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EPA
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NATIONAL: SUU KYI AGAINST PR SYSTEM ✪2
First INDEPENDENT English daily
www.elevenmyanmar.com
TUESDAY, November 11, 2014
INSIDE
New land use
law ‘incomplete’
NATIONAL
The plight of the
Rohingya
✪4
BUSINESS
South Korean giants plan
massive factories
✪5
ASEAN+
EPA
Indonesia ‘cannot afford
a nationalistic policy’
✪8
A farmer ploughs his field with his buffalo in front of the towering Buddhist Uppatasanti Pagoda in Nay Pyi Taw.
Ah Ngae Htwe
MYANMAR ELEVEN
CRITICS have attacked the
new land use law, saying it fails
to reduce the Army’s control and
speculation which deprives the
majority of Myanmar nationals
from land ownership.
In a statement released on
November 6, the Farmland
Investigation Commission criticised that the draft law is a
devoid of democratic practices,
couldn’t protect the interests of
the farmers, and may bring
about more complications.
“The existing law and new
draft include many points
regarding centralisation. The
General Administration
Department will be in charge of
matters relating to land. As it is
under the control of the Ministry
of Home Affairs which is also
under the control of the commander-in-chief, the matters are
still under the army’s control,”
said Nu Nu Aung from the 88
Generation Peace and Open
Society.
He joined a workshop with
the representatives of farmers’
networks from regions and
states, community-based organisations and civic organisations
during November 1-2.
Nu Nu Aung called for a master plan, which would require
the merger of various departments under several ministries.
At present, the Forest
Department manages forest
areas, while the Ministry of
Agricultural and Irrigation oversees farmland. Urban land
development is controlled jointly
by the Settlement and Land
Record Department, local development affairs committees and
the Ministry of Home Affairs’
General Administration
Department.
Tun Myint Aung from the
political group’s farmers affairs
department noted that the draft
fails to highlight measures to
prevent land price speculation.
“It’s crucial for any country to
have a complete set of land use
policy, as it concerns all people,” said Tun Myint Aung. “Our
country has experienced many
landless issues and this draft
law does not take people into
consideration. It doesn’t include
provisions on land allocation for
real low-cost housing development. The government has said
such projects are happening all
over the country but as we know,
the units are beyond the grassroots’ affordability. Only the rich
and speculators can afford
them.”
There are also calls for the
effective plan to curb speculation, rising from the turning of
farmland into urban development
projects.
One representative from a
civic organisation noted that the
government should also take into
account the situation in 2040
when the population is expected
to reach 100 million. Then, how
much land would remain for the
future generations, he asked.
The draft law contains 10 categories of land. Vacant land is
one of them. At a seminar on
October 18, Aung Naing, director
from the Union Attorney
General’s Office, said the state
had no reserved land and a lot of
land pieces were under the management of government ministries.
Myo Thant, a member of 88
Generation’s farmers affairs
department, said that the drafting started in 2013 and the draft
was available for download nearly two months ago. The draft
stipulates public hearing in 18
places.
“The issue is too complicated
for ordinary people to understand, as all land is under the
management of ministries concerned,” Myo Thant said. “More
farmland can be confiscated for
housing projects or others. I
don’t know what they can be, but
we will definitely see more
development projects.
ART&CULTURE
Naga festival to be held in
two places next year
✪10
NATIONAL
2
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Suu Kyi against PR system
EFFORTS to introduce the
proportional representative
(PR) system is aimed at barring
the NLD from winning a landslide victory in the upcoming
general elections, said Aung
San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the
National League for Democracy
(NLD) at a mass meeting in
Loikaw of Kayah State on
November 8.
“The country has a lot of
political parties. Some want to
cooperate while others have
no desire to cooperate. Some
thought that the chance of
winning the seats in the 1990
elections was very narrow as
there were many democratic
parties. The NLD won with a
landslide victory in the 1990
elections thanks to people’s
rightful thoughts. I strongly
believed that my party would
also secure such victory in the
future,” she added.
“PR is a dysfunctional system. I would like to explain
why this system should not be
installed. The main point is
that there is a reason to think
that the approval of PR system
may hinder the NLD from winning a landslide victory. I am
saying about it honestly. Other
people may think so like us,”
said Aung San Suu Kyi.
EMG
MYANMAR ELEVEN
Suu Kyi is surrounded by a large number of supporters in Kayah State.
“I never look down on people. The voting right is only in
the hands of people whatever
voting system is practised. No
need to be anxious about any
election system if the people
have the right to cast their
votes with their own conviction. I would like to send a
message to the people. The
matters related to the electoral
system are being discussed at
the parliament. It is not the
right time to introduce the PR
system. I don’t mean that it is
not appropriate in the future. I
would like to request those
concerned to listen to our
voices,” she said.
Likewise, it needs to review
the views of the representatives who and the political
parties that favour the introduction of PR system. Only
then, the people can decide
who is right and who have
good intentions, she added.
The Kayah State tour dismissed speculation that ethnic
groups are losing faith in Suu
Kyi and that her support is
declining due to her failure to
speak out against fighting in
ethnic areas. Large crowds
were seen everywhere she
went to in the state. It was
estimated that tens of thousands attended her rally in
Loikaw, the capital city.
She met residents from 23
villages who said their major
problems involve flooding,
severe unemployment and
destitution. Suu Kyi promised
to bring the issues to respective ministries.
“Our National League for
Democracy has limited power.
We are just a political party.
We are not a government
administration but we still
have many capabilities as we
have the strength and trust
from the public,” she said.
This is the third time Suu
Kyi visited Kayah State as NLD
leader.
New joust over sea dispute expected at Asean
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Yangon
Fresh diplomatic sparring
over who owns what in the
South China Sea is likely to
break out this week at a major
regional summit in Myanmar,
after a year in which China
jacked up tensions in the
resource-rich waters.
Rival claims have gnawed
away at ties between Southeast
Asian nations including
Vietnam and the Philippines
and regional powerhouse
China, which claims nearly all
of the sea, including waters
near its smaller neighbours’
shores.
The issue has also become a
key testing ground for diplomacy between China and the
United States, which has cosied
up to the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) as part of a
wider eastwards foreign policy
“pivot”.
Leaders including US
President Barack Obama,
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
and Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will gather in
Naypyidaw for the two-day
Asean summit from Wednesday
which also takes in an expanded list of dignitaries for the East
Asian Summit.
When he meets Asean leaders Obama “will highlight US
leadership in addressing maritime territorial disputes,”
according to National Security
Advisor Susan Rice.
Other security issues, such
as countering the rise of selfproclaimed Islamic State and
the Ebola epidemic, will also be
on the table, she added.
Beijing has been accused of
aggression after boosting naval
patrols in waters contested with
the Philippines and positioning
an oil rig in seas disputed with
Vietnam in May, sparking deadly anti-Chinese riots.
It has given ground on lowlevel talks with Asean towards a
multilateral, binding code of
conduct to governing the seas.
But analysts and diplomats
are sceptical of a tangible deal,
as China prefers bilateral talks
with its smaller neighbours,
allowing it to exert its massive
economic and political leverage
in a region dependent on
Chinese trade.
“I don’t see any breakthrough in Nay Pyi Taw or anytime soon,” one Southeast Asian
diplomat told AFP ahead of the
summit.
“Let’s face the reality that it’s
a complex issue and in addition,
Asean is dealing with China, a
major Asian and world power.”
“Some rabbit might be pulled
out of the hat to impress the
end of year summit meetings,
but nothing substantial has
occurred or is likely to occur,”
Southeast Asia expert Carl
Thayer.
While China singes relations,
the US has moved in to bolster
its alliances.
Obama, who arrives in
Myanmar from a major Beijing
summit, will meet Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung in Nay Nyi Taw.
The meeting comes after a
US agreement to partially ease
a 40-year ban on arms sales to
its one-time war foe, citing
some “modest” progress in
human rights.
In April, Washington also
signed a defence pact with the
Philippines, which is outraged
that China has effectively taken
over the contested Scarborough
Shoal.
That deal will eventually
allow thousands of US troops to
be stationed in the country.
But American efforts to
make friends have irked China,
which insists it is seeking its
own amicable resolution to disputes in its neighbourhood.
“So the region is condemned
to a complex game of diplomatic and military competition for
the next few decades at least,”
said Bill Hayton the author of
“The South China Sea - the
struggle for power in Asia”.
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
3
National
4
Yangon plans $20m
auto traffic light
control system
A new traffic light control
system worth US$20 million will be
installed in Yangon, according to
Yangon City Development
Committee (YCDC)’s Roads and
Bridges Department.
The system will feed data from
75 road points in the city to the
control centre and traffic lights will
be controlled accordingly to the
condition at each intersection.
The government wants to deal
with traffic congestion in three or
six months, said an officer from the
department.
Traffic lights are installed at 170
points in the city area.
Initially, the city planned to
install a control system this month
which would cover 10 intersections,
with financial aid from Japan
International Cooperation Agency
(JICA). A automatic control system
was recently installed at the busy
8-mile junction area and it could
reduce traffic congestion by 25 per
cent, the officer said.
Traffic authorities will also take
action against law violators.
YCDC is also seeking
contractors for two high-rise car
parking buildings, to reduce the
number of vehicles on the road.
The Ministry of Commerce is
reportedly in discussion with JICA,
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and the World Bank, seeking
financial aid for the construction of
car parking lots and high-rise car
parking buildings in Yangon,
Nationwide ceasefire
deal
The Pa-O National Liberation
Organisation (PNLO) is going to
petition the Nationwide Ceasefire
Coordination Team (NCCT) to
adopt mutually agreed points by
which ethnic armed associations
will have to abide within the
nationwide ceasefire deal, Khun
Myint Tun, chairman of the PNLO,
said.
“The government and the
concerned organisations need to
respect the points mutually agreed
upon. The remaining ceasefire
organisations must abide by
mutual respect. This point needs to
be signed, adding it to the
nationwide ceasefire deal,” the
chairman of the PNLO said on
November 8.
“Now, we have a problem of
territory issue. All parties involved
in the truce agreement including
the government must deal with the
problem (territory dispute)
urgently so that the truce
negotiations can continue,” Khun
Myint Tun said.
Clashes broke out between the
Restoration Council of Shan State
(RCSS) and the PNLO in the latter’s
controlled area in early October
causing territory dispute between
both sides.
The Union Peacemaking Work
Committee (UPWC) and the NCCT
are still negotiating the nationwide
ceasefire deal in order to finalise it.
It is likely to hold the next round of
negotiations at the end of
November.
The plight of the Rohingya
Myanmar ethnic Rohingya
Muslims in Japan stage a
rally outside of the
Myanmar embassy in
Tokyo on November 4.
AFP
NEWS
DIGEST
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
AGENCIES
MUSLIM Rohingya from
Myanmar are experiencing hard
time, as Thailand is pushing
some boat people back out to
sea while Myanmar has rejected
a request from Bangladesh to
immediately begin accepting
back Muslim refugees living in
camps across the border.
“President Thein Sein said
that Myanmar stands ready to
receive the refugees from
Bangladesh by our four rules,”
presidential spokesman Ye Htut
said on Facebook, referring to
rules for citizenship that include
proof that both parents were
Myanmar citizens.
Bangladesh is trying to restart
a repatriation process that
stalled in 2005 to return
Rohingya Muslims who have fled
Myanmar during the past two
decades. But the Myanmar government and the mostly
Buddhist ethnic community of
the western frontier state of
Rakhine reject the Muslim
group’s claim to citizenship, and
refer to them as “Bengalis.”
Thein Sein and Bangladesh
President Abdul Hamid met in
Beijing on Sunday ahead of an
Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation meeting.
“He (Thein Sein) said that it’s
impossible to receive them back
urgently,” Ye Htut said.
Rohingya do not qualify for
full Myanmar citizenship by birth
as their ethnic identity is not recognised under the country’s 1982
citizenship law. Myanmar has
agreed to receive more than
2,000 refugees from Bangladesh
whose claims have been verified,
although the government has
disputed Bangladeshi announcements calling the refugees
Rohingya. There are more than
200,000 Rohingya refugees in
Bangladesh, including about
30,000 who are documented and
staying in two official camps in
Cox’s Bazar, according to the UN
Refugee Agency and the Refugee
Relief and Rehabilitation
Commission in Bangladesh.
In another development, a
large number of Rohingya have
fled Myanmar recently.
“On average around 900 people left by boat from the middle
of last month. We saw a major
maritime exodus of nearly
10,000 people,” said Chris Lewa
of the Arakan Project, a Rohingya
advocacy group, adding that
increasing desperation was one
reason for the departures.
Around 259 people were
found at sea on Saturday and
were arrested for illegal entry.
Authorities in Thailand’s
Kapoe district said it was unclear
whether any of the group were
Rohingya but interviews with
some of the group showed they
were heading for Malaysia to find
work or, in the women’s’ cases,
join their husbands.
The 259 will be put back on
boats and sent back to Myanmar,
said Police Colonel Sanya
Prakobphol, head of Kapoe district police.
“They are Muslims from
Myanmar ... They are illegal
migrants,” Sanya told Reuters by
telephone.
“If they come in then we must
push them back ... once they
have crossed the sea border into
Myanmar then that’s considered
pushing them back. What they
do next is their problem.”
Tens of thousands of Rohingya
Muslims have fled Myanmar’s
Rakhine state since 2012, when
violent clashes with ethnic
Rakhine Buddhists killed hundreds and made about 140,000
homeless.
Many were Rohingya, who
now often live in apartheid-like
conditions and have little or no
access to jobs, schools or healthcare.
The boats often sail from
Myanmar and Bangladesh to
Thailand where, as Reuters
reported last year, human trafficking-gangs hold thousands of
boat people in brutal jungle
camps until relatives pay ransoms to secure their release.
Testimonies from Bangladeshi
and Rohingya survivors in an
October Reuters Special Report
provided evidence of a dramatic
shift in human-trafficking tactics.
Sanya said the 259 people
were currently being held at a
community hall and that his
team were “looking after them
like relatives” but that they would
soon be put back on boats.
“Who will feed them? I’m
struggling day to day to
feedthem,” said Sanya.
“No country wants an outsider
to come in to their house.”
Thailand was downgraded in
June to the lowest category in
the US State Department’s annual ranking of the world’s worst
human-trafficking centres, putting it in the same category as
North Korea and the Central
African Republic.
The same month, the Thai
military vowed to “prevent and
suppress human trafficking”,
after having seized power from
an elected government on May
22.
Slain reporter Par Gyi’s funeral held in Yangon
MYANMAR ELEVEN
The body of freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing also
called Par Gyi, was brought
from Mon State to Yangon and
laid to rest in a tomb at Yay Way
cemetery on Friday.
His body was conveyed to
Yangon after being exhumed
from a shallow grave in a field in
Kyaikmaraw Township in Mon
State on November 5. More
than 500 people, including
Buddhist monks and members
of political and social organisations, attended the funeral of
the slain reporter.
Along the route from
Mawlamyine Hospital to the
Yangon city, Par Gyi’s body was
flanked by members from township branches of the opposition
National League for Democracy
and social organisations and
political activists for the safety
and convenience of the body
conveying.
“In Mawlamyine, eight monks
tried to stop us carrying the
dead body as they thought it
was unholiness for the town.
When we were about to leave
Bago, three monks tried to stop
us,” said Naw Ohn Hla from
Democracy and Peace Myanmar
Women Network, who joined the
procession.
“How we will continue to
react to the murder of Ko Par
Gyi, we are still discussing. His
wife Ma Than Dar is poor
health.”
The funeral was also attended NLD’s patron Tin Oo and
members, local and foreign correspondents. NLD leader Aung
San Suu Kyi, political parties
and civic organisations sent
wreaths.
While the funeral was taking
place, the attendants chanted
slogans calling for justice of Par
Gyi’s death and action against
murderers.
The wife of Par Gyi sent a
complaint to Kyaikaraw
Township Police Station in Mon
State on October 19 saying her
husband had been missing
since September 30.
The military released a statement on October 23, confirming
the death and saying Par Gyi
had been shot after seizing a
weapon from a soldier in an
attempt to escape.
According to the army’s
report, Par Gyi had been buried
about 800 meters from the
southern part of
Shwewarchaung village.
KYAT EXCHANGE
Buy
Sell
US $
1,012
1,023
Euro ¤
1,255
1,273
782
793
BUSINESS
South Korean giants
plan massive factories
Aye Myat Mon, Thet Htar
MYANMAR ELEVEN
South Korea’s business
groups – Hu-Chems and
Taekwang– are planning joint
investment of US$600 million to
construct factories on 173 acres
of land to produce business and
consumer products in Thilawa
special economic zone.
They said the projects will
create 500 jobs for locals. The
construction of the factories will
start next year and is expected to
take one year for completion.
Singapore $
Source: KBZ Bank
A factory will start manufacturing chemicals and related
products for hospital use, businesses and other consumer
products, which will be sold in
the domestic market as well as
exported. The area will also
house a fertiliser production
5
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
facility.
The Taekwang and Hu-Chems
group said it would invest
US$100 million in Myanmar to
set up a 85-acre shoe factory in
an industrial zone near the
Hanthawaddy International
Airport in Bago.
China’s
domestic
issues
blamed for
illegal
timber trade
MYANMAR ELEVEN
SPIN LAUNCHED
Chevrolet has recently launched its latest model “Spin” at its new 3S centre in Yangon. A global subcompact seven-seater MPV
(Multipurpose Vehicle), Spin is designed to offer space, comfort, versatility, efficiency and superior ride and handling in an edgy,
contemporary and muscular design package. The Spin is affordable, in terms of price and ownership cost – an important
consideration for an emerging market like Myanmar.
Combined FDI to Myanmar reached US$49 billion
MYANMAR ELEVEN
Myanmar’s aggregate foreign investment has exceeded
US$49 billion, including over
US$3 billion approved in this
year, according to the
Directorate of Investment and
Companies Administration.
The agency, which keeps
track on foreign direct investment (FDI), the investment
value as of September 30,
2014, rose by US$3.68 billion
from US$46.22 billion as of
March 31, 2014.
This year, investors from 17
foreign countries asked permissions to invest in Myanmar
including China, Thailand,
Singapore, Britain, Korea,
Malaysia, the Netherlands,
India, Japan, the Philippines,
Canada, Libya, Brunei,
Luxembourg, Sweden and
Samoa.
Among the countries that
sought investment permissions, Singapore made the
highest investment value in
Myanmar, followed by China,
Thailand, Britain, the
Netherlands and Canada.
Since the foreign invest-
ment law was effective, foreign countries have been
allowed to invest in many
business sectors such as
energy, petroleum and natural
gas, production, mining,
transportation and communication, hotels and tourism,
real estate, livestock and fisheries, agriculture, industrial
zone, construction and other
service sectors.
Among them, the energy
sector sees the most foreign
investment interest.
If foreign-based companies
want to invest in Myanmar,
they have to register their
companies first at the
Directorate of Investment and
Companies Administration
and then propose the
Myanmar Investment
Commission the type of business they want to invest in.
The Myanmar Investment
Commission will approve the
proposals and give permissions to the foreign companies based on the recommendation and scrutiny from
related regional and state governments and related ministries and organisations.
China is failing to control
the illegal timber trade
despite repeated requests
from Myanmar, said the
Union Minister of
Environmental Conservation
and Forestry Win Tun.
Fear of Chinese unemployment and the demand
for raw materials are preventing action, he added.
