At the same time, the World Health Organization has warned that the global outbreak, which began in Brazil, is spreading “explosively”, and pegged Asia as vulnerable to the disease, for which there is no cure and no vaccine.
There have been no confirmed cases in Myanmar.
The virus has been linked to deformities in infants including microcephaly, and the rare paralysis-inducing autoimmune disease Guillian-Barre Syndrome, but does not cause symptoms in up to 80 percent of patients. Those who do experience symptoms may see signs similar to dengue infections, including fever, skin rash, muscle and joint pain, and a headache, according to the WHO. Although the Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947, few cases were identified until an isolated outbreak in 2007 in Micronesia, and then another, large outbreak in Polynesia in 2013. The current outbreak has affected several million people, primarily in the Americas. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Ruling party eyes bill that could make Suu Kyi president
Myanmar's ruling party plans to submit a new bill that could allow its leader Aung San Suu Kyi to become president, multiple party members told The Nikkei, in a move that will surely draw fire from the military and may even grind the country's power transition to a halt.
The bill aims to temporarily suspend a clause in the constitution that bans individuals with foreign family members from becoming president. Suu Kyi, who leads the National League for Democracy, has two sons with British citizenship.
Changing the constitution requires a more than three-quarters vote in parliament, among other tough conditions. Opposition by military-appointed lawmakers thwarted an amendment submitted last June. But the NLD now holds a majority of seats in both houses after a crushing victory in last year's election. It has the numbers to pass the new bill, which would result in a new law and technically not alter the constitution. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
The bill aims to temporarily suspend a clause in the constitution that bans individuals with foreign family members from becoming president. Suu Kyi, who leads the National League for Democracy, has two sons with British citizenship.
Changing the constitution requires a more than three-quarters vote in parliament, among other tough conditions. Opposition by military-appointed lawmakers thwarted an amendment submitted last June. But the NLD now holds a majority of seats in both houses after a crushing victory in last year's election. It has the numbers to pass the new bill, which would result in a new law and technically not alter the constitution. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)
ANP Lawmaker Fires Warning on Preserving Controversial Laws
An Arakanese lawmaker warned the National League for Democracy (NLD) on Friday against pursuing amendments to several controversial laws that critics contend discriminate against religious and ethnic minorities in the country.
Khin Saw Wai, a Lower House lawmaker with the Arakan National Party (ANP) embarking on her second term in Parliament, said the party would oppose any moves to amend either the 1982 citizenship law or the package of four so-called “race and religion protection laws” which were passed by Parliament last year.
“Those laws are our life,” Khin Saw Wai told The Irrawaddy. “We will oppose [amendments] as much as we can.”
Burma’s widely criticized 1982 citizenship law states that only recognized ethnic nationalities and others that settled in the country before 1823 are automatically entitled to Burmese citizenship. The law effectively denies the Muslim Rohingya population that primarily resides in Arakan State from obtaining citizenship. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
Khin Saw Wai, a Lower House lawmaker with the Arakan National Party (ANP) embarking on her second term in Parliament, said the party would oppose any moves to amend either the 1982 citizenship law or the package of four so-called “race and religion protection laws” which were passed by Parliament last year.
“Those laws are our life,” Khin Saw Wai told The Irrawaddy. “We will oppose [amendments] as much as we can.”
Burma’s widely criticized 1982 citizenship law states that only recognized ethnic nationalities and others that settled in the country before 1823 are automatically entitled to Burmese citizenship. The law effectively denies the Muslim Rohingya population that primarily resides in Arakan State from obtaining citizenship. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
26 Rohingya Homes Razed in Huge Accidental Fire
The fire, believed to have started from the kitchen accidentally ignited, razed at least 26 homes at ‘Taman Thar’ village in northern Maungdaw around 12:45 PM yesterday.
The 26 houses razed hosted 41 (Rohingya) families and were said to be linked-houses. The fire that flamed for 2 hours displaced 208 people internally, where 83 were men and 125 were women. Furthermore, it also destroyed the paddy (rice) stored in the houses and damaged all the household properties
“The fire reportedly flamed bigger due to the strong winds. While the villagers were trying to extinguish the fire, the Military and the Border Guard Police (BGP) from the camps in the (Taman Thar) village also arrived and extended their hands to the villagers.
While extinguishing the fire, some villages got injuries.
The Military and the BGP listed the number of the homes destroyed in the fire and encouraged the people affected not to be saddened due to the incident. The BGP donated 2100 bamboos to set up temporary tents for the displaced people. They also promised to provide the villagers with rations. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV)
The 26 houses razed hosted 41 (Rohingya) families and were said to be linked-houses. The fire that flamed for 2 hours displaced 208 people internally, where 83 were men and 125 were women. Furthermore, it also destroyed the paddy (rice) stored in the houses and damaged all the household properties
“The fