Wednesday, June 17, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 66)

Speaker wades into kyat crisisThura U Shwe Mann requests responses from Central Bank and Union government over their handling of the foreign currency crisis that has seen importers struggling to obtain dollars, as talks continue in Nay Pyi Taw. NEWS 3

Members of the Myanmar Monks Organisation and the Myanmar National Youth Network protest in Yangon yesterday over the alleged rape of a Myanmar woman in Thailand on June 3. The groups have called on the Thai junta to take action over the attack, which occurred as the woman, 19, was returning home from her job at a fish processing plant.

WWW.MMTIMES.COM DAILY EDITION ISSUE 66 | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

500Ks.

HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

NEWS 3

MPs prepare for debate on section 436 amendmentsRepresentatives given until tomorrow afternoon to register for debate on proposed changes to section 436 of constitution, as Bill Committee warns of the need for a transparent vote.

NEWS 6

Controversial primate research program endsA primate fossil research program that the military government co-opted seemingly to enhance its legitimacy has concluded after 10 years, but leaves a legacy of memorable and scientifically inaccurate statements.

BUSINESS 8

Pun Hlaing Siloam to bring treatment homeA new joint venture between FMI and Indonesias Lippo Group aims to bring an end to Myanmars medical exodus by offering top-quality treatment in Yangon.

BUSINESS 9

Exchange rate crackdown leaves traders worriesThe arrest of businesspeople in Pabedan township for buying and selling the dollar outside official rates has prompted many exchange centres to cut back on trading.

IN PICTURES

PHOTO: AUNG MYIN YE ZAW

2 News THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 17, 2015

Migrants in S Korea afraid after deadly MERS outbreak

MYANMAR migrant workers in South Korea fear they could be ex-posed to the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that is ravaging the country. They say the Myanmar embassy in Seoul has issued no warnings or advice, and their Korean employers brush aside their fears.

As of June 15, 16 people in South Korea had died of the disease, with another 150 known to be affected, of whom 120 were receiving treatment. The World Health Organization has described the outbreak in South Ko-rea as large and complex.

Ko Moe Myint Aung, who works in an electronics factory in Seoul, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that Myanmar workers are afraid.

We dont know whats going on and we dont want to go to work because our bosses dont care. They laugh at us for wearing face-masks, he said.

Workers say the Myanmar em-bassy in Seoul should urge the gov-ernment and South Korean employ-ers to ensure the safety of Myanmar workers.

Most Myanmar workers in South Korea are unskilled labourers.

Ko Nay Linn, a construction worker in Daegu, said, As a driver, I have to work with Koreans eve-ry day. The bosses allow Korean

workers time off because of the out-break, but Myanmar workers didnt get a single day off.

So far, all the patients infected with MERS have been South Korean citizens, according to CNN, which quoted Samsung Medical Centre as saying they counted many of the nations MERS cases among its pa-tients and visitors.

We rely on Myanmar commu-nity organisations here. Weve ar-ranged to contact each other if any-thing happens, said Ko Kyaw Swar, who works in Seoul.

Myanmar migrants are working in South Korea legally in accordance with a contract reached between the two governments, rather than pri-vate agencies. But workers say there are no provisions for dealing with diseases.

The Myanmar government is re-sponsible for this, because there are no employment agencies involved, said U Kyaw Htin Kyaw, general sec-retary of the Myanmar Overseas Em-ployment Agencies Federation.

MRATT KYAW [email protected]

A man wearing a face mask walks past signage at Severance Hospital in Seoul yesterday. Photo: AFP

Journalist calls for release of Palaung driver

A PALAUNG man arrested in north-ern Shan States Muse township in late April has appeared in court to face drug- and arms-related offences, as a foreign journalist who was briefly de-tained with him disputed the version of events put forward by police.

Mai Nyi Aye was detained, together with two foreign journalists, by the Pansay Militia at a checkpoint on the Namkham to Nam Phatka Highway on April 28. Militia members then trans-ported the trio to their camp, and then to the Muse police station in three separate vehicles.

The journalists, who had hired Mai Nyi Aye as their driver, were re-leased the following day. However, Mai Nyi Aye, 26, was accused of car-rying 40 WY methamphetamines tab-lets and 22 7.62-millimetre bullets in the car and has not been released. On June 11 and 12 he appeared in court to face the allegations, according to Muse police.

In an open letter, video journalist Christian Veits expressed concern at the charges and said he had not seen any sort of weapon, ammunition or drug in the vehicle they were travel-ling in. The contraband was also not mentioned while members of the Pansay militia checked their vehicle or took them to Muse.

It was only much later, during interrogation at the police station in Muse, that we were confronted with and first saw those items. I felt as if the items might have been used as a way to put pressure on us during in-terrogation, Mr Viets said.

We are seriously concerned about

[Mai Nyi Ayes] wellbeing and hope that this case can be resolved quickly.

Attention is now turning to the role of the government-affiliated Pansay militia, which has long been accused of drug trafficking. Its leader, U Kyaw Myint, is a member of the Shan State parliament.

Mai Eik Kyaw, an information of-ficer from the ethnic Palaung Taang National Liberation Army, which has regularly clashed with Pansay forces in northern Shan State, accused the mili-tia of setting a trap for Mai Nyi Aye by planting the drugs and ammunition in the car.

They arrested them even [though] they havent found anything, and then they can make a trap when they [take him] to the police station, he said. It was cheating.

Muse township police chief Police Captain Mya Sein said it was impos-sible to say how the drugs or ammuni-tion came to be in the vehicle.

We found the drugs and bullets in their car, but we cant say for sure what happened before they arrived to the police [station], he said.

A source in Muse with close ties to police said the authorities have ceded law-enforcement powers to militia groups and pro-government organisa-tions in the area, particularly on issues related to mining and illicit drugs.

Under the law [a militia] cannot arrest a man who [they suspect of car-rying] drugs or [having relations with] rebel organisations, said the source, who asked not to be named. [The Pansay militia] are not police, but they did this because they have deals with local authorities.

The checkpoint where the trio was detained is close to contested areas of northern Shan State where the Tat-madaw and the TNLA have regularly engaged in clashes in recent years.

Additional reporting by Kayleigh Long

WA LONE

[email protected]

The bosses allow Korean workers time off ... but Myanmar workers didnt get a single day off.

Ko Nay Linn Construction worker

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

FOURTEEN civil society organisations say they have formed a nationwide al-liance with the aim of promoting voter education ahead of the November elec-tions, monitoring parliament and re-cruiting tens of thousands of observers for polling day.

The problem with residents is that they dont really understand the impact of voting. This is the case in big cities around the country, even Yangon, U Thant Sin told a press conference yester-day to launch Voter Education Partners.

U Thant Sin was formerly program director at the New Myanmar Founda-tion, a voter education group which ob-served the 2010 elections. He stepped down to become a founding member and executive director at VEP.

Although the Union Election Com-mission (UEC) is engaged in voter ed-ucation, U Thant Sin said its activities were not broad enough.

To be honest, UECs voter educa-tion programs are narrowly focused. Their programs tell voters just to check their names on the voter lists being displayed. But they dont explain why it is important to vote and to be on the lists, he said.

The UEC is rolling out voter regis-tration lists across the country for the public to check their names and data are entered correctly. In the latest phase in 14 Yangon townships, some 87,000 people out of 1.8 million regis-tered voters made formal objections.

U Thant Sin stressed the impor-tant role civil society organisations had played in monitoring elections during the transition to democracy in countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

The emergence of more observers is very important for our countrys de-mocratisation, he said.

There are about 80,000 wards and villages around the country. Counting one observer per ward, about 80,000 observers are needed. We will try to set up training processes for at least 50,000 observers for this years general election, U Thant Sin said.

LUN MIN [email protected]

Bill committee issues warning on constitutional amendment voting

THE Joint Bill Committee has urged transparency when voting on constitu-tional amendments, warning that us-ing the current electronic system may cause doubts over the result.

The committee made the call yes-terday when submitting its report on proposed changes to section 436 of the constitution, which were submitted to parliament on June 10 together with amendments to 32 other sections of the charter.

The committee did not recommend how MPs should vote on the proposed change to 436, which would remove the militarys automatic veto on consti-tutional change by reducing the thresh-old for amendments to 70 percent of MPs, from 75pc.

But it said the vote was sufficiently important as to merit careful consid-eration on how it should take place.

Both the public and the inter-national community will eagerly monitor parliaments decision on the

constitutional amendment bill, said U Nanda Kyaw Swar, who leads the com-mittee and is also deputy speaker of the Pyi-daungsu Hluttaw.

The recommendation comes just months after a photo was published showing a military MP voting for an absent colleague, in violation of parlia-ment rules.