“I have requested that the
minister of State Forestry
Administration of China and
the regional government of
Yunnan Province ban the illegal import of Myanmar’s
timber. Also, I have asked
the Chinese Ambassador to
Myanmar to end the illicit
timber trade using maps and
photos as evidence,” he said.
“Although the Central
Government of China does
not seem to support the illicit trade, the Yunnan administration prioritises its people’s employment and the
supply of raw materials,” he
said.
Timber from Myanmar is
being illegally traded to
other neighbouring countries
but illicit exports to Thailand
are much lower than those
to China.
There is a furniture trade
in Ruili, the Myanmar-China
border city, valued at millions of yuan. Logs from
Myanmar are vital to China
where logging is banned,
according to Ruili residents.
A lot of illegal traders
from China came to
Myanmar from June 2011
when conflict between the
Myanmar military and
Kachin Independence Army
started. However, after three
years of deforestation in
Myanmar, fewer Chinese
vehicles are coming to
Myanmar to carry logs back
to China.
Business
6
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Laos,
Cambodia,
Vietnam
to review
progress
in Triangle
Area
VIETIANE TIMES
Laos will host a summit
meeting to review progress
on the Cambodia-LaosVietnam Development
Triangle Area (CLV-DTA),
scheduled to take place in
Vientiane on November
24-25.
This month’s summit was
agreed to at the last CLVDTA Summit, according to
the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, when Laos was
appointed to host the 8th
meeting of the grouping.
The three countries will
meet to review their development successes in the
Triangle Area and to discuss
future cooperation.
It is envisaged that the
Triangle Area will continue to
be developed on a basis of
cooperation, with funds to
be mobilised from development partners for use in
implementing various projects and the master plan for
socio-economic development in the region from
2010-2020.
The Lao Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, other ministries and the provincial
authorities of Champassak,
Xekong, Saravan and
Attapeu – which are part of
the Triangle Area - are now
preparing for the summit
meeting.
Work concerning security,
protocol, vehicle provision,
and venue preparation is set
for completion on schedule.
The Cambodia-LaosVietnam Development
Triangle Area was established in 1999 and initially
involved seven provinces
that shared borders in the
triangle area between the
three countries.
The Triangle Area now
covers 13 provinces and an
area of 144,600 square kilometres, with a combined
population of 6.7 million.
The grouping holds summit meetings biennially, with
each of the three countries
taking it in turn to host the
event.
US$577 million jade export
in 2014-2015 fiscal year
MYANMAR ELEVEN
Myanmar recorded US$577
million in gem sales during the
2014-2015 fiscal year, US$94
million less than that of the same
period of last fiscal year.
Jade is mainly exported to
China, Hong Kong and India and
also there are sales of jade jew-
ellries through gems emporiums
held in foreign countries. Japan
also purchases Myanmar jade.
According to Lower House
Parliament meeting on March 10,
2014, percentage of tax on jade,
ruby, sapphire, diamond, emerald, and other precious gems has
increased to 30 per cent.
In 2010-2011 fiscal year, more
than US$2204 million worth of
jade was exported, 2011-2012 fiscal year– over US$34 million,
2012-2013 – over US$297 million, and 2013-2014 fiscal year –
over US$1011 million. In 20112012 fiscal year, about 47,603
tons of jade were mined, 20122013 fiscal year – 21,032 tons,
and from April to June 2014 –
Lao hydro firm plans Thai issue
Somluck Srimalee
THE NATION
Laotian hydropower company EDL-Generation plans to
invest US$1 billion (US$32.70
bilion) between 2015 and 2020
to boost production capacity
from 881 megawatts to
2,272MW.
To raise 6.5 billion baht of
that, EDL-Gen will issue debentures in Thailand’s capital market next month. The debentures
will have tenors of five to 10
years with interest rates of 5-5.5
per cent per annum, the company’s deputy managing director
and chief financial officer, Dr
Bounsalong Southidara, told a
news conference last week.
The plan is to double annual
revenue by 2020, he said.
“We will be the first firm in
Laos to issue debentures in
Thailand’s capital market,”
Bounsalong said. “We are also
studying issuing debentures in
Laos’ capital market and other
countries in Asean such as
Singapore and Malaysia, once
the capital market opens up
after the Asean Economic
Community becomes effective
in 2015.”
Twin Pine Consulting managing director Adisorn
Singhsacha, EDL-Gen’s financial
adviser, said the debenture issue
would be separated into two or
three lots with tenors between
five and 10 years. This will
depend on market demand.
EDL-Gen is a major private
hydroelectric power generator in
Laos. The company has total
production capacity of 881MW,
of which 397MW is sold to
Electricite du Laos (EDL), which
in turn sells power to the
Electricity Generating Authority
of Thailand (Egat).
EDL-Gen has registered capital of 4.9 trillion kip, 75 per cent
held by EDL, 5.8 per cent by
Ratch-Lao Services Co, and 4.31
per cent by RH International
(Singapore) Corporation as of
September 29. Ratch-Lao
Services and RH International
(Singapore) are subsidiaries of
Ratchaburi Electricity
Generating Holding.
EDL-Gen recorded revenue of
1.32 trillion kip and net profit of
971.74 billion kip last year. In the
first half of this year, it reported
revenue of 502.41 billion kip and
net profit of 326.98 billion kip.
The company is one of three
listed on the Lao Securities
Exchange (LSX) and accounts
for about 80 per cent of the
total market capitalisation of
the exchange.
Bounsalong said that after
issuing debentures worth Bt6.5
billion in Thailand’s capital market, the company’s debt-toequity ratio would increase from
0.2:1 to 0.4:1. This would leave
room to issue debentures in
other capital markets, including
Thailand’s, to support its $1-billion 2015-20 investment plan.
“If we issued debentures
totalling $1 billion, our debt-to-
about 3,443 tons, according to
the Ministry of National Planning
and Economic Development.
At the emporium held in Nay
Pyi Taw from October 16 to 19
this year, over 6,000 lots of gems
and jade were sold with open
tender system, according to
Myanmar Gems Emporium
Central Committee.
equity ratio would still be lower
than 2:1,” he said.
Associate Prof
Dethphouvang Moularat, chairman and CEO of the LSX, said
this would be the first time a
private Laotian firm has raised
funds in Thailand’s capital market.
“EDL-Gen is one of the listed
com-panies in the Lao
Securities Exchange that has
enough financial strength to
raise capital in this region,” he
said.
The debenture issue is awaiting approval from the Public
Debt Management Office of the
Thai Finance Ministry. Once it
gets that, the company will
make a filing to Thailand’s
Securities and Exchange
Commission for its approval.
