Political Monitor No.6
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Yangon Region Gov't, HK-Taiwan Consortium Ink Industrial Zone Deal
Business Yangon Region Gov’t, HK-Taiwan Consortium Ink Industrial Zone Deal Yangon Region Minister for Planning and Finance U Myint Thaung delivers the opening speech at a press conference at the Yangon Investment Forum 2019. / The Global New Light of Myanmar By THE IRRAWADDY 29 April 2019 YANGON—The Yangon regional government will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of Hong Kong and Taiwan companies next month to develop an international-standard industrial zone in Htantabin Township in the west of the commercial capital. Worth an estimated US$500 million (761.2 billion kyats) the Htantabin Industrial Zone will be implemented on more than 1,000 acres and is expected to create more than 150,000 job opportunities, said Naw Pan Thinzar Myo, Yangon Region Karen ethnic affairs minister, at a press conference on Friday. The regional government and the Hong Kong-Taiwan consortium, Golden Myanmar Investment Co., are scheduled to sign the MoU at the 2nd Yangon Investment Fair on May 10, which will showcase about 80 projects across Yangon Region in an effort to drum up local and foreign investment. It is expected to take about nine years to fully implement the Htantabin Industrial Zone. The MoU is the first to be implemented among 11 industrial zones planned by the Yangon regional government in undeveloped areas on the outskirts of Yangon. A map of the Htantabin Industrial Zone / Invest Myanmar Summit website At the country’s first Investment Fair in late January, the Yangon government showcased planned international-standard industrial zones in 11 townships: Kungyangon, Kawhmu, Twantay, Thingyan, Kyauktan, Khayan, Thongwa, Taikkyi, Hmawbi, Hlegu and Htantabin. -
Myanmar Business Guide for Brazilian Businesses
2019 Myanmar Business Guide for Brazilian Businesses An Introduction of Business Opportunities and Challenges in Myanmar Prepared by Myanmar Research | Consulting | Capital Markets Contents Introduction 8 Basic Information 9 1. General Characteristics 10 1.1. Geography 10 1.2. Population, Urban Centers and Indicators 17 1.3. Key Socioeconomic Indicators 21 1.4. Historical, Political and Administrative Organization 23 1.5. Participation in International Organizations and Agreements 37 2. Economy, Currency and Finances 38 2.1. Economy 38 2.1.1. Overview 38 2.1.2. Key Economic Developments and Highlights 39 2.1.3. Key Economic Indicators 44 2.1.4. Exchange Rate 45 2.1.5. Key Legislation Developments and Reforms 49 2.2. Key Economic Sectors 51 2.2.1. Manufacturing 51 2.2.2. Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 54 2.2.3. Construction and Infrastructure 59 2.2.4. Energy and Mining 65 2.2.5. Tourism 73 2.2.6. Services 76 2.2.7. Telecom 77 2.2.8. Consumer Goods 77 2.3. Currency and Finances 79 2.3.1. Exchange Rate Regime 79 2.3.2. Balance of Payments and International Reserves 80 2.3.3. Banking System 81 2.3.4. Major Reforms of the Financial and Banking System 82 Page | 2 3. Overview of Myanmar’s Foreign Trade 84 3.1. Recent Developments and General Considerations 84 3.2. Trade with Major Countries 85 3.3. Annual Comparison of Myanmar Import of Principal Commodities 86 3.4. Myanmar’s Trade Balance 88 3.5. Origin and Destination of Trade 89 3.6. -
(BRI) in Myanmar
MYANMAR POLICY BRIEFING | 22 | November 2019 Selling the Silk Road Spirit: China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Myanmar Key points • Rather than a ‘grand strategy’ the BRI is a broad and loosely governed framework of activities seeking to address a crisis in Chinese capitalism. Almost any activity, implemented by any actor in any place can be included under the BRI framework and branded as a ‘BRI project’. This allows Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and provincial governments to promote their own projects in pursuit of profit and economic growth. Where necessary, the central Chinese government plays a strong politically support- ive role. It also maintains a semblance of control and leadership over the initiative as a whole. But with such a broad framework, and a multitude of actors involved, the Chinese government has struggled to effectively govern BRI activities. • The BRI is the latest initiative in three decades of efforts to promote Chinese trade and investment in Myanmar. Following the suspension of the Myitsone hydropower dam project and Myanmar’s political and economic transition to a new system of quasi-civilian government in the early 2010s, Chinese companies faced greater competition in bidding for projects and the Chinese Government became frustrated. The rift between the Myanmar government and the international community following the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State provided the Chinese government with an opportunity to rebuild closer ties with their counterparts in Myanmar. The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) was launched as the primary mechanism for BRI activities in Myanmar, as part of the Chinese government’s economic approach to addressing the conflicts in Myanmar. -