Last year, it also emerged that the

Speaker had access to voting records, despite the electronic system being de-scribed as secret voting.

MPs who want to debate the pro-posed change to 436 were instructed to register with the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Office by 2pm tomorrow, suggesting the discussion will take place within the next week. MPs will only be allowed to speak on the proposed amendments, and will be given a limited amount of time, the committee said.

Even if the amendments are passed, they will still require approval at a na-tionwide referendum by at least 50pc of eligible voters. This could prove a dif-ficult hurdle, depending on the size of the turnout.

U Nanda Kyaw Swar said that if ap-proved the changes would come into effect when the first session of parlia-ment is convened following this years general election. That is expected to happen in late January 2016.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe

Speaker seeks answers from govt, Central Bank on currency

PYIDAUNGSU Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann has stepped into the crisis surrounding the fall-ing value of the kyat and problems facing importers by asking for ex-planations from the Union govern-ment and the Central Bank. He has also fuelled a debate on Facebook.

U Win Oo, a member of the Pyi-daungsu Hluttaw planning and fi-nancial development committee, told The Myanmar Times yester-day that Thura U Shwe Mann had called for action in the foreign cur-rency market when he met with officials from the Central Bank on June 11.

The Central Bank of Myanmar, whose independence was estab-lished by law two years ago, has the means to rein in the market, the Union Solidarity and Development Party MP said, adding, The Central Bank can sell its reserves of dollars when the dollar rises on the mar-ket and it can buy dollars when the price decreases.

U Win Oo said the government was holding talks with the business community, which is struggling to source dollars at the rate estab-lished by the Central Bank, and would later explain its actions to parliament. The hluttaw Speaker said this last week when he met with the Central Bank. The hluttaw wont push for this case, he said.

U Win Myint, an MP and sec-retary of the Myanmar Petroleum Traders Association, said the gov-ernment had responded to parlia-ments concerns on the issue.

The hluttaw met with officials concerned and urged the govern-ment to do what was needed. Cur-rently the Central Bank is doing its best. The solution has been found.

If the hluttaw gets involved with everyone stating his own opinion then there will be misunderstand-ings, said the USDP member.

U Win Myint said he held talks with Central Bank officials yes-terday morning on the exchange rate. As a result importers of fuel oil, palm oil and other goods could buy US dollars as needed through the banking system and not on the

outside market, he said.Businesses would have to buy

dollars through the Myanmar For-eign Trade Bank, Myanmar Apex Bank and other private banks, he said. He said the government and entrepreneurs had held talks for some days but that misunder-standings over the function of the Central Bank had delayed an outcome.

National League for Democracy representative Daw Sandar Min said she expected parliament to hold a debate on the governments response to the currency issue.

Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann, who is chair of the USDP and a possible contender for the presi-dency, has also taken to Facebook to discuss the hottest topic of the day.

Yesterday he posted on his page, There are so many useful com-ments on my [June 10] post about the meeting with government of-ficials on the rise of the US dollar exchange rate. The Speaker said he would relay comments by Ko Zay Yar, a Facebook user, to the relevant authorities.

Ko Zay Yar had said that My-anmar workers abroad transferred money into Myanmar through il-legal channels, and that rich men were monopolising this transfer market. If the authorities con-trolled this illegal foreign exchange market then the dollar rate would fall, he wrote.

Thura U Shwe Mann launched into Facebook on February 9, em-ulating other senior officials and MPs who have become popular on social media.

The speaker asked his staff to analyse comments on his June 10 post about the currency crisis, which garnered 750 comments and 7700 likes.

The speaker said yesterday he had advised and discussed with officials. We, the hluttaw, and peo-ple will have to watch how the au-thorities take action, he said.

Comments on the Speakers post also included complaints about land seizures, the currency black market and criticism of the government.

His Facebook page has 83,000 likes. U Ye Htut, the information minister who has been nicknamed minister for Facebook, has more than 207,000 likes.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

HTOO THANT KYAW PHONE KYAW

Both the public and the international community will ... monitor parliaments decision.

U Nanda Kyaw Swar Joint Bill Committee chair

CSOs form alliance for monitoring, education

Current electronic voting system may cause doubts over the result of decision on constitutional amendment bills, committee warns as debate looms on section 436

CONSTITUTION

Thura U Shwe Mann also turns to Facebook to engage with the public on plummeting local currency

A customer sells US dollars at a licensed money changer in Yangon yesterday. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw


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Strike called off at shoe factory

IN the latest phase of a long-running industrial dispute, hundreds of work-ers at the Tai Yi footwear factory staged a two-day sit-in outside the plant in Hlaing Tharyar township on June 15 and 16. The workers are pro-testing against the dismissal of two activists from the factorys union.

Though the sit-in ended with the onset of rainy weather, the union has plans for further action, including the possibility of a sit-in on the factory floor.

We have to think of the long-term health of our members. Our action will continue inside the factory, said Ma Nwet Yi Win, one of the fired workers.

We decided the workers should enter the factory, but they will not be working, she added.

Ma Nwet Yi Win and Ma Moe Wai were dismissed by the factory manag-er on May 29 for being absent for three days without approval.

Ma Moe Wai said she had taken medical leave from May 26 to 28, for which she had produced a prescription from the social welfare department clinic. She also says she tried to call the factory but could not get through, and the manager had visited her at the clinic while she was sick with a fever.

Theyre not firing me because I was absent without leave, but because I am active in the union, she said, adding that workers are entitled to six

days emergency leave.I have not received any compensa-

tion. We are not protected by the law, she said.

Ma Nwet Yi Win, who was dis-missed at the same time for the same reason, said the union committee had tried to negotiate with the fac-tory owner, who refused to rehire the workers. The union therefore decided to take action.

The owner refused to rehire us, so the union decided on the sit-in un-til they do so, said Ma Nwet Yi Win yesterday.

Contacted by The Myanmar Times, manager Ma Aye Mi Hlaing declined to comment yesterday.

However, the factory workers said the management had complained to the industrial tribunal that the sit-in was affecting production. Tri-bunal member U Ye Naing Win said the council had not received such a complaint.

The Hlaing Tharyar and Shwe Pyi Thar industrial zones in Yangon have

a troubled history of labour disputes, primarily because factory owners are unable or unwilling to raise the work-ers low wages. In March, more than 5500 workers from Tai Yi shoe fac-tory as well as Costec, Ford Glory, E-Land Myanmar and Red Stone gar-ment factories demonstrated to support their demand for higher pay. According to a government statement, workers from four of the factories reached a compromise with employers and most returned to work. However, hundreds lost their jobs. The dispute at Tai Yi goes back to 2012.

On May 17, the National Unity Party held a labour rights forum in Yangons Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone on May 17 where members pledged their solidarity and support for the workers cause and demanded better protection of their rights.

We will support them if they ask us, said Ma Myo Myo Aye, executive member of the National Unity Party. The party believes in protecting workers rights.

NYAN LYNN [email protected]

Tai Yi workers stage a sit-in in front of the companys shoe factory in Hlaing Tharyar township yesterday. Photo: Supplied

Theyre not firing me because I was absent without leave, but because I am active in the union.

Ma Moe Wai Fired Tai Yi labour leader

New border crossing with Thailand to give Kayah State tourism a boost

A NEW border crossing between Kayah State and Thailand is expected to open later this year, a move that My-anmar hopes will help boost tourism and regional development in the re-mote state, U Nyunt Aung, the deputy director of Ministry of Commerce, told The Myanmar Times yesterday.

We sent a request to Thailand via the Thai ambassador on May 21. We are ready to open the border gate as soon as we receive a reply from them, U Nyunt Aung said.

The new crossing would connect Myanmars Mese with Thailands Mae Hong Son province, U Nyunt Aung said, adding that a bridge has already been built across the Thanlwin River

60 kilometres (37 miles) from the bor-der on the Myanmar side.

U Nyunt Aung said plans to open the new crossing were made in re-sponse to requests from the people of Kayah State for help in develop-ing their home region. Officials in Thailands Mae Hong Son province had also suggested that the border be opened to facilitate trade between the two countries.

Transportation is getting better, so the new border gate will be able to handle trade to and from Kayah State, Shan State and Mandalay, he said.

U Maung Maung Than, the direc-tor general of the Ministry of Immi-gration, said he did not know when the new gate would open, but added that when it does Myanmar will issue

seven-day visas and border passes at the crossing.

Kayah States limited tourism in-frastructure just eight hotels with a total of 175 rooms, according to figures from the Ministry of Hotel and Tour-ism is already feeling the strain of the small number of visitors to the area, said U Myint Htwe, director of Ministry of Hotel and Tourism.

The situation for Kayah State is difficult, but we are preparing by of-fering tour guide and hospitality train-ing to local people to raise their aware-ness about tourism, he said. We are also negotiating with travel companies to create itineraries for Kayah State based on adventure trips and cross-country travel.

U Aung Zaw Moe, secretary of Kayah State government, told The

Myanmar Times that he welcomed such developments because they will create many job opportunities for lo-cal residents. Kayah State is not yet ready yet for booming tourism, but we can handle visitors to some extent. It will benefit our people.

U Phyo Wai Yar Zar, chair of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Com-mittee, said Kayah can benefit from cross-border visitors from Thailand as well as from tourists arriving from farther afield.

All business sectors concerned with tourism will develop if more visitors come to Kayah State, he said. Myanmar National Airlines already flies to Loikaw, and Air KBZ is plan-ning to add Loikaw flights as well. The more business we get, the more oppor-tunities the local people will have.

EI EI [email protected]

Workers end two-day protest over the sacking of officials from Tai Yi union but are considering further action


Science or politics? Research program into primate fossils brought to an end

THE government has called time on a controversial primate remains research program that once prompted a government minister to declare that Myanmar was the origin of the world.

The 10-year collaboration between researchers from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and foreign experts on primate fossils was initiated in 2005 and concluded in March, Minister for Culture U Aye Myint Kyu told the Amyotha Hluttaw on June 9.

The program sought to uncover evidence to support the Out of Asia theory, whereby the early ancestors of modern humans arose in Asia and migrated to Africa, rather than the other way around. Out of Africa remains the preferred theory among paleontologists.

The research resulted in the discov-ery of four molar teeth over a six-year period in upper Myanmar that led to the naming of a new anthropoid fossil, Afrasia djijidae, according to research published in Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences in 2012.

The teeth the first of which was found near Nyaungpinle village in Magwes Myaing township appear to be similar but more primitive than those found in Libya dating to 38 million years ago, suggesting that the Asian group migrated to Africa.

Africa is the place of origin of man, and Asia is the place of origins of our far ancestors, researcher Jean-Jacques Jaeger, a paleontologist at the Univer-sity of Poitiers in France, was quoted as saying in June 2012.

In 2005, Mr Jaeger led the first dig under the program, working alongside three other foreign experts and staff from the culture and education min-istries in Myaing township. Later, for-eign experts from France, the United States, Thailand and Japan continued the search for more remains in other parts of Magwe and Sagaing regions and Shan State, including in the area around the Thitchauk coal mine in Kalewa township.

U Aye Myint Kyu told parliament last week that a dig was conducted from January 1 to February 3 this year in the Pondaung area of Magwe and Sagaing regions, while from February 9 to March 15 a team led by Masanaru Takai of the University of Tokyo, Japan, undertook studies in the Chaungthar and Kanbalu areas of Sagaing Region.

While some of the findings have helped to improve understanding of early primates and have been published in respected international publications, the research was at times seized upon by the military govern-ment for political reasons.

The reasons for this were rarely, if ever, coherently elucidated, but

national prestige and building the legitimacy of the modern, military-run state, which had recently been renamed Myanmar, appeared to be the primary concerns.

Finding evidence of longstanding continuity and habitation in Myanmar was important for the latter, but result-ed in modern concepts of ethnicity and nationality being inaccurately ascribed to 40-million-year-old primates that were the size of chipmunks. As some have noted, the primates were far from anything we think of as human as recently as 5 or 6 million years ago, humans and chimpanzees had not yet diverged.

The first primate remains were found at Pondaung in 1978 but ac-cording to Gustaaf Houtman, author of Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy, the archaeologists who discovered the remains were arrested when they tried to share their find with international researchers.

In the late 1990s, U Khin Nyunt, then Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council, learned of the fossils and initiated a program to continue the research, ordering the militarys Office of Strategic Studies to assist civilian experts. More tooth and jaw fossils were found and by 1999 state media was declaring that the dis-coveries clearly indicate the existence of Myanmar culture and traditions since time immemorial.

Mr Houtman quotes U Khin Nyunt as making the claim that the research showed the Myanmar people are no visitors who came from faraway land and settled here. Life began here in this Myanmar environment of land, air and water. Their roots are here.

The program continued after U Khin Nyunts purge, however. In July 2011, Minister for Culture U Kyaw Hsan told a forum of researchers that the anthropoid primate fossils found at Pondaung had been dated to 40 mil-lion years, earlier than those found in Africa. Thus, the world has acknowl-edged that Myanmar is the origin of the world, he said.

These findings have enhanced the national prestige of Myanmar people, proving the origin of Myan-mar originated in Pontaung-Ponnya, lived through the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and City States Age and King Anawratha established the First Myanmar Empire in Bagan in 1044 AD, he added.

This boast fails to acknowledge the massive 37-million-year gap between the fossils and the start of the Stone Age, a period that began about 3.4 mil-lion years ago.

Even more confusingly, a forum was held in Yangon in July 2010 to discuss the proposal that the primate fossils show that Myanmar is the origin of Myanmar perhaps as a counterpoint to the widely accepted view among anthropologists that the ethnic Bamar migrated to Myanmar from the Tibetan plateau.

In more recent years less has been heard about the primate research project, although the cooperation continued with foreign experts.

But in a sign, perhaps, that old habits die hard, the current minister for culture, U Aye Myint Kyu, a former military officer, spoke of human remains when discussing the primate fossils in parliament last week.

The Ministry of Culture, he told MPs, has no plan to continue researching the discovery of fossilised human remains dated to about 40 mil-lion years ago.

PYAE THET PHYO THOMAS KEAN

UEC warns unofficial political groups

TWO political groups in Rakhine State have been warned not to use confusing names, an official of the Union Election Commission in-formed parliament yesterday. U Myint Naing, a UEC member, said the parties had been told not to use the offending names on their notice-boards. Neither is registered with the UEC under the electoral law.

The parties concerned go by the names the Rakhine Ethnic Peoples

USDP and the Chin Ethnic Peoples Union Solidarity and Development Party, he told Amyotha Hluttaw.

In the May 20 warning notice, the UEC said it did not permit parties to identify themselves by names that were not registered under section 9 of the Political Parties Registration Law. The name of a party regis-tered with the UEC must appear on the signboard, and no unregistered name may be used, he said.

U Ohn Tin, Rakhine National Party MP for No 10 constituency in Rakhine State, had complained about

the two parties names after meeting with voters in Manaung township in April. A subsequent UEC inspection found that the names were also in use in Ann township, Rakhine State, and in villages inhabited by Chin people, he told the hluttaw.

We also received reports that unregistered party names had ap-peared on signboards in villages in Kyaukpyu and Myebon townships. The use of unregistered names could confuse voters ability to decide which party to support, he said.


PYAE THET [email protected]

Mogok residents speak out about the arrest of U Eindaka (not shown) at a press conference on June 15. Photo: Si Thu Lwin

Activists push for release of sayadaw

A COMMUNITY has come out in support of a popular religious leader accused of illegal mining. The dis-pute pits U Eindaka, the abbot of Yay Pu Monastery in Mogok, Man-dalay Region, against powerful gem traders whom he has antagonised in the past.

Residents are collecting signa-tures for a petition and say they are organising a protest against the June 9 arrest of the monk, who has also been defrocked and is in jail. Or-ganisers say they will get signatures from the entire town before send-ing the petition to the Ministries of Home Affairs and Religious Affairs.

U Eindaka, also known as Yay Pu Sayadaw, formerly resided in Man-dalays Masoeyein Monastery. He was one of the leaders of a demon-stration that took place in Mogok as part of the 2007 unrest, and he also took a major role in protests against the construction of the headquarters of the Gem Traders Association on the shores of the towns iconic lake.

The Gem Traders Association has filed a lawsuit against U Eindaka un-der section 41(a) and (b) of the Gems Law in connection with his efforts to build a new pagoda. The work in-volved bringing together relics and holy objects from 11 old pagodas in

the Yay Pu Monastery compound that had been demolished. Accord-ing to his followers, the allegation says that the work entailed in siev-ing the earth and rubble from the demolished buildings was illegal mining.

The demolition was reportedly approved by the township Sangha Nayaka Committee, though an ob-jection from the family of one of the pagodas donors was settled through negotiation.

The objection was withdrawn after Sayadaw gave the family a thor-ough explanation. All the demolition work was carried out transparently. The soil in the monastery compound is not the kind that produces gem-stones, Ko Soe Htay, a Mogok-based member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, told a June 15

press conference in Mandalay. The sayadaw was arrested and

defrocked even after the monks of the township Sangha Nayaka Com-mittee attested that he had done no wrong. All Mogok residents have demanded his release as quickly as possible. Both the residents of Yay Pu ward and the entire town support what Sayadaw has done, he said.

