The visit last week by Karen National Union chairman General Saw Mutu Say Poe to the Defence Services Academy at Pyin Oo Lwin was a significant development in Myanmar’s history.
It was the first time since Independence in 1948 that the leader of an armed ethnic group had visited the DSA, the most prestigious of the Tatmadaw’s officer training schools. That the visit involved the leader of the group that had launched its rebellion on January 31, 1949, one year after Independence, and been involved in the world’s longest civil conflict until it signed a ceasefire in January 2012, added to its significance.
At the Union Peace Conference that began in Nay Pyi Taw last week, Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the military was being transformed into a “standard army” that armed ethnic groups were welcome to join if they wished to serve the country under the Tatmadaw. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Restive border town of Muse to be recast as commercial center
The winding road from Lashio to Muse, the main trade route from northeast Myanmar into China, was rendered almost impassable for two days in mid-January when a truck dropped its cargo of iron bars. Traders sat with armed police on top of the hazy hills drinking whisky and playing music on their mobile phones as they gazed down at hundreds of stranded lorries below.
The two-lane road is dangerous -- 22-wheeler trucks skid along hairpin turns through clouds of dust. With no streetlights, vehicles often come off the road, occasionally over the edge of the sheer mountain path. An overturned truck or spilled cargo can block this critical trade route for hours or even days. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
The two-lane road is dangerous -- 22-wheeler trucks skid along hairpin turns through clouds of dust. With no streetlights, vehicles often come off the road, occasionally over the edge of the sheer mountain path. An overturned truck or spilled cargo can block this critical trade route for hours or even days. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
Former top generals serenade lawmakers
Belting out the lyrics "dreams may come true" in a jaunty a cappella, a former top general serenaded lawmakers yesterday as Myanmar's long-dominant military elite marked their exit from Parliament with song and dance.
Parliament welcomed the historic handover of power in the country with a party yesterday afternoon, complete with a karaoke session, sing-a-long and energetic dance routines by ethnic- minority MPs.
"May you be healthy/May you be strong/ May you be joyful all your life long," crooned Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, the junta's former No. 3, who has become an unlikely ally of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in the legislature despite his erstwhile position as leader of the rival ruling party. (Courtesy of The Straits Times)
Parliament welcomed the historic handover of power in the country with a party yesterday afternoon, complete with a karaoke session, sing-a-long and energetic dance routines by ethnic- minority MPs.
"May you be healthy/May you be strong/ May you be joyful all your life long," crooned Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, the junta's former No. 3, who has become an unlikely ally of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in the legislature despite his erstwhile position as leader of the rival ruling party. (Courtesy of The Straits Times)
Heath ministry issues Zika warning
The Zika virus may be transmitted to countries where dengue fever exists and preparatory measures needed to be taken, according to Ministry of Health.
“Mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and the Zika virus are the same and so we need to take precautions across the country. People are used to dengue and they aren’t afraid of it. But another virus might come. We need to promote the importance of cleanliness in our surroundings. Pregnant woman can give birth to babies with a small brain or no brain at all. We have to take preparatory measures,” said Dr Khin Nan Lone of the Department of Health. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
“Mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and the Zika virus are the same and so we need to take precautions across the country. People are used to dengue and they aren’t afraid of it. But another virus might come. We need to promote the importance of cleanliness in our surroundings. Pregnant woman can give birth to babies with a small brain or no brain at all. We have to take preparatory measures,” said Dr Khin Nan Lone of the Department of Health. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Hard-line Buddhists call for political control in Rakhine
A hard-line Buddhist party in Myanmar is demanding that one of its members be appointed as chief minister of religiously and racially divided Rakhine state when the national election winning National League for Democracy picks the country's new president.
The Arakan National Party (ANP) is opposing a plan by the NLD to have its own ethnic minority members appointed as state chief ministers, including Rakhine state.
After winning an overwhelming majority party in the national parliament the NLD will get to pick Myanmar's next president — almost certainly from within its own ranks — who in turn will pick the chief minister for each of the country's 14 states.
The ANP, which represents Rakhine state's ethnic and mostly Buddhist majority, said it won a majority 22 seats in the state parliament following Nov. 8 local and national elections, which gave it the right to have one of their members as chief minister and to form a state government. The NLD only won nine seats in the poll. (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
The Arakan National Party (ANP) is opposing a plan by the NLD to have its own ethnic minority members appointed as state chief ministers, including Rakhine state.
After winning an overwhelming majority party in the national parliament the NLD will get to pick Myanmar's next president — almost certainly from within its own ranks — who in turn will pick the chief minister for each of the country's 14 states.
The ANP, which represents Rakhine state's ethnic and mostly Buddhist majority, said it won a majority 22 seats in the state parliament following Nov. 8 local and national elections, which gave it the right to have one of their members as chief minister and to form a state government. The NLD only won nine seats in the poll. (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
Myanmar's Rohingya minority sceptical about Suu Kyi, new government
A new opposition-led government augurs hope for many in Myanmar after decades of military dictatorship, but a stateless ethnic minority has seen no signs of change in their situation.
Sittwe, Myanmar (dpa) - Adu Lakim says he has nothing to do these days but to while away the time sitting outside his shack in an internment camp Myanmar's Rakhine state.
The recent national elections meant nothing to 61-year-old member of the stateless Rohingya ethnic minority, who has been denied citizenship and confined to the camp after his house was torched during sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012.
"We don't know about the NLD or other parties, because we don't believe in them," said Lakim, referring to the National League for Democracy led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi that won November's national elections by a landslide. (Courtesy of dpa-international.com)
Sittwe, Myanmar (dpa) - Adu Lakim says he has nothing to do these days but to while away the time sitting outside his shack in an internment camp Myanmar's Rakhine state.
The recent national elections meant nothing to 61-year-old member of the stateless Rohingya ethnic minority, who has been denied citizenship and confined to the camp after his house was torched during sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012.
"We don't know about the NLD or other parties, because we don't believe in them," said Lakim, referring to the National League for Democracy led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi that won November's national elections by a landslide. (Courtesy of dpa-international.com)
Laughter marks Myanmar MPs' departure as country awaits Suu Kyi's new government
With jokes and hugs, karaoke and congratulations across Myanmar's often bitter divides, lawmakers yesterday marked the last day of Parliament, as the country eagerly awaits a new Parliament led by the National League for Democracy (NLD).
It was a historic day for Myanmar, which emerged from decades of stifling military rule only five years ago in a calibrated transition that retains wide powers for the military and is beset by scepticism.
Monday's convening of the new Parliament will be even more significant, pulling off a key ingredient of a democracy - peaceful transfer of power following a general election.
The mood among the outgoing lawmakers was jovial and sentimental in the chambers of the Hluttaw - the Houses of Parliament in the sprawling, opulent government quarters of Naypyitaw, the capital built under the now-retired dictator, Senior General Than Shwe. (Courtesy of The Star Online)
It was a historic day for Myanmar, which emerged from decades of stifling military rule only five years ago in a calibrated transition that retains wide powers for the military and is beset by scepticism.
Monday's convening of the new Parliament will be even more significant, pulling off a key ingredient of a democracy - peaceful transfer of power following a general election.
The mood among the outgoing lawmakers was jovial and sentimental in the chambers of the Hluttaw - the Houses of Parliament in the sprawling, opulent government quarters of Naypyitaw, the capital built under the now-retired dictator, Senior General Than Shwe. (Courtesy of The Star Online)
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