Recent Arrests List
ƒ ARRESTS No. Name Sex Position Date of Arrest Section of Law Plaintiff Current Condition Address Remark Myanmar Military Seizes Power and Senior NLD S: 8 of the Export and Superintendent Kyi 1 (Daw) Aung San Suu Kyi F State Counsellor (Chairman of NLD) 1-Feb-21 House Arrest Nay Pyi Taw leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Import Law Lin of Special Branch President U Win Myint were detained. The NLD’s S: 25 of the Natural Myanmar Military Seizes Power and Senior NLD Superintendent Myint 2 (U) Win Myint M President (Vice Chairman-1 of NLD) 1-Feb-21 Disaster Management House Arrest Nay Pyi Taw leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Naing law President U Win Myint were detained. The NLD’s Myanmar Military Seizes Power and Senior NLD 3 (U) Henry Van Thio M Vice President 1-Feb-21 House Arrest Nay Pyi Taw leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint were detained. The NLD’s Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw, the Myanmar Military Seizes Power and Senior NLD 4 (U) Mann Win Khaing Than M upper house of the Myanmar 1-Feb-21 House Arrest Nay Pyi Taw leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and parliament President U Win Myint were detained. The NLD’s Speaker of the Union Assembly, the Myanmar Military Seizes Power and Senior NLD 5 (U) T Khun Myat M Joint House and Pyithu Hluttaw, the 1-Feb-21 House Arrest Nay Pyi Taw leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and lower house of the Myanmar President U Win Myint were detained. -
DASHED HOPES the Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Myanmar WATCH
HUMAN RIGHTS DASHED HOPES The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Myanmar WATCH Dashed Hopes The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Myanmar Copyright © 2019 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-36970 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-1-6231-36970 Dashed Hopes The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Myanmar Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 5 I. Background ..................................................................................................................... 6 II. Section 66(d) -
President and First Lady Share Merit for Martyred Leaders on 71St Martyrs’ Day
CENTENARY BIRTHDAY OF SAYAMAGYI DAW KYAN, WRITER RESEARCHER P-8-9 (OPINION) NATIONAL NATIONAL State Counsellor offers ‘soon’ to State Counsellor: Only by remembering country’s history, Sanghas in memory of Martyrs one learns what to do and what not in future PAGE-3 PAGE-5 Vol. V, No. 95, 8TH Waxing of Second Waso 1380 ME www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com Friday, 20 July 2018 President U Win Myint and First Lady Daw Cho Cho pay homage to the Buddha before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of General Aung San, pays tribute to General Aung San donating ‘soon’ (day meal) to the Members of the Sangha. PHOTO: MNA and Martyrs at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum yesterday. PHOTO: ZAW MIN LATT President and First Lady Daw Aung San Suu Kyi pays share merit for martyred tribute to Bogyoke Aung San st leaders on 71 Martyrs’ Day Tens of thousands pay respects to Martyrs st ON the 71st Martyrs’ Day, a donation U Hla Thein and wife Daw Aye Thida, at Mausoleum on 71 Martyrs’ Day ceremony was held at the Nay Pyi Taw Deputy Commander-in-Chief of De- Council Office Zabuthiri Hall yesterday fence Services and Commander-in-Chief AT an event for the 71st Martyrs’ Day held assassinated 71 years ago. morning, and merit was shared for the (Army) Vice-Senior General Soe Win, yesterday at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Present at yesterday’s event at the leaders who sacrificed their lives for the Union Ministers, Union Attorney-Gen- Yangon, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Martyrs’ Mausoleum near the northern country. -
Burma Coup Watch
This publication is produced in cooperation with Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN), Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Progressive Voice (PV), US Campaign for Burma (USCB), and Women Peace Network (WPN). BN 2021/2031: 1 Mar 2021 BURMA COUP WATCH: URGENT ACTION REQUIRED TO PREVENT DESTABILIZING VIOLENCE A month after its 1 February 2021 coup, the military junta’s escalation of disproportionate violence and terror tactics, backed by deployment of notorious military units to repress peaceful demonstrations, underlines the urgent need for substantive international action to prevent massive, destabilizing violence. The junta’s refusal to receive UN diplomatic and CONTENTS human rights missions indicates a refusal to consider a peaceful resolution to the crisis and 2 Movement calls for action confrontation sparked by the coup. 2 Coup timeline 3 Illegal even under the 2008 In order to avert worse