The petition contains recommen-dations from five venerable monks, including Sayadaw U Takekha, a member of the Central Working Committee of the Sangha in Manda-lay, and 700 signatures from Yay Pu ward residents.

[Yay Pu] Sayadaw was forced to disrobe before the case came to court. This is quite unacceptable behaviour in Buddhism. They would need to prove their allegation that the say-adaw was carrying out illegal mining. The sayadaw doesnt engage in busi-ness like laypeople, but worked for the good of the town, U Sein Myint, a legal observer from Mogok, told The Myanmar Times, adding, It looks like this allegation was motivated by personal hatred.

An official from the gem associa-tion declined to comment yesterday, saying she would pass questions to the groups director. The association did not respond to the questions by deadline.

Translation by Zar Zar Soe

SI THU [email protected]

It looks like this allegation was motivated by personal hatred.

U Sein Myint Mogok resident

The world has acknowledged that Myanmar is the origin of the world.

U Kyaw Hsan Former minister for culture

Monk arrested for illegal mining following dispute over site in central Mogok

News 7www.mmtimes.com

ViewsWho benefits from the currency crisis?

MYANMARS kyat has been sharply losing value of late against foreign cur-rencies. The market price to buy US$1 was about K1180 yesterday, above the official rate of K1105.

Similarly, the kyat-to-Thai-baht rate was K34.16 on the Myanmar-Thai border last week. These rates are the lowest we have seen in at least four or five years.

Along with the sharp decline in the value of the kyat, the price of commodities has also increased. The main groups affected by this are mid-dle and working classes. Those who have saved money at home or in the bank are also affected, because the value declines with inflation.

Civil servants whose salaries were increased on April 1 will also not be pleased. The higher prices for com-modities will have eaten into most of their increase, barely two months since the pay rises kicked in.

Not all are worse off, however. Some people have been able to profit from the decline of the kyats value. But who are they, and how did they profit?

Together with the decrease in value of the kyat, there has been a massive expansion in black-market currency trading.

One of the biggest changes in the financial sector under President U Thein Seins government was the granting of permission to private banks and licensed money chang-ers to sell foreign currencies at the market rate.

People are now allowed to openly buy, sell and use dollars and other for-eign currencies, and money changers have appeared all over the country to service demand.

While private banks and money changers can legally trade foreign currencies, they are constricted in the rates they can offer. Each day,

the Central Bank sets a reference rate. The rate is based on an auction of foreign currency to private banks and money changers. They then are required to sell this currency, and other reserves that they wish to trade, within a narrow band 0.8 percent of the reference rate.

However, the Central Banks refer-ence rate has failed to keep up with the decline in value of the kyat, which has been driven by high demand for, and low supply of, US dollars. The Central Bank does not have the reserves to sell as many dollars as the banks and money changers are seek-ing through its daily auction system.

As a consequence, Myanmar citizens and foreigners are unable to buy dollars at private banks and money changers. Of course, they are available on the underground market at a much higher rate than the official peg set by the Central Bank.

Private banks and money changers are still happy to buy dollars from customers at the official rate. But

if you ask to buy dollars, they will refuse and say they dont have any because the Central Bank wont sell dollars to them.

However, the Central Bank is in fact still selling dollars to private banks and exchange counters at its reference rate through the daily auctions. It uses a quota system.

The Central Bank doesnt publicly announce how many dollars it sells to each bank, but it is certain that private banks are able to buy some dollars at the reference rate.

So what have private banks done their quota of dollars? Of course, they should resell their quota to the public within the narrow band of the Central Banks reference rate. But, as we know, they have not. They might keep them, or sell them on the black market. Because there is no system to check how much each bank bought and then sold, there is no accountabil-ity. But they can profit significantly on every dollar bought from the Central Bank.

For example, a private bank that bought US$100,000 from the Central Bank for K1105 per dollar could make a net profit of K900,000 if it sold it all at K1114, within the legal bounds. But if it sold it at the black market rate of K1180, it could make a profit of K7.5 million. For that reason some private bankers who can buy dollars at the

reference exchange rate from the Central Bank are taking advantage of this crisis.

To stabilise the value of the kyat, the government should either reduce its budget deficit and control the issu-ing of paper money, or sell its foreign currency reserves to meet market demand. The Central Bank is clearly not in a position to do either. Instead, it has been forced to issue a set of directives that cap daily allowances for dollar withdrawals and mandate government payments are conducted in kyat. However, they havent had much effect.

The Central Bank cannot effective-ly resolve this crisis because it does not have the necessary authority to do so. Only the government can take the necessary steps, including reducing the states use of dollars, stopping the losses at state-owned enterprises, controlling the issuing of new cur-rency and selling the states foreign currency reserves. Translation by Thiri Min Htun and Zar Zar Soe

SITHU AUNG [email protected]

Private banks and money changers are still happy to buy dollars from customers at the official rate. But if you ask to buy dollars, they will refuse.

Employees handle bank notes at the Central Bank of Myanmar in Yangon in July 2012. Photo: AFP

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 17, 2015

Business

MALAYSIAS Naim Indah City De-velopment has signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) with Myanmar firm United Pacific Development Company to build a 32-storey office tower on Pyay Road in Yangon.

Indah City Development Compa-ny is a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur-listed company Naim Indah Corpo-ration, which is primarily involved in property investment and timber extraction in Malaysia.

The two firms will set up a joint venture company under the 2012 Foreign Investment Law, according to a June 15 notice on Bursa Malay-sia, the countrys stock exchange. The joint venture will be 51 per-cent owned by the foreign partner and United Pacific will hold a 49pc stake.

The land plot on Pyay Road is owned by U Hla Myint Shwe and Daw Aye Myat Mon, according to the stock exchange announcement yesterday.

Land prices along Pyay Road are the most expensive in Yangon, ac-cording to October 2014 appraised land values published by the Inter-nal Revenue Department.

The tax authority publishes up-dated figures annually. Land on Pyay Road is worth an average of K400,000 per square foot, but in reality often sells for much more.

United Pacific Development Company was formed in 2012 and is jointly owned by U Hla Myint Shwe and Daw Aye Myat Mon, ac-cording to the Directorate of Invest-ment and Company Administration (DICA).

The company is involved in man-ufacturing, distribution, construc-tion, hotels and services. Neither of the owners was available for com-ment by press time yesterday.

The MoU will be valid for three months from 13 June, according to the stock exchange note. After this, the parties shall negotiate in good faith and use their best endeavours to enter into definitive agreements, it said.

By the end of 2014, total office supply in Yangon was only 107,000 square metres (1.15 million square feet) of net usable space, according to Colliers research.

In 2015, new supply coming online is estimated to reach over 60,000 sq m more than twice that of 2014, according to Colliers research.

This accounts for 12 new office buildings due to open during the current year.

New office buildings include Financial Centre by Shwe Taung Development, Strand Square by Flying Tiger Engineering, Vantage Tower by Myint & Associates, The Office @ Novotel Yangon Max by Max Myanmar, and Uniteam Office Tower by Uniteam Marine, accord-ing to Colliers.

Malaysian firm to construct Yangon office tower

CLARE [email protected]

PUN Hlaing Siloam Hospitals is positioning itself to reverse the out-flow of patients going abroad for medical treatment.

The hospitals chief executive Dr Gershu Paul said the total health-care spend in Myanmar is about 2 percent of GDP, or about US$1.2 billion. Yet another $600 million is likely spent by Myanmar people travelling overseas to Singapore or Thailand to receive treatment.

The newly-formed Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals aims to reverse this trend. The joint venture is 60 percent owned by Serge Pun-chaired First Myanmar Investments and 40pc by Indonesian conglomer-ate Lippo Group, which is also the

larger operator of Indonesian hospi-tals under the Siloam brand.

Im hoping by offering on-duty [service], offering international class, offering these modern facili-ties, we can gain peoples trust, he said in an interview. Number one is we need people to trust that they will get good care.

Every time someone goes out of the country [for treatment], the country is losing money. Why lose that, when you can get the same quality of care here?

Mr Paul said the challenge for Pun Hlaing Siloam is to convince people they can get quality treat-ment closer to home. A trip to Bang-kok may take four or five hours, severely complicating some cases, but Pun Hlaing Siloam is closer to home.

Not many people think of that, he said. Culturally, they dont trust our system, so they all go to Bangkok.

The Siloam hospitals in Indonesia

have experimented with a few differ-ent measures to make the hospitals more efficient, able to target differ-ent market segments.

We really wanted to get that model right, so we tested it, said Mr Paul. He added the lessons learned in Indonesia are being applied to Myanmar.