EDL-Gen expects the process
will be complete this month and
it will be able to issue the
debentures in December,
Adisorn said.
Earlier, Twin Pine Consulting
appointed three banks as joint
lead arrangers for the debenture
issue. These are Standard
Chartered Bank (Thai), Bank of
Ayudhya and TMB.
ASEAN+
7
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Asia-Pacific leaders call
for fast trade deal
Xi calls on
Japan for
trust
building
CHINA DAILY
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Beijing
US President Barack Obama
and other Asia-Pacific leaders
called Monday for a deal to be
reached “as soon as possible”
on a proposed free-trade agreement, which has added to
China-US discord, at a regional
summit in Beijing.
Obama and leaders from 11
other Pacific Rim countries
including Japan, Canada,
Australia and Mexico instructed
negotiators to build on “significant progress” and push toward
a conclusion of difficult talks on
the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) free-trade idea.
“With the end coming into
focus, we have instructed our
REUTERS
US President Barack Obama
speaks at the at the Apec
CEO Summit in Beijing.
ministers and negotiators to
make concluding this agreement
a top priority ... to reap the real
and substantial benefits of the
TPP agreement as soon as possible,” a statement said.
The TPP countries met on the
sidelines of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC)
summit hosted this year by
Beijing.
Washington has for years
pushed the TTP, which proposes
a loosening of trade restrictions,
but notably excludes the world’s
second-largest ecocomy China.
But the talks have become
bogged down amid resistance
from some prospective members wary of opening up domestic markets, notably Japan.
Obama said he was “seeing
Dengue’s spread flies under the
radar amid Ebola scare
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Kuala Lumpur
One of the most familiar
sounds in Malaysia’s capital is
the approaching drone of a fumigation fogger spewing thick
white plumes of insecticide, part
of so-far futile efforts to arrest a
spiralling dengue fever outbreak.
Malaysia is among several
countries across Asia and Latin
America grappling with a mosquito-borne virus that is proving
tough to eradicate as it infects
millions.
While the Ebola threat has
captured headlines, the World
Health Organization (WHO)
warns that dengue -- while far
less lethal -- has become one of
the fastest-growing global health
threats, contracted by 50-100
million people each year.
“The increase in dengue incidence and severity of the outbreaks is a global phenomenon,
with a 30-fold increase over the
past five decades,” said Ahmed
Jamsheed Mohamed, a doctor in
the WHO’s Southeast Asia office,
adding that eradication is “not
seen as feasible in the near
future”.
The disease is transmitted by
the Aedes aegypti mosquito and
causes debilitating flu-like symptoms, headaches, rashes and
severe muscle and joint pains
that earned its original name
“breakbone fever”.
In serious cases, internal
bleeding, organ damage and
death can occur.
momentum building”, in
remarks to reporters.
But a US official who spoke
on condition of anonymity said:
“This is not an agreement which
is about to get signed. This will
take a period of time to finish off
some of the difficult issues.”
China wants the 21-member
APEC meeting to endorse a
stronger commitment to the Free
Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific
(FTAAP) idea, a longer-term concept for the entire region that
would build on the TPP and
other free-trade initiatives.
US Trade Representative
Michael Froman told reporters in
Beijing on Sunday that FTAAP
was a “long-term aspiration”.
TPP, meanwhile, was “the
major focus” of US economic
policy toward the Asia-Pacific,
he stressed.
Some Chinese analysts and
state media have framed the TPP
as an attempt to check Beijing’s
growing economic clout, allegations Washington dismisses.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin, who also is attending
APEC, said in an interview last
week that TPP was designed to
benefit the United States.
He added that Russia and
China’s absence in the scheme
“will not promote the establishment of effective trade and economic cooperation”.
Facing Western sanctions
over Russia’s policies toward
Ukraine, Putin has aggressively
sought closer trade ties with
China.
Peacekeepers in quarantine
though test negative for Ebola
REUTERS
Manila
More than 100 Philippine
peacekeepers returning from almost a
year in Liberia will be put in quarantine
on an isolated island on arrival this
week to check for Ebola, the military
said on Monday, adding there were
fears how the public might react.
The 21-day quarantine, on a navyrun island at the mouth of Manila Bay,
was in line with World Health
Organisation protocols and with
government’s drive to remain Ebola
free, military chief General Gregorio
Catapang said.
The death toll from the Ebola
epidemic has risen to 4,950out of
13,241 cases in the three worst-hit
countries of West Africa, Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone, WHO said on
Friday, calling for widespread rigorous
controls to halt its spread.
“Our peacekeepers belong to
no-risk category of the Ebola
infection,” Catapang told a news
conference at the main army base in
Manila, two days before the arrival of
108 soldiers, 24police and jail
wardens from Monrovia.
“Our troops have no direct
contact with any Ebola victim. Their
work is concentrated inside the force
headquarters of theUnited Nations
mission in Liberia.”
The UN peacekeeping force in
Liberia was set up in 2003 to support a
civil war ceasefire.
Catapang said the Filipino
peacekeepers had undergone thorough
medical screening by the United
Chinese President Xi Jinping
called on Japan to honour its
official remorse about wartime
history and embark on trustbuilding measures in a meeting
with Japanese Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe at the Great
Hall of the People on Monday.
The meeting, at Japan’s
request, took place a day after Abe
arrived in Beijing to attend the
22nd Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (Apec) Economic
Leaders’ Meeting, from Monday to
Tuesday.
Relations chilled over the
Diaoyu Islands in September 2012
and this was the first time the
leaders met in a scheduled setting.
Xi pointed out that “the right
and wrong behind serious
obstacles in the China-Japan
relationship in the past two years is
clear”.
Only by honouring past official
commitments and standing by the
Murayama Statement can Japan
develop a friendly and visionary
relationship with its Asian
neighbours, Xi said.
In response, Abe said:”The
ruling Japanese administration will
continue honouring the views
regarding historical issues held by
previous administrations.”
China and Japan on Friday
offered a preliminary sign of thaw
in relations by agreeing on the
four-point Principled Agreement on
Handling and Improving Bilateral
Relations.
They also agreed to gradually
resume political, diplomatic and
security dialogue through various
channels.
Abe said Japan is willing to
implement the four-point
consensus, and “properly handle
the relevant issues”.
Nations. The quarantine was a further
precaution imposed by the
Philippines, the largest group to be
isolated in the current Ebola crisis, he
said.
The peacekeepers will arrive at an
air base in Manila on Wednesday and
travel by bus to a naval base south of
Manila andbe transported by ship to
Caballo island, a naval facility usedby
the Americans during World War Two.