violence and create the Constitution space for dialogue and negotiations, the 4 Information warfare movement in Burma and their allies urge that: 5 Min Aung Hlaing’s promises o International Financial Institutions (IFIs) 6 Nationwide opposition immediately freeze existing loans, recall prior 6 CDM loans and reassess the post-coup situation; 7 CRPH o Foreign states and bodies enact targeted 7 Junta’s violent crackdown sanctions on the military (Tatmadaw), 8 Brutal LIDs deployed Tatmadaw-affiliated companies and partners, 9 Ongoing armed conflict including a global arms embargo; and 10 New laws, amendments threaten human rights o The UN Security Council immediately send a 11 International condemnation delegation to prevent further violence and 12 Economy destabilized ensure the situation is peacefully resolved. -
05 Narayanan Ganesan 4교.Indd
Asian Journal of Peacebuilding August 10, 2021: 1-28 doi: 10.18588/202108.00a148 Perspective Democratic Deficits: Structural and Agency Factors in Myanmar’s Ethnic Peace Process during Regime Transition Narayanan Ganesan Myanmar has undergone democratic transition since 2010 when the country introduced elections and a parliamentary form of government. The country has now had two successive governments, the first led by President Thein Sein and the second by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. Both governments have made the ethnic peace process, based on the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, a key policy issue. Nonetheless, only limited success has been obtained thus far, and important structural and agency factors inhibit greater progress. These factors, termed “democracy deficits” in this article, suggest that the peace process has limited scope for further success in the medium term, and that the interactions between these two factors has only worsened the situation. A postscript brings the article up to date. Keywords Myanmar, democratization, Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, Northern Alliance, National League for Democracy Introduction Myanmar began a domestically engineered democratic transition in 2010 with the country going through two elected governments in the following decade. The first government, led by President Thein Sein, was only partly democratic since leading personalities within it were drawn from the military, and the major opposition political party boycotted the election. By contrast, the second National League for Democracy (NLD) government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, that took power in 2016, was far more democratic with a strong mandate and an overwhelming majority in parliament. Both governments sought to end the long-running wars with ethnic armed groups and regarded this an extremely important agenda item during their terms of office. -
Burma 2018 International Religious Freedom Report
BURMA 2018 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT Executive Summary The constitution guarantees every citizen “the right to freely profess and practice religion subject to public order, morality or health and to the other provisions of this Constitution.” The law prohibits speech or acts insulting or defaming any religion or religious beliefs; authorities used these laws to limit freedom of expression and press. Local and international experts said deeply woven prejudices led to abuses and discrimination against religious minorities by government and societal actors. It was sometimes difficult to categorize incidents as based solely on religious identity due to the close linkage between religion and ethnicity in the country. Violence, discrimination, and harassment against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State, who are nearly all Muslim, and other minority populations continued. Following the ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that took place in 2017 and resulted in the displacement of more than 700,000 refugees to Bangladesh, Rohingya who remained in Burma continued to face an environment of particularly severe repression and restrictions on freedom of movement and access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods based on their ethnicity, religion, and citizenship status, according to the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In March the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar reported that the government appeared to be using starvation tactics against remaining Rohingya. On September 17, the UN Fact- Finding Mission, established by the UN Human Rights Council, published its final report on the country, which detailed atrocities committed by the military in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States, as well as other areas, and characterized the “genocidal intent” of the military’s 2017 operations in Rakhine State. -
Democratization of Myanmar
UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE POLITICAL SCIENCE-INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY MASTER THESIS DEMOCRATIZATION OF MYANMAR Mentor: Student: Prof. Doc. Damir Kapidžić Leon Škoro Index number: 987/II SARAJEVO, NOVEMBER 2020. SUMMARY Myanmar is a country with long and continued attention to state-building, but the state has been dominated by the military, although some degree of power has been transferred to a civilian government headed by the NLD, and the authority, capacity and legitimacy of the state remain fragile. The primary interest of the military has been to protect national sovereignty, unity and stability, but with the change of government in 2011 came a series of political reforms in support of basic civil rights, electoral democracy and economic growth. The first free general election since 1990 was held in November 2015, which election returned a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy, an equally massive defeat for the USDP, and the general marginalization of most ethnic parties. The NLD formed a new government in 2016 with Htin Kyaw as the first non-military president since 1962, and Aung San Suu Kyi in a newly created position as State Counsellor, which secured her the role of de facto state leader under the 2008 Constitution.However, continued military influence, persistent capacity problems in political parties and parliamentary politics, weak channels of political representation and problems of administrative capacity give rise to critical questions about the substance of democratization in Myanmar. The country’s political trajectory remains open-ended, although the most likely scenario remains a continued, if slow, democratization process, with the next general elections scheduled for 2020. -
Burma's Identity Crisis
Burma’s identity crisis How ethno-religious nationalism has led to religious intolerance, crimes against humanity and genocide May 2019 Daniel Sinclair/CSW February 2019 For public use Burma’s Identity Crisis Explanatory note CSW has always used the name ‘Burma’, rather than the official name of the country, ‘Myanmar’, and continues to do so. Ever since the military regime changed the name to Myanmar in 1989, one year after the bloody suppression of pro- democracy demonstrations, Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD), and many of the country’s ethnic nationalities, requested the international community not to adopt the military’s name, arguing that the regime had no mandate to change the name of the country. Although Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD are now in government, it is unclear what their wishes are, and so we tend to use Burma and Myanmar interchangeably, depending on the context. In this report we use Burma throughout, except when directly quoting sources which themselves use Myanmar. Similarly we use the name ‘Rangoon’ for the country’s formal capital and major city, except where the official name ‘Yangon’ is used in direct quotations. Much of the research for this report was conducted first hand by CSW, through visits to Burma and its borders, interviewing ethnic and religious minorities, Buddhist monks, civil society and refugees. However, given the scale of the topic, and limitations on access to some areas, we have referred to information researched and published by other human rights groups and international organisations, notably the United Nations, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights and the Burma Human Rights Network. -
Political Monitor No.7
Euro-Burma Office 20 March – 1 April 2016 Political Monitor 2016 POLITICAL MONITOR NO. 7 OFFICIAL MEDIA MYANMAR ENTERS NEW ERA President Htin Kyaw took his oath of office at the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on 30 March. In his inaugural speech, he said his government will strive to amend the current constitution. “I am responsible for the emergence of a constitution that will be in accord with the democratic norms suited to our country. I am also aware that I need to be patient in realising this political objective, for which the people have long aspired,” said the president. He said his government will seek to implement four policies: national reconciliation; internal peace; the emergence of a constitution that will produce a democratic, federal union; and the improvement of the quality of life of the majority of the people. Following the swearing-in ceremony at the parliament, a ceremony marking the handover of presidential duties from out-going President Thein Sein to incoming President Htin Kyaw was held at the Credentials Hall of the Presidential Palace in Nay Pyi Taw. The two vice presidents, Myint Swe and Henry Van Thio as well as the new government ministers were also sworn in on 30 March in Nay Pyi Taw. (Please see Appendix A for full text of the President Htin Kyaw’s inaugural speech).1 NLD CREATES TO “STATE COUNCILLOR” ROLE FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI The Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) agreed on 31 March to discuss a special bill that would create the post of the State Counsellor for NLD Chair Aung San Suu Kyi in the new cabinet.