It had looked at ways of improv-ing how hospitals run. In one area, infrastructure management, it now offers different room quality at Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals, rang-ing from several hundred dollars to K10,000 a night, depending on room configuration.

It has also improved case man-agement, where its doctors focus on providing the tests that patients need rather than the whole range.

Lets say if someone comes in with dengue fever, they could be very scared and want all the tests, MRIs, everything but actually, [according to] case management, you only need to do two tests, he said. If patients want to pay for ex-tra tests, they can, but otherwise the hospital will focus on what is needed.

Another initiative is downtime operational service delivery, where the hospital takes advantage of the 8pm to 8am off-peak hours to schedule non-time sensitive proce-dures. The hospital runs 24-7 and still has electricity running, staff at work and everything else needed to run operations. Still, patients will be able to access the immediate care they need, he added.

These structural changes come as the healthcare market is set to substantially grow.

Mr Paul said he reckons domes-tic health care spending will in-crease rapidly while it may now be about $1 or $1.5 billion, in five years it will be $4 billion, and in the next

10 years could be $6 to $8 billion.The joint venture now target up

to 20 hospitals across the country over 10 years, with the first 12 arriv-ing in the next 3 to 5 years. Pun Hla-ing Siloam Hospitals aims to grow into a $2 billion enterprise with $400 million in annual revenue supported by over 12,000 healthcare experts, treating over 4 million pa-tients annually.

Doctors have recently been in short supply in Myanmar, with many moving abroad to take advan-tage of higher salaries. Mr Paul said of the 20 specialists at Pun Hlaing Siloam, a total of 18 are repatriate Myanmar doctors wanting to re-turn, with only two expatriates.

Mr Paul said that in the 1970s, Myanmar doctors were particularly well regarded in Indonesia, with its medical schools seen as the top in Asia.

Pun Hlaing Siloams core team is full-time staff, unlike at other private sector Myanmar hospitals where the doctors moonlight, with day jobs at public hospitals.

Mr Paul said there is a human resources challenge.

Not only Yangon or Myanmar but the whole of Asia has a human resource challenge, he said. But what we are doing is changing that, disrupting that.

Experts say that there is a range of options for private hospitals, both good and bad, and there should be strong regulation controlling them.

Retired medical superintended Dr Ba Shwe said private hospitals are popular, but there needs to be a push toward flexible costs and ac-creditation in the industry.

Nowadays, private hospitals are booming in the country, but most of them cannot support modern facili-ties, and the government urgently needs to control them.

A patient walks past the reception window at the newly renamed Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals in Yangon. Photo: Zarni Phyo

Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals aim to bring treatment home

The Cardiac Catheterisation room in Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals. Photo: Supplied/ Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospitals

SHWE YEE SAW

[email protected]

9BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | [email protected]

Exchange Rates (June 16 close)Currency Buying Selling

EuroMalaysia RingittSingapore DollarThai BahtUS Dollar

K1236K295K819

K33K1112

K1256K306K828

K35K1114

Taking a look at the best developers in the country ahead of awards

China has four million millionaire households, second-most worldwide

BUSINESS 10 BUSINESS 13

Customers buy and sell kyat inside the Central Banks approved band yesterday. Photo: Aung Myin

NEWS of the arrests of unlicensed US dollar traders and speculators has resulted in a significant slowdown of black-market money changing opera-tions across Yangon this week, sourc-es said.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Htut, head of the western district police, said that the Bureau of Spe-cial Investigation (BSI) arrested five businesspeople on June 11 from Shwe Bon Thar Street in Yangons Pabedan township, which is home to a number of gems, gold and money traders.

The arrested people had bought substantial amounts of currency since March, said Police Lt Col Kyaw Htut.

I dont have information on the process of their release, but BSI is keeping an eye on them, and will defi-nitely take action next time, he said.

The BSI arrested them under sec-tion 5(h) of the Emergency Provisions Act but they were released again that same evening.

Section 5(h) prohibits attempts to make the public lose trust in the states economy, government loans, government securities, coins and legal tenders distributed wholly or partly in the country or to hamper operational or economic success car-ried out by the government in order to implement the restoration of law and order successfully.

Money lenders have largely ceased selling dollars in the wake of the ar-rests, though many still sell kyat, or trade with familiar customers.

U Naing, an unlicensed money changer who operates on a crowded road in Yangons downtown area, said that he is only selling currency to customers who have called ahead by phone, despite the fact that he has an adequate supply.

We need to be cautious and stay away from the investigators since the events of last week, he said.

Some businesses are facing dif-ficulties trading the US dollar as they cannot contact unofficial mon-ey changers. Many businesses rely on the black market to fill the gaps when they cannot obtain as much foreign currency as they need from banks and official counters, sources said.

Some are willing to exchange kyat for US dollars at the unofficial rate in order to make payments, while others are forced to postpone pay-ments as they dont have enough US dollars, said a manager of a

joint-venture company in Kyauktada township.

She said they have problems when clients try to pay them in small denominations of US dollars, includ-ing $20 and $50 notes, as most peo-ple are only accepting $100 notes.

The central banks reference rate isnt working at the moment, and there are rumours that some official money changers are trading under the counter, but nobody can prove this year, she said.

In theory, the Central Bank of My-anmar operates a managed float, in which the rate is supposed to reflect the market rate. However, over the past few months, the reference rate has departed from the unofficial rate. Recently, the gap has widened signif-icantly last week the unofficial rate reached a high of K1280 to the US dollar, compared to the official rate

of K1105, which has remained fixed since June 5, despite major volatility in the unofficial market.

The Central Bank began inter-vening last week, pushing the unof-ficial rate to around K1185 yesterday. However, it is illegal to trade outside a band of plus or minus 0.8pc of the official rate, which yesterday was K1105, meaning K1114 was the legal upper limit for foreign exchange.

Traders had been routinely flout-ing this limit until last weeks arrests.

According to the 2012 Foreign Exchange Management Law, money changers without a licence are pro-hibited from doing business. Li-censed money changers may be fined or have their licence revoked if they exchange money at an illegal rate, according to the law.

The central bank has allowed non-bank money changers to trade foreign

exchange since late 2012. Around 17 commercial banks and hundreds of private money changers are permit-ted to exchange currencies.

While money changers must trade within a band of 0.8pc above or below the central bank reference rate, other reference rates such as the government rate, the foreign exchange certificates rate and the export earnings rate were declared invalid in 2012. Instead, a managed exchange rate policy was introduced in 2013, in which the market rate is determined through daily central bank auctions.

At first, this was successful in re-ducing use of the black market, but speculation has been increasing.

Bank sources said that export-ers were not selling their US dol-lar income, as the official rates are unattractive.

Crackdown frightens money changers

[email protected] [email protected]

AYE THIDAR KYAW

TOE WAI

AUNG

DEPUTY finance minister Dr Maung Maung Thein has unveiled plans for health insurance beginning on July 1.

The annual premiums will be set at K50,000 from all private insurance companies and Myanma Insurance, with people able to purchase up to five units each at K50,000 a unit. People between six and 65 will be eligible.

People can buy health insurance at Myanma Insurance or at private companies, he said. We will allow them to buy the insurance after mak-ing them read about the benefits of buying insurance as well as the cases not covered by the insurance.

Dr Maung Maung Thein added that not all applications for health in-surance will be accepted.

The plans also lay out compensa-tion. For each separate unit of insur-

ance purchased, K15,000 will be paid a day for the cost of medical treat-ment. When a patient is in hospital, this amount will be paid for up to a month. If the insured patient dies, K1 million will be paid as compensa-tion with the plan.

Myanma Insurance managing di-rector U Aye Min Thein said that if a person purchases five units of insur-ance, they can receive coverage for up to 150 days, or five times the 30-day period of hospitilisation.

People can buy health insurance from us or from private insurers start-ing on July 1, he said. As there are 12 insurance companies, there is no monopoly.

It will also be possible to buy the insurance through agents. Authorised agents receive a 10 percent commis-sion from insurers, so buyers do not need to pay any separate fee other than the premium.

The current setup is to be a trial for one year. The annual premium is cur-rently set at K50,000 a unit, but will be fixed in a years time, with more variation likely introduced.

The plan to put together health in-surance has been some time in com-ing. It had included consultations offi-cials from Myanma Insurance, the the Ministry of Health, Myanmar Medical Association, and private and foreign insurance professionals.

Dr Maung Maung Thein said it is also important that people are hon-est when they fill out the insurance paperwork.

U Aye Min Thein said there are 17 specific incidents in which insurance money will not be paid out, including health issues rising from pregnancy, mental health, dental care apart from accidents, surgery for eye damage, hearing aids and insurance after com-mitting a crime.

