao
and Mayweather. Besides Roach, Pacman was flanked by his promoter Bob
Arum, and the president of the Mandalay Bay, Chuck Bowling.
Welcome to the fan rally for the
man who will be victorious on May 2,
Arum said.
Afterward Pacquiao told reporters
that the timing is right for a fight of
this magnitude.

It is the right time for this fight to

happen, Pacquiao said.
Even if they are not boxing fans
people really want to watch this fight
so it is the right time.
Pacquiao said the unbeaten Mayweather is not the most dangerous
boxer he has faced, but he will be difficult opponent to hit.
I cant say he is the most dangerous fighter. I already fought [oscar]
de la Hoya and [Juan Manuel] Marquez but he is one of the most difficult. AFP

A national symbol of hope in Philippines

going to get this baby, because this
was my only shield.
I got shot with him in my hands,
Mayweather Sr recalled and added,
He would have killed me.
The blast destroyed the left calf of
the father but Mayweather Jr escaped
that incident unscathed.
Carrying on a family boxing tradition has brought Mayweather Jr fame
and wealth, but the kind of turbulence
that surrounded his upbringing is also
still a part of his life.
But he has multiple convictions
for assaulting women, serving two
months in jail in 2012 for a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack on a former
girlfriend as two of their children
looked on.
Unlike other millionaire athletes,
Mayweather Jr, 38, has never been
suspended or sanctioned by one of
boxings governing bodies over domestic violence incidents.
Mayweather Sr missed seeing his
son fight in the 1996 olympics, where
he lost in the semi-finals, because he
was in jail.
But while revered by his son as a
boxing wizard, his counterpart in the
opposite corner this weekend Pacquiaos trainer Freddie Roach is less
impressed.
The dad gets too excited in the
corner, doesnt give good direction,
Roach said.
Im very happy hes there, to be
honest with you. AFP

IN PICTUREs

Photo: AFP

The winner of the fight will receive a newly created

belt by the WBC. The belt, valued at US$1 million,
is an exact replica of the current belt, except it
has thousands of emeralds in place of the gold
plating for the center logo. The belt also contains
the faces of both Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny
Pacquiao, along with the faces of the former WBC
president, Jos Sulaimn, and boxing legend
Muhammad Ali.

EMMAnUEl Manny Pacquiao is

idolised by tens of millions in the poverty-afflicted Philippines both for his
punching power and as a national icon
of hope after rising from the streets to
the pinnacle of world boxing.
Known to his countrymen in the
Asian archipelago as The national
Fist, Pacman fights undefeated American Floyd Mayweather on May 2 to
decide who is the worlds best poundfor-pound boxer.
To most of the Philippines population of almost 100 million, Pacquiao,
winner of an unparallelled eight world
championships in different weight divisions, is a well-loved national symbol,
living proof that success is possible with
hard work even if you are dirt-poor.
The reigning World Boxing organization welterweight champion
was the Philippines top taxpayer in
2013, and Fortune pegged him as the
worlds 11th best-paid sportsman with
2014 earnings of US$41.8 million.
He is now also elected member of
the House of Representatives, a Christian preacher, an improbable professional basketball player and coach,
and celebrity endorser for products
ranging from karaoke microphones to
pizzas, beer and cars.
Friends say the 36-year-old is generous to a fault, sharing his riches with
friends as well as the downtrodden.
Some Filipinos see him as a future Philippine president, something
that he admits he has considered.

Pacquiao takes a selfie at his event.

Photo: AFP

Manny Pacquiao inspires adoration in his many followers. Photo: AFP

He will be eligible once he turns 40,

when he is expected to have hung up
his gloves.
In the ring he is a volume power
puncher who uses lightning footwork
to create angles with which to deliver flurries, the likes of which have
felled oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton,
Miguel Cotto, Erik Morales and Marco
Antonio Barrera.
The son of a deadbeat father,
Pacquiao dropped out of high school

at 14, sold doughnuts on the roadside

and became a grocery stacker to help
his mother support two younger siblings. He became a pro boxer at 17.
The sport bought him fame, power,
influence and wealth, and with it the
vices: booze, gambling, cockfighting
and romantic links to beautiful film
stars that at one point nearly wrecked
his marriage.
But in 2012 he found religion and
he sold his shares in a Manila casino,