Families and friends would be
brought to the air base but not
allowed contact, army Major-General
Domingo Tutaan said.
The military was worried about
how the public would react to the
peacekeepers’ return, he told Reuters.
To avoid panic, they would not be
required to wear masks and
protective gear when they arrive.
The Health Ministry has trained
hundreds of medical workers and
prepared at least 22 hospitals across
the country to handle Ebola cases in
case the disease reaches the
Philippines.
ASEAN+
8
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
AFP
Indonesia ‘cannot afford a nationalistic policy’
Muslim groups led by Front Pembela Islam (FPI) or Islamic Defenders Front march towards Jakarta parliament building, to prevent acting Jakarta governor Basuki
Tjahaja Purnama from taking office because of his ethnicity and religion.
THE STAR
INDONESIA simply cannot
afford to make major policy
changes that would negatively
impact foreign direct investment
flows in the country, opines Fauzi
Ichsan, a key economic adviser
to newly elected president Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo.
Fauzi, who was in Kuala
Lumpur for a luncheon talk to
share his views about the promised changes Jokowi is to bring
to Indonesia, said this in an interview with StarBiz.
He was responding to a question about the perennial concerns Malaysian investors in the
banking and plantations sectors
in Indonesia face, namely politicians that continue to seek to
pass nationalistic laws that seek
to not only limit foreign owner-
Wedding studios in focus
as investors eye nuptials
VIENTIANE TIMES
Wedding studios in Laos are
becoming increasingly popular
among new Lao couples as they
seek to record their most precious moments leading up to
and after exchanging nuptials.
With many weddings traditionally held in the weeks and
months following the end of
Buddhist Lent, now is an especially busy time for the studios
as they continue to grow in
popularity.
Wedding photo shoots can
be seen taking place with
increasing regularity at numerous important outdoor sites in
Vientiane.
Focus studio, one of
Vientiane’s private wedding studios, specialises in coming up
with creative ideas to develop
this kind of activity into a profit
making business.
“Firstly, I think about what is
going to be popular for clients.
We did some shoots for our relatives’ wedding photos and our
work attracted a huge interest
in society circles. And that’s the
start of shooting activity,” said
the owner of Focus studio
Somphavan Bualapheth.
She told Vientiane Times
that there seem to be more and
more wedding studios in the
capital these days and that it is
becoming an increasingly popular activity among newlyweds
and husbands and wives to be.
“Some investors who have
enough money to expand their
businesses will offer not only
the photo shooting services.
They also have wedding attire
for rent and some other more
interesting choices,” she said.
Currently the Focus studio
offers services to clients ranging in cost from more than 1
million kip up to 5 million kip,
depending on the variations of
products and services chosen
by customers.
Vientiane has a lot of choices for outdoor shootings,
including That Luang, Patouxay
monument, Hor Phakeo, Vat
Sisaket and the 450 Year Road.
Somphavan said her shooting team can be available only
on weekends because they are
also engaged in other activities
during the week but it will soon
be available seven days as
more staff come on board.
ship in investments but to also
force existing investors to divest
their stakes in strategic sectors
such as banking.
But Fauzi, who is also managing director and senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank
Indonesia, explained that there
were always nationalistic forces
in any country that raised concerns about foreign ownership in
strategic sectors.
“Nowadays we can see the
number of studios is increasing in Vientiane, which
includes both domestic and
foreign studios. That is quite
competitive and many studios
need to improve their services
and offer better quality products,” she said, adding that her
studio will need to be improved
as well.
“It appears several foreign
studios also offer customers
with pre-wedding shootings at
both indoor and outdoor locations. They have also used
more modern devices in their
photo decor,” Somphavan said.
One of newest Chinese
owned studios, Aviva Wedding
Photo Agency, recently opened
in Vientiane, aiming to provide
customers with more choices
and more attractive backdrops
for their pre-wedding photos.
The studio is also set to
offer a wide range of pre-wedding suits, make up services
and outdoor shoots at various
locations in Vientiane.
A representative of the studio said that Aviva Wedding
Photo Agency is the second
branch in Vientiane after the
first one was unveiled at
Thongkhankham village in
Chanthabouly district last year.
“We’ve seen more customers
over the past year. That is the
reason we decided to open this
second branch,” he said.
However, when seen in a
macro economic context, there
are signs that countries like
Indonesia cannot afford to do
anything that would jeopardise
foreign investment into the country.
“Indonesia is running a current account deficit. In 2011, it
had a US$2 billion surplus due to
record high commodity prices,
with commodities making up the
bulk of exports. However with the
subsequent collapse of commodity prices, the current account
shifted from a surplus in 2011 to
a deficit of US$24 billion in 2012
and to US$28 billion in 2013. The
deficit is going to be around
US$25 billion this year.”
He added: “When you run a
current account deficit, you need
foreign investment. And next
year, things could be more challenging, when the US will begin
hiking short-term interest rates,
following the move taken to end
its quantitative easing programme.
“This will make it difficult for
countries with current account
deficits like Indonesia as funding
costs in the US becomes more
expensive.
“So a country like Indonesia
cannot afford to have a nationalistic or protectionist policies.”
He said that while Jokowi
would have to contend with
nationalist pressures to limit foreign investment or control in the
banking sector, the president’s
pledge to his voters is to accelerate growth in the country to 7 per
cent a year.
And to realise such rapid
growth, there needed to be rapid
investment and consumption
growth, Fauzi said.
“To realise that you need rapid
credit growth of about 30 per
cent every year. This in turn
means that for every five years,
the Tier 1 capital of Indonesia
banks will have to be doubled.
Jokowi’s stance is simply this: If
local capital is not adequate to
recapitalise the banking system,
then Indonesia must be open to
foreign capital in order to support the economic growth he has
promised. This is why, in the long
run, I don’t believe that the
nationalist pressures and sentiments would actually result in
any forced divestment of foreign
holdings in Indonesian banks.”
He also pointed out the weaknesses in the Indonesian parliament’s previous plans to pass
laws that would seek to have all
branches of foreign banks to be
locally incorporated and to have
a forced divestment of foreign
ownership in Indonesian to a cap
of 40 per cent.
On the first rule of local institutionalistion of foreign banks,
Fauzi said: “This could be legally
questionable, as it would be
against the principles of ‘grand
fathering’ under the WTO (World
Trade Organisation).”
On the forced divestment
attempt, he said: “To some people, this constitutes an attempt
of nationalisation of the banking
sector. Furthermore, local investors would not be able to absorb
the divestment stakes. And that
is why I would not worry too
much about these issues, especially under the new leadership.”