Other events such as death due to war or to an existing case of HIV/AIDS will also not receive compensation.

Insurance buyers will also not be able to take back their premiums they have already paid if they decide to cancel their insurance.

Dr Maung Maung Thein said no country to date has 100pc success with their health insurance systems.

He also said that expenditure on

health does not necessarily lead to a better system. The United States spends 17.4pc of its GDP on health-care, but its system is surpassed by others.

Britains [health insurance] is more successful than the USA though it spends less than America, he said. Britains [health] insurance sectors stands at the top of the worlds list. Even in the US, where its health insur-ance system has been practised for a century, it hasnt made good progress though President Obama has fo-cused on it.

Myanmar had previously planned health insurance, but the service faced delays, said Dr Maung Maung Thein. He added there are other forms of compensation medical treat-ment, including from the social se-curity board under the Ministry of Labour.


Government approves plan for health insurance

As there are 12 insurance companies, there is no monopoly.

U Aye Min Thein Myanma Insurance

The arrest of several Pabedan township businesspeople has kept foreign exchange counters inside the legal band for trading even though the market price is quite different and the band had previously been ignored by most smaller traders

SHWEGU [email protected]

THE 28-storey Infinity high-end resi-dential condo on freehold land in Kabar Aye Pagoda Road will command views of both Inya and Kandawgyi lakes, ac-cording to its developers.

It is built by KHG Development, the property arm of KHG Holdings, a Myanmar-Singapore entity founded in 1990. The company has worked in My-anmar and Singapore as well as Cambo-dia and Southern China.

KHG Holdings is proud to now go into the development of luxury real estate projects and to continue to ful-fill its principles of generating value, growth and prosperity to all its stake-holders, a spokesperson said.

Though its Infinity project is in Yangon, it aims for its develop-ments to be on a par with Singa-pore through thoughtful planning

design and construction.Besides selecting quality locations,

KHG believes strong planning, design-ing and creating buildings that engen-der a sense of belonging to its buildings.

The firm has also selected architect firm ONG&ONG. Myat Nyein Aye

Keier Group takes early start with office project

Condos and office for OEPG

OCEAN Emerald Pearl Group (OEPG) prides itself in the high level of ma-terials that went into its office and residential project.

The firm has founded by U Min Naings family, and has extensive ex-perience in real estate as well as other businesses such as automotive and fire alarm products.

Its OEPG office was completed in 2013 on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, and was completed using the high-est-quality construction materials, including a high-end water treat-ment system and underground wa-ter reservoir.

The office building also includes an on-site cafe, three state-of-the-art conference rooms, and copy and fax rooms. In addition, friendly, knowledgeable staff is on-site to support clients long and short-term business needs, the company said

in a statement.The companys tower manage-

ment office can also arrange interior decorations, it said.

OEPG also began developing May Inya Lake condo two months ago. Also located on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, the condos apartments are be-tween 1113 and 6000 square feet. The project will have a rooftop infinity pool, where guests can take in views of nearby Inya Lake, with Shwedagon Pagoda in the distance.

May Inya will come with a num-ber of other amenities, including automatic lighting and an advanced security system, while maintaining a quality design in pleasant surround-ings. The design team is an interna-tional mix from a number of coun-tries including Columbia, Bolivia, the US and Myanmar.

Ko Ko Aung

FOUNDED in 2012 by three young in-dividuals keen on business with a com-mon passion for Myanmar, Keier Group has transformed a downtown building into a modern working environment.

Supported by architect U Maw Lin, the project was finished in 2013 the next step for its founders is to roll out serviced apartments by 2016.

The current Keier Business Centre aims to provide professional, high-quality serviced offices in Yangon. Its founders said the views are exception-al, looking out over downtown Yangon including Sule and Shwedagon Pagoda

and Mahabandoola Park from the front, and Botahtaung jetty from the back. It provides for a quiet, conducive working environment, while still allow-ing one to enjoy being in the hustle and bustle of a city that is in the midst of undergoing its biggest transformation in decades.

Though a small set-up, the founders say they are constantly looking to grow its suite of services to be a complete one-stop shop for clients. They have also set their sights on expansion, not only in Yangon but also further afield.

Ko Ko Aung

Infinity commands the high-rise view

NAING Group was founded in 1991, but has become one of the countrys best known builders.

Its completed projects are seen throughout the city, bringing home just how many buildings it had completed. Company officials said it has put up over 200 buildings, including 30 high-grade condos in Yangon, and officially achieved de-veloper status in 2003.

Besides construction and real es-tate, the firm is also active in trad-ing, hotels and tourism, manufac-turing and services.

Naing Group of Companies has traversed a successful long march, overcoming many difficulties and obstacles, and today its consistent growth and development has been recognised throughout Myanmar, it said in a statement. The firm also has many subsidiary companies in Myanmar, Singapore and China.

Naing Group is giving life to a new view for the community and the national economy by building on accomplishments of the past and incorporating arts, culture and traditions of Myanmar into its work, it claimed.

Naing Group Capital has a num-ber of ongoing projects, including 17-storey Kan Baw Za tower on the corner of Pyay and Santhiri roads in Sanchaung township, the Na-ing Group Office Towers 1 and 2 in Kyauktada township, 20-storey East Race Course Condo in Tarmwe

township, Golden Valley Villages Cluster Housing in Bahan township and Blossom Garden 7-storey build-ing on Yaw Min Gyi Street in Dagon township.

Myat Nyein Aye

Naing Groups boasts over 20 years in field

Best Developer Green Vision Naing Group SPA Myanmar

Best Condo Development Diamond Inya Star City The Gems The Illustra The Infinity

Best Office Development OEPG Office Parkside One Vantage Tower

Best Hotel Development Kempinski (NPT) Ngwe Saung Yacht Club Rose Garden Hotel

Best Serviced Apartment Inya Myaing Serviced Residence Residence at 26 The Shangri-La Residence

Best Serviced Office Development Hinthar Office Keier Group My Yangon Office

Best Renovated Property Inya Myaing Serviced Resi-

dence Parkside One Rangoon Tea House The Strand Mansion Union Bar

Best Residential Architectural Design

Diamond Inya Infinity May Inya The Gems The Illustra

Best Residential Interior Design Diamond Inya Infinity Star City - Galaxy Condo The Illustra The Shangri-La Residence

Best Office Architectural Design OEPG Office Parkside One ShweGone Emotion Tower Vantage Tower

Best Hotel Architectural Design Kempinski (NPT) Ngwe Saung Yacht Club Rose Garden Hotel

Best Hotel Interior Design Kempinski (NPT) Ngwe Saung Yacht Club Rose Garden Hotel

Best Landscape Architecture Design

Golden City Kempinski (NPT) Star City Yacht Club

Shortlist for the Myanmar Property Awards 2015

OEPG office (photo below) nominated for: Best Office Development and Best Office Architectural Design

May Inya (photo left) nominated for: Best Residential Architectural Design

Nominated for: Best Serviced Office Development

Nominated for: Best Residential Interior Design, Best Residential Architectural Design, Best Condo Development

Nominated for: Best Developer

All photos on page are supplied.

International Business 11www.mmtimes.com

THE yearly fund generated for the Tanintharyi Natural Resource Pro-ject by three offshore gas projects, Yadana, Yetagun and Zawtika has totalled US$576,829, Ministry of Energy officials said at a press con-ference last week.

The partners of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise in the three fields are to contribute $150,000 each on an annual basis to the resource project.

The yearly fund of the three offshore projects is $450,000, but they will fund more than that this financial year to help the project develop, said a ministry official.

French energy giant Total, Ma-laysias state-owned Petronas and Thailands PTTEP are operating Yadana, Yetagun and Zawtika pro-jects respectively. The three com-panies are contributing funds to Tanintharyi Natural Resource Pro-ject as part of their corporate social responsibility programs.

The project aims to help pre-serve 420,077 acres of land in Tan-intharyi Regions Yayphyu town-ship. Founded in 2005, the project helps to preserve the existence of the areas biodiversity, with logging restricted in the area by law, the of-ficial said.

Yadana, Yetagun and Zawtika are three of the four producing off-shore gas sites in Myanmar waters. The fourth is Shwe Gas, which is lo-cated offshore Rakhine basin.

Myanmar has also recently con-cluded production sharing con-tracts with most onshore and off-shore winners from the 2013 round of bidding. Their next step is to conduct social and environmental impacty assessments.

Nature fund takes in more gas moneyAUNG [email protected]

THE last time Southeast Asia mixed a heady cocktail of foreign borrow-ing with weakening currencies the hangover was a financial crisis.