nightclub and bar, giving away the proceeds to employees. He also gave away
his 1000-plus fighting cocks to friends.
nowadays he joins Bible-reading
classes almost every day, often cites
God as the source of his success and
wears a rosary around his neck before
and after fights.
despite his riches, Pacquiao remains a humble character with a common touch, complete with a thick accent that is usual with those born in
the central and southern Philippines.
last november Pacquiao announced he had apologised to neighbours and would sell his $9 million
mansion in one of Manilas swankiest
areas after they complained about his
visitors wearing shabby clothing.
I may be as rich as some of them
here, but my lifestyle remains the
same and so is my heart. I am just a
simple man. I will never change that,
he said. AFP

Sport
24 THE MYANMAR TIMES APRIl 30, 2015

SPORT EDITOR: Matt Roebuck | matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

Fight of the
Century nears
SPORT 22 & 23

leThwei

Slovakia the next stop for Lethwei stars

Kyaw Zin hlaing
kyawzinhlaing.mcm@gmail.com

A poster advertises the upcoming fight night. Photo: supplied by Myanmar Traditional Boxing Federation

LEthwEi stars Maung too too and

Ya tagon will travel to Slovakia to face
combat in the city of Banska Bystrica on
May 15 in an event being billed as the
European Premiere of Lethwei.
Sai Zaw Zaw, an official from the Myanmar traditional Boxing Federation
, said the participation of the nations
form of boxing at the Kunlun Fight
event was a step toward wider recognition for the sport.
Our sport is famous here and within
Southeast Asia but we believe it can also
be a success on the world stage, this
competition is a great way to introduce
Lethwei to Europe, he said.
too too, 24, a gold medallist at the
2013 Southeast Asian Games in the
Muay event and undefeated in 50 fights,
will face off under the traditional Myanmar boxing rules of lethwei against the
Slovakian igor Danis at 75kg. At 70kg Ya
tagon will also fight a local, Veladmio
Konsky. Both Slovakians are experience
Muay fighters.
ive been studying my opponents
form on Youtube and i know never to
underestimate a foe, too too told The
Myanmar Times. But although he is a
European fighter, this bout will be held
under Myanmar rules, so i feel under no

Our sport is famous here

and within Southeast
Asia but we believe it can
also be a success on the
world stage.
Sai Zaw Zaw
Myanmar Traditional Boxing
Federation official

pressure. i dont believe Danis will give

me any great difficulty.
Ye tagon said that he was just happy
to be demonstrating his national sport
to the crowd at such an international
event.
Not only can we introduce our traditions to a wider audience but we can
also gather our own experience, said
the fighter.
Fighters from all over the world will
visit the east European nation to demonstrate their particular style of pugilism. As well as athletes from Slovakia
and Myanmar, Kunlun Fight 2015 will
feature combatants from thailand, China, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Austria and Poland fighting in
a mix of styles including Muay, K1 and
Mixed Martial Arts.

fOOTball

Delta strike force secure Last 16

MaTT ROebucK
matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

EN-MAN Ayeyawady completed

an
astonishing
comeback at thuwunnas
Youth training Centre Stadium in Yangon yesterday
to beat Lao toyota 4-3 and guarantee
qualification for the last 16 of the AFC
Cup.
i am very happy. Once again
our side showed team spirit. the
next match will mean something
but we must wait and see what it is,
Ayeyawadys coach Marjan Sekulovski
told press after the game and before
Persib Bandungs 1-0 defeat of New Radiant. that results means Ayeyawady
will travel to indonesias Persib on
May 13 for top spot in Group h.
Ayeyawady started with a stronger
lineup than the one that played out
a dry goalless draw in Yangon a fortnight ago with Edison Fonseca and
Pyae Phyo Oo returned to Ayeyawadys
starting line-up after travel problems
and suspension respectively had kept
them out of the game with New Radiant. But the Myanmar side was without left-back hein thiha Zaw who
missed the game following his red
card received in the game against New
Radiant.
it was evident this would be an attacking game from the outset and both
sides had already gone close when
Fonseca opened the scoring in the 9th
minute. A Phatthana Syvilay penalty
drew the teams level in the 27th before
a second dead-ball goal from Maitees
impressive 42nd minute free-kick.
the second half saw Ayeyawady
lose a left-back for the second time in
as many games when Chit San Maung
was awarded a straight red in the