On the plantation sector, Fauzi
raised an interesting point: that
many of the large Indonesian
parties invested in plantations in
Indonesia can themselves be
seen to be foreign investors as
their holding companies are listed in other countries such as
Singapore.
“So these parties are investing
as foreign direct investors.
Hence, they too could be affected
in any rule changes with regard
to foreign ownership of plantations in Indonesia.”
Fauzi also expressed confidence that Jokowi would be successful in implementing his plans
to cut red tape, raise fuel prices
and introduce a national health
card.
9
ASEAN+
REUTERS
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
A woman prays at the “Ruriden”, a cemetery that uses high-powered LED lights to illuminate over 2,000 Buddha statues carved in crystals, in downtown Tokyo.
Japan’s market for funerals, graves and anything related to the afterlife is still very much alive.
Asean banks on long road to financial integration
THE NATION
FINANCIAL integration within
the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) is progressing, but the process won’t
be entirely smooth, said
Standard & Poor’s Ratings
Services in a report published
today, titled “Asean Financial
Integration: The Long Road To
Bank Consolidation.”
Full integration could spur the
emergence of major banks that
can compete with large banks
outside the region, in our view.
Better economies of scale would
also make financial systems
within the region more efficient.
Along with the improvement of
financial infrastructure in each
country, Standard & Poor’s
believes the integration will make
the banking sectors more resilient to external shocks.
“We don’t expect the integration to be entirely smooth
because, as countries liberalise
their banking industries, competition will intensify--trends that
not all local players welcome,”
said Standard & Poor’s credit
analyst Chris Lee.
“Integration will also increase
the risk of contagion and spillover effects within the region;
when one system gets in trouble,
it will affect other systems too. In
addition, the varying pace of
iberalisation and divergent regulatory frameworks among Asean
countries complicate the industry’s consolidation.”
Asean Economic Community
(AEC), which is scheduled to
take effect in 2015, is expected to
liberalise the flow of goods, services, investment, capital, and
skilled labor between the countries. Greater intra-ASEAN trade
could encourage banks to expand
regionally to better serve their
clients.
Central bank governors have
endorsed the Asean Banking
Integration Framework (ABIF)to
achieve multilateral liberalization
in the banking sector by 2020.
This will pave the way for future
integration of the Asean banks,
New VN export zone
attracts nearly $2bn
VIET NAM NEWS
Can Tho
Export processing zones
(EPZs) and industrial zones
(IZs) in this Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta city have attracted 214
projects worth about US$1.92
billion.
Baodautu.vn quoted the latest figures of the Can Tho EPZs
and IZs Authority and revealed
that projects worth $853 million or 45 per cent of total capital registered in the city to date
have so far been implemented.
Included are 23 foreign-
invested projects worth $204
million with a disbursed capital
of more than $171 million. The
remainder, worth about $1.72
billion, were from domestic
investors, and 39.7 per cent of
the capital has so far been
implemented.
From 2001 to 2009, the
EPZs and IZs had witnessed a
stronger influx of investment
compared with previous periods at $320 million, $689 million and $268 million, respectively. It slowed down recently
because of global and domestic
economic difficulties.
and banks are already preparing
to leverage the opportunities
from increased trade flows in the
region. The major banks in
Malaysia and Singapore have
been the most active in expanding regionally. Thai banks are
also expanding, although they
are focusing more on the Greater
Mekong subregion. Indonesian
and Philippines banks, on the
other hand, are playing defense
and strengthening their domestic
networks.
According to Standard &
Poor’s, banks in Asean are mostly small by global standards and
don’t have the scale and footprint to compete effectively with
global behemoths. In particular,
the fragmented banking systems
in some countries, such as
Philippines, Indonesia, and
Vietnam, have a large number of
small financial institutions with
weaker financial profiles than
their global peers. These systems
would find it difficult to compete
if the larger banks join the fray.
“In our view, Asean’s financial
Experts said that with its
geographical advantage as the
centre of the Mekong Delta
region and a base of the country’s key projects such as Can
Tho International Airport, Can
Tho Port and O Mon Thermal
Power Plant, the city remained
an attractive destination for
investors.
To attract more investments,
local authorities said, the city
was accelerating infrastructure
construction at its IZs, developing raw material supply areas
and improving the quality of
human resources.
Vo Thanh Hung, head of the
Authority, said Can Tho planned
to expand and upgrade a number of IZs in line with a master
plan aimed at increasing the
locality’s total industrial area to
2.267ha and paving the way
for the city to become an
industrial hub in the Cuu
Long Delta region by 2025.
system still has a way to go to
meet its goal of integration by
2020. The uneven pace of financial liberalisation in different
countries, along with significant
divergence in regulatory frameworks, could complicate crossborder mergers,” Lee said.
Standard & Poor’s believes
national regulators will proceed
with gradual financial liberalisation and ensure that domestic
banks are strong enough to compete before they allow for full liberalisation.
Stumbling blocks to liberalisation and integration remain.
Acquisition costs have been a
significant obstacle in many
deals. Characteristics that are
specific to certain countries,
such as strong family ownership
of the banking sector in the
Philippines and strong labor
unions in Malaysia, also make
industry consolidation more difficult.
The rating agency viewed that
Asean banks would continue
growing their loan books prudently in the next few quarters,
considering the higher capital
requirement under Basel III and
generally improving discipline in
loan underwriting.
“We believe asset quality will
remain a major risk factor in
Asean banks’ credit profiles.
Tighter monetary policy in the
US and a subsequent increase of
interest rates could trigger similar hikes in Asean markets.
Households and companies with
heavier debt-servicing burdens
will be more vulnerable to such
shocks,” Lee said.
Foreign carriers keen
on MAS pilots
THE STAR
Foreign airlines have started
courting pilots from Malaysia
Airlines (MAS) following reports
that the national carrier will
undergo a restructuring exercise.
MAS head, flight operations,
Captain Kamarudin Kamilin said
among the airlines included
Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways,
Emirates Airline, Sri Lankan
Airlines, Korean Air and Lion Air.
He said there were also
countless airlines based in
China and Taiwan which had
shown strong interest to hire
MAS pilots.
“Even without the restructuring plan in the pipeline, our
experienced pilots have been
sought after by many foreign
airlines for years,’’ Kamarudin
told StarBiz on the sidelines of
the signing of a memorandum
of understanding between MAS
and University of Tun Hussien
Onn Malaysia (UTHM) at its
main campus.
Kamarudin said most of the
MAS pilots hired by foreign airlines were those who had been
working for at least eight years
and already clocked more than
2,000 flying hours.
He said there were now 1,466
pilots working with MAS and
added that the airline needed at
least 500 new pilots.