Now, Indonesia and Malaysia are at risk of repeating the mistakes that led to the 1997-98 meltdown. After the crisis, economists Barry Eichengreen and Ricardo Hausmann coined the term original sin to de-scribe the difficulties encountered by developing nations borrowing over-seas. This year, Indonesian and Ma-laysian governments and companies have sold more foreign-currency debt than they did in the whole of 2014 as a global bond rout pushes up yields and their currencies weaken.

There are worrying signs that original sin is returning, said Hak Bin Chua, head of emerging Asia economics at Bank of America Mer-rill Lynch in Singapore. Govern-ments are forced to opt for more foreign-currency debt financing, as local bond yields surge and foreign appetite diminishes.

Indonesias rupiah fell to its lowest level since 1998 last week and Malay-sias ringgit dropped to within 1 per-cent of a dollar peg installed that year to stem a currency collapse. As the dollar gains and the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates, it will become costlier for Asian borrowers

to service foreign-currency debt, Mr Eichengreen said.

I doubt that the ultimate conse-quence will be another Asian finan-cial crisis, but it will mean rougher sledding for the principal emerging markets, said Mr Eichengreen, a professor at the University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley.

Indonesia has sold US$6 billion of foreign-currency bonds in 2015, compared with $6.8 billion in 2014, Finance Ministry data shows, and still plans to offer euro and yen notes before year-end. Malaysia has issued $1.5 billion of the debt this year af-ter no sales in 2014. Companies from the two nations have sold $11 billion of global securities this year, more than the $10 billion 2014 total, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Foreign currency borrowing ac-counted for 34.3 percent of Ma-laysias gross domestic product on March 31, compared with 60pc at the end of 1998, the central bank said via email. It said the governments share was 1.5pc of GDP.

The current landscape of Ma-laysias external position is differ-ent from the situation leading to the Asian financial crisis, Bank Negara Malaysia said. With the advancement of the domestic capi-tal market, Malaysian companies

have been able to tap into domestic sources of funding.

An index of original sin com-piled by Bank of America that measures the proportion of foreign-currency sovereign and corporate bonds shows Indonesia has risen to 0.67, the highest in more than a dec-ade. Malaysias reached 0.37, from an average of 0.1 in 2009 to 2014. Too much foreign debt can fuel cur-rency and capital-market volatility, hurt ratings, and restrict monetary policy flexibility, according to Bank of America.

What could be very detrimental for these countries is not so much the Fed hike, which has been very well telegraphed, but rather the timing and the expectations of the overall tightening cycle, said Jean-Charles Sambor, the Asia Pacific di-rector of the Institute of Internation-al Finance in Singapore. If markets start repricing this, it would be very negative and impact Indonesia and Malaysia first.

Warning signs are emerging. The cost to insure five-year Indonesian government debt against default rose to a five-month high of 180 last week, while that for Malaysian notes jumped 23 points to 133 in the last three weeks. The yields on Indone-sian and Malaysian local-currency

10-year paper reached the highest in 15 and five months, respectively, last week.

The two countries local debt markets are susceptible to shocks given they have the highest propor-tion of offshore ownership in South-east Asia: 38pc in Indonesia and 32pc in Malaysia. Bank Negaras re-sponse said that this has contributed to a higher external debt position.

Indonesia isnt selling too many foreign-currency bonds, accord-ing to Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.

If we sell in different currencies, that spreads out our risk and makes our local market less vulnerable to flow reversals, he said in a June 11 interview in Jakarta. What would

be risky is if we sell too many rupiah bonds.

Standard & Poors raised its out-look on Indonesias BB+ credit rat-ing, one level below investment grade, to positive from stable last month, citing improved external re-silience. Fitch Ratings said in March that it saw more than a 50pc chance Malaysia would lose its A- ranking, four levels above junk, as a state-owned investment company strug-gled to meet debt obligations.

Unlike the 1997-1998 Asia fi-nancial crisis governments in the region are now better prepared, having introduced free-floating ex-change rates and building up forex reserves, although as the Fed taper tantrum showed, funds can still flow quickly out of Asia, punishing local currencies.

Since May of that year, when then-Fed chair Ben Bernanke sig-nalled he was preparing to wind down bond purchases, the rupiah and the ringgit have plunged 26pc and 17pc, respectively, the worst per-formers in emerging Asia.

Quantitative easing may have fed the illusion that original sin was dead and gone, said Bank of Amer-icas Mr Chua. But the start of Fed rate hikes has clearly resurrected the issue once again. Bloomberg

Original sin returns to Southeast AsiaSINGAPORE

I doubt that the ultimate consequence will be another Asian financial crisis.

Barry Eichengreen Economist

12 International Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 16, 2015

GAP announced on June 15 it will close 175 namesake stores in North America and eliminate 250 headquarters jobs as it responds to lower in-store sales with the rise of online shopping.

The youth-oriented apparel retail-er said the majority of store closures would take place this year. After the closures, Gap will have about 500 spe-cialty stores in North America and 300 outlet stores.

Gap Inc chief executive Art Peck, who was promoted in February after leading Gaps growth, innovation and

digital business, said a smaller modi-cum of physical stores was needed given shifting customer tastes.

Customers are rapidly changing how they shop today, and these moves will help get Gap back to where we know it deserves to be in the eyes of consumer, Mr Peck said.

A company news release did not say how many store jobs would be af-fected by the closures, in addition to those in the companys San Francisco headquarters.

These decisions are very difficult,

knowing they will affect a number of our valued employees, but we are con-fident they are necessary to help create a winning future for our employees, our customers and our shareholders, said Jeff Kirwin, global president for the Gap brand.

Gap expects a one-time charge as-sociated with severance pay, inventory write-offs and lease cancellations of US$140 to $160 million. Annual sav-ings of $25 million are expected to be-gin in 2016.

AFP

TOYOTA won approval yesterday for a controversial new share sale that it defended as a way to lure stable, long-term investors, overcoming stiff opposition from some institutional shareholders overseas.

The worlds biggest automaker said 75 percent of shareholders vot-ed in favour of the plan that would see it sell up to 50 million of the new shares, which must be held for five years and will not be publicly traded.

Largely restricted to Japanese in-vestors, the new Model AA shares carry voting rights and will be priced at a 20pc premium on Toyotas com-mon shares, which closed at 8395 yen (US$68) in Tokyo.

Dividends paid on the new shares would rise from 0.5pc to 2.5pc by the end of the five-year holding period when investors could convert them

to common shares or Toyota would repurchase them, it said.

Later yesterday, the company said it would buy back as much as 600 billion yen ($4.9 billion) in stock to guard against dilution from the new share issue.

Toyota, which booked a record $18 billion profit in its latest fiscal year, said the share structure would lure longer-term investors and help it fund expensive research work, partic-ularly on next-generation technology such as fuel cell cars. The vote comes weeks after Japan formally adopted a corporate governance code that was hailed as ushering in a new era of transparency for investors.

US-based advisory Institutional Shareholder Services said the new shares would reduce investors influ-ence over management decisions.

It is difficult to escape the im-pression that the company wants to increase stable and silent investors by replacing common sharehold-ers with Model AA shareholders, it added.

The California State Teachers Retirement System, which an-nounced it would vote against the plan, said it was not in the best in-terests of all Toyota common stock shareowners particularly foreign shareowners.

We do not believe that the crea-tion of a dual class of common stock aligns with the one share, one vote principle, it said.

Toyotas Model AA Class Shares would be unlisted and offered only in Japan, thus hindering investors outside of Japan from participating.

AFP

Toyota wins approval for firms controversial share sale

TOKYO

NEW YORK

Gap announces large store closure

A RICE glut that sent prices slump-ing more than a year ago is shrink-ing, just as El Nio arrives to parch paddies across Asia.

Global inventories were already heading for an eight-year low, in-cluding stockpiles so spoiled that top exporter Thailand may sell most for industrial use.

Now, the first dry-weather pat-tern since 2010 is threatening crops in the Philippines, Indonesia and India. At a time when world food costs are the lowest in more than five years, rice may surge more than 40 percent if monsoon-season rains falter, said Jack Scoville at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

The bigger risk is yet to come, said Fred Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC Holdings Plc.

El Nio is causing havoc in the market for rice, the food staple for half the worlds population. The Philippines, once the biggest buyer, will have to import more to address weather-related disruptions to food supply, the International Monetary Fund said.

In Indonesia, imports are need-ed to curb domestic price increases, the United Nations said. Smaller crops in India, the second-largest exporter, will send shipments tum-bling 17pc to a five-year low, the US Department of Agriculture es-timates.

After almost a decade of surplus that sent rice futures tumbling to an eight-year low last month, glob-al demand will reach a record 489 million tonnes in 2015-16, exceed-ing production for a third straight

year, the USDA said June 10. The agency estimates inventories will drop to 91.4 million tonnes, the smallest since 2008, when tight supply sent prices to record highs and food riots erupted in Africa and the Middle East.