67th minute. But United were on the

scoresheet two minutes later through
a Naumov penalty.
Kazou homma wrestled back the
advantage for the visitors in the 74th
before Naumov and Fonseca both
bagged themselves a brace in the 80th
and 86th minutes respectively.
we started very well but what
happened in the rest of the first half
we will speak about in training, said,
the Ayeyawady coach.
we only conceded goals from our
mistakes, we will analyse these and
look to improve our future performances, he added.
Fonseca had an excellent chance to
put United into an even quicker lead
after only one minute of play when he
found himself ahead of the defence
and advancing on the Lao goalkeeper.
the Colombians touch let him down
though and unable to keep the ball at
his feet and Vathana Keodouangdeth
made a successful grab at the strikers
feet.
Lao also had their chances before
the goal. A 40-yard free kick spotted
Vanlal hruai off his line and forced the
Ayeyawady gloveman to back-pedal
and tip the ball onto the crossbar.
it still didnt take long for the
deadlock to be broken when Naumov
cheekily tapped the ball into the box
for an unmarked Fonseca free to finish
past Vanthana.
United then conceded a penalty after a clattering of players in a crowded
box saw Phatthana step up and confidently finish to tie the scores.
having already demonstrated their
danger from free-kicks, a sweetly
struck Maitee dead-ball from 30 yards
out dipped under the crossbar, which
meant the visitors headed back in to
the tunnel with a half-time lead.

Ayeyawadys Edison Fonseca celebrates after scoring his second. Photo: MFF/
Facebook

Ayeyawady came out in the second

half looking to find their way back into
the game but it was not until the 60th
minute when they really threatened to
score. A quick-witted throw-in from
Chit San Maung found Nay Lin tun
picking the ball up behind the Lao defence on the left-hand side of the box.
From there he slid the ball across the
box and into danger, but not within
the reach of the galloping Fonseca.
An unnecessary challenge in the
Lao half, nowhere near danger saw
Chit San Maung awarded a red card,
and Ayeyawady lost their left back for

the second time in as many games.

the mentality of a player is very
difficult to change, said Sekulovski of
the sending-off.
we have two left-backs with the
same mentality, who cannot control
their aggression. in that situation the
players need to keep their heads, not
get lost in the moment.
that moment was the turning
point, said Lao coach David Booth.
in future we dont want people sent
off against us, he said afterward, visibly despondent at the loss.
For it was almost immediately that

United attacked down the right and

a Moukda Souksavath trip gave away
what Booth characterised as a daft
penalty allowing Naumov, leading
goalscorer of the competition, to step
up to the spot and take his tally to five.
Five minutes later the game seemed
to have swung once again in the visitors favour when the extra man playing down Laos right paid dividends as
Kazou homma beat defender Anderson west to his right before playing
the ball across Vanlal hruai to take
back the lead.
when you have a man sent off and
you are behind in the game it is very difficult, but the result as it stood was no
good so we had to sacrifice that defender on the left and keep our two strikers
high until we took the lead once more,
said Sekulovski.
And his Macedonian and Colombian
strike force dug in deep for the coach.
when Naumov found himself unchallenged in the box there was only
ever going to be one result for the man
who now has six goals in five AFC Cup
matches.
then Fonseca volleyed a long ball
to give his side the lead, win the match
and qualification for Ayeyawady.
we should have won, said Lao FC
coach David Booth after the match.
when you score three away from
home and still lose, it is not a good
match.
Our team were missing a discipline and desire today. i was screaming at the player to pick up Fonseca for
the last goal but we let him run from
the half-way line, he added.
Yadanarbon FC, Myanmars other
representatives in the second-tier
continental competition lost 7-4 away
to Malaysias Pahang FA. that result
secures the Mandalay sides cup-exit.