Asked whether the restructuring plans to be announced
probably July next year would
see some existing pilots axed,
Kamarudin said it depended on
the business structure of the
new company.
Kamarudin said on average
MAS trained 100 new pilots
yearly and spend about 150,000
ringgit (US$45,084) each to
train them for about eight
months flying the Boeing 737800.
ARTS&CULTURE
NAGA FESTIVAL
10
MYANMAR ELEVEN, Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Rare masterpieces at
‘Fragrance of Myanmar’
IN THE PLANNING
EMG
Naga races seen at last year’s
New Year festival.
Visitors admire the rare paintings at the ‘Fragrance of
Myanmar’ exhibition.
MYANMAR ELEVEN
The traditional Naga New Year
festival for next year will be held
in Khanti and Layshi, according
to the Naga traditional cultural
committee.
Numerous Naga tribes are
spread throughout the northwestern hills of Myanmar. Most
of them are from Chin State, but
many can be found in such places as Khanti, Layshi, Lahel and
Nanyun in Sagaing Division.
Usually held in January rotationally in Lahe, Layshi, Khanti and
Nanyun, the Naga New Year festival brings all Naga tribes of the
entire region together to celebrate their harvest and pray for a
good new year. During the festival, they also make plans for the
coming year and discuss how to
overcome difficulties. They come
together to pray for abundant
crops and domestic animals and
to have good weather.
“In previous years, the festival was held in only one place.
But for 2015, we will hold the
ceremony in two places simultaneously. The government sponsored ceremony y will be held in
Layshi and the Naga tribes will
hold their ceremony in Khanti
from January 14 to 16. In the
past, we had to hold this ceremony sponsored by the state. Now
in the open era, I think Naga
tribes should celebrate their own
ceremony with Naga spirit. Then
only, the Naga can value its ethnicity,” said Shu Maung, an official from the Naga traditional
cultural committee.
He added that in the olden
days, Naga New Year festivals
were held depending on its location, climate and harvesting time.
Formerly headhunters pre-
Thai soap ‘Wanida’ on Myanmar TV
MYANMAR ELEVEN
Popular Thai soap
“Wanida” looks set to
expand cross-border cultural exchanges between
Thailand and Myanmar
with its episodes dubbed
in Myanmar airing on
weekdays since November
3 on Myanmar’s Channel 7.
“This is the first foreign
TV series that is being presented by Forever BEC-Tero with
Myanmar dubbing instead of
subtitles,” said Soe Thura,
Forever BEC-TERO’s country
manager, adding: “We selected
this drama because we are
working together with a Thai
company and this soap was
quite popular in Thailand. We
plan to release more foreign TV
series with local dubbing features in the future.”
Starring Jesadaporn Pholdee
serving the heads of their enemies as trophies, the Naga tribes
are expert craftsmen. Each tribe
has a different way of constructing their huts. A common practice among all the tribes is decorating the entrances of their
dwellings with the heads of buffaloes. The Naga people love
color and this is evident in their
shawls and headgear. The
designs on the costumes are
unique to each tribe.
Folk songs and dances are
essential ingredients of the traditional Naga culture and it is
through oral tradition that folk
tales and songs are kept alive.
Naga folk songs are both romantic and historical, with songs narrating the stories of famous
ancestors and incidents. There
are also seasonal songs which
describe various activities done
in a particular season.
and Taksaorn Paksukcharoen,
“Wanida” relates the romance
between a debt-ridden
army major and the
daughter of his creditor
who plans their arranged
marriage to repay his
debt.
Local dubbing is provided by actor Ye Myint
Lay and his crew, radio
presenters from Mandalay
FM and students from the
University of Culture.
Wanida picked up Best
Drama, Best Actor, Best
Supporting Actress and Best
Artistic Direction at the Golden
Television Awards in 2010. The
TV series also won Best
International Drama at the
Tokyo Drama Awards in 2011.
Rare artworks by renowned
Myanmar artists were on display
at the “Fragrance of Myanmar”
exhibition, which wrapped up
last Saturday at Yangon Gallery.
On display were 94 paintings by
16 famous artists including
Ngwe Kine, Kin Maung (Bank),
Wathonn and Khin Maung Yin.
“I wanted to stage this exhibition because my collection has
grown bigger and bigger and I
wanted to show them to my
friends. I try to get across the
message that Myanmar paint-
ings are among the valuable
inheritances of the Myanmar
people,” said art collector Thein
Win who has been collecting the
featured paintings over the past
20 years.
Among the paintings on display, 20 were put up for sale
while the rest were for display
only.
“This is a great opportunity
to see the rare artworks by artists who led the Myanmar art
movement together,” said
Maung Maung Hla Myint, chairman of the Myanmar Traditional
Artists and Artisans
Association.
Rain puts a damper on Pyin
Oo Lwin fire balloon fest
MYANMAR ELEVEN
release 60 daytime balloons,
25 Sein Nar Pan (diamond
earpiece) balloons/lanterns lit
with candles and 18 Nya Mee
Kyi (night fireworks) balloons
loaded with firecrackers. But
most of these didn’t get off the
ground due to the unstopping
This year’s Pyin Oo Lwin
Fire Balloon Festival, which was
part of the Tazaungdaing
Festival, was beset by heavy
rain, which continued for most
of the festival. The fire balloon
festival ran from
November 3 to 7 at
the Maha Ant Htoo
Kan Thar Pagoda in
Pyin Oo Lwin, a hill
resort near Mandalay.
“It was not festive
like in the previous
years when the sky
was clear. But this
year, it kept raining
during the competition,” said a cameratoting reveller.
The opening ceremony of the Pyin Oo
“In the past, it
Lwin Fire Balloon Festival.
was crowded on the
downpour.
opening day and became even
“We only had a clear sky on
more crowded on the full
the opening day and it rained
moon day. The festive mood
for the rest of the days so we
carried on for the rest of the
were not able to keep up with
festival. This year, it rained on
the schedule. Some of the
the full moon day and other
contestants had to wait for the
days so it wasn’t that festive.
rain to stop before releasing
But some people came to
their balloons while others had
watch the festival on the night
to release them on the followof the full moon day while caring day,” said an official from
rying their umbrellas and
the Tazaungdaing Fire Balloon
there were also those who
Festival Supervising
managed to release some balCommittee.
loons,” he added.
The Pyin Oo Lwin Fire
During the opening ceremoBalloon Festival is the second
ny, up to 1,200 fire balloons
largest balloon festival in
were released by different
Myanmar after the one in
teams. In the days that folTaunggyi.
lowed, they were hoping to
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