While a repeat of 2008 is un-likely, rice will get a lot more ex-pensive, Hong Kong-based Mr Neu-mann said. Indonesia has already seen food inflation accelerate to 7.9pc, and the USDA predicted In-dian prices will rise with a smaller harvest of the winter crop.

In the US, the fifth-largest ex-porter, rice will rebound to US$14 per 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms) on the Chicago Board of Trade, from $9.795 on June 16, Mr Scoville said.

The warming waters of the equa-torial Pacific change the atmosphere above the ocean to create the El Nio pattern, which may last through January and beyond, the US Climate Prediction Center said June 11. While every El Nio is different, it has been

known to cause droughts in Asia, ex-cessive rain in South America and wetter summers in North America.

The impact is not just on rice. India said the pattern may crimp the monsoon season that starts this month, potentially hurting food

output. Australia, the fifth-largest wheat exporter, cut its forecast for this years crop on June 10, citing drier weather.

In the 30 days through June 14, rainfall was at least 40pc below normal in rice-growing areas of

Thailand and the Philippines, and down 15pc in Indonesia, according to Speedwell Weather in Charles-ton, South Carolina.

Rice prices have been mired in a bear market after Thailand amassed a record 17.8 million tonnes, as for-mer prime minister Yingluck Shi-nawatra sought to support growers. A military government took power last year and pledged to unload the stockpiles.

But much of the inventory has been stored in warehouses without temperature controls and exposed to rain and pests, like the rice wee-vil. About 3 to 4 million tonnes are suitable for human consumption, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, hon-orary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

The military government will decide in a month whether to sell 13 million tonnes for industrial uses like livestock feed or to make ethanol, Duangporn Rodphaya, di-rector-general at the Department of Foreign Trade, said on June 5.

With less inventory for human consumption, the price of 5pc bro-ken white rice, the Thai bench-mark, will jump by more than one-third to $500 a tonne from $373 now, said Mamadou Ciss, president of Alliance Commodities (Suisse) SA in Geneva.

Tainted Thai inventories and the prospect of smaller crops from El Nio will be a double whammy, said Mr Ciss, who has been trad-ing the staple grain since 1984. It will solve the oversupply situation worldwide.

Bangkok Post

Rice grain stored in a warehouse at Wat Bot in Phitsanulok, Thailand, is found to have decomposed into a powder, public auditors said. Dead rats and pigeons were also found on the site. Photo: Bangkok Post

BANGKOK

Thai rice glut shrinks as El Nio arrives

TRADEMARK CAUTIONARY NOTICESocit des Produits Nestl S.A., a company organized under the laws of Switzerland and having its principal office at 1800 Vevey, Switzerland is the owner and sole proprietor of the fol-lowing Trademark:-

Myanmar R egistration N umber. 4/ 4964/2015 Used in respect of :-

Coffee, coffee extracts, coffee-based preparations and beverag-es; iced coffee; coffee substitutes, extracts of coffee substitutes, preparations and beverages based on coffee substitutes; chicory (coffee substitute); tea, tea extracts, tea-based preparations and beverages; iced tea; malt-based preparations for human con-sumptions; cocoa and cocoa-based preparations and beverages; chocolate, chocolate products, chocolate-based preparations and beverages; confectionery, sweets, candies; sugar confectionery; sugar; chewing gum; natural sweeteners; bakery products, bread, yeast, pastry; biscuits, cakes, cookies, wafers, toffees, puddings; ice cream, water ices, sherbets, frozen confections, frozen cakes, soft ices, frozen yoghurts; binding agents for making ice cream and/or water ices and/or sherbets and/or frozen confections and/or frozen cakes and/or soft ices and/or frozen yoghurts; breakfast cereals, muesli, corn flakes, cereal bars, ready-to-eat cereals; ce-real preparations.

Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent in-tentions of the above mark will be dealt with according to law.

Tin Ohnmar Tun, Tin Thiri Aung & The Law ChambersPh: 0973150632Email:[email protected](For. Domnern Somgiat & Boonma, Attorneys at Law, Thailand)Dated. 17th June, 2015

PERCENT

40Possible surge in rice prices if

monsoon-season rains falter, according to Chicago analyst Jack Scoville

International Business 13www.mmtimes.com

U.S. Soybean Export Council Southeast Asian Regional Office (USSEC SEA) Seeking Applicants for a Full Time Aquaculture Technical Manager Position in Myanmar

Are you a professional in the Myanmar aquaculture industry and looking for an exciting and challenging new position? The USSEC SEA Regional Office is seeking applicants for the position of USSEC Myanmar Technical Manager Aquaculture (USSEC MM TM). Our aquaculture program has been in existence since 1985 and specifically growing in SEA since 2002 - and we are now expanding our professional staff in the SEA region. We are seeking someone who is well-connected, self-motivated, and looking to continue to develop our national program for the USSEC in Myanmar. This position will require an independent work approach, significant domestic and international travel, and will expose the successful candidate to international experts, training and experiences. The USSEC SEA Office has an established, long-term program and a strong team of experts that work to promote a profitable, sustainable, soy-optimized, feed-based aquaculture industry in SEA. We are seeking a person who is innovative, proactive, flexible and committed to helping the USSEC to develop a long term program in Myanmar and region-wide.The USSEC is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable, feed-based aquaculture production approaches through knowledge transfer, on-site trainings, seminars, workshops, conferences, industry tours and demonstrations. The specific goal of the USSEC aquaculture program is to promote the use of soy, and specifically U.S. soy products, in aquaculture feeds. However, as all aspects of aquaculture are interlinked, the work will include a broad variety of responsibilities and knowledge, from broodstock and hatchery operations, to feedmill and production operation and even up to the processing and marketing side of seafood. Minimum applicant requirements: Myanmar national with established aquaculture industry experience. Technical skills in the hatchery, feed, production

and health management aspects are desired, particularly for freshwater and marine fish. Undergraduate students and non-Myanmar citizens should not apply.

Based in or near Yangon with a current passport and consistent good access to the internet. Drivers license is appreciated but not needed.

Must have a desire to travel extensively domestically and internationally for training and work assignments and be physically able to maintain an aggressive travel schedule and to conduct technical servicing in remote locations under challenging conditions

Good English language ability (speaking/reading/writing). Ability to speak several national dialects is an advantage. Ability to follow required accounting and administrative tasks. Contractors working for USSEC are expected to work on

a reimbursement model for project activities, therefore it is critical that accounting and administration be done quickly and accurately (training will be provided by our Singapore office).

Ability to work largely independently with remote supervision by the USSEC SEA Technical Director Aquaculture (USSEC SEA TD). Will also work on team activities with regional aquaculture staff.

The USSEC MM TM will be trained extensively and will be specifically expected to work with the Myanmar aquaculture industry to identify where the USSEC can be most effective in promoting good aquaculture practices, feed-based systems and use of U.S. soy. It is expected that the successful candidate will be hired on probationary basis during training until October 31, 2015 after which a one year contract will be offered. An attractive/competitive compensation package will be offered to the successful finalist.Please send a brief introduction letter detailing experience that matches the requirements above, a current CV and two English speaking references to Ms. May Myat Noe Lwin- Myanmar Aquaculture Local Technical Support ([email protected]) with the words USSEC MM TM 2015 in the subject line. Applications that do not follow this format and submit all required documents will not be considered - following this format is part of the application process. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, target start date is by or before June 30, 2015 if the appropriate candidate is identified. USSEC plans to conduct in-country interviews on June 24, 2015 in Yangon.

WARREN Buffetts Berkshire Hatha-way will pay A$500 million (US$380 million) for a stake in Sydney-based Insurance Australia Group (IAG) as it seeks to expand in Asia, the com-panies said yesterday,

Under a 10-year strategic rela-tionship, Berkshire will receive 20 percent of IAGs gross written pre-mium and pay 20pc of its claims. Berkshire will also take a 3.7pc stake in the group as the Australian firm pushes into Asia.

The news sent shares in IAG soaring 5.03pc in afternoon trade to $5.85.

Our strategic partnership with IAG will help fast-track our en-try into this region, and provides us with opportunities to leverage IAGs extensive capabilities while also making our expertise available to IAG, Mr Buffett said in a state-ment yesterday.

IAG chair Brian Schwartz said the company was delighted to wel-come Berkshire Hathaway as a stra-tegic partner and shareholder.

We believe the partnership is an endorsement of our strategy, the strong franchises we have created in the Asia Pacific region, and an acknowledgement of the comple-mentary capabilit

Documents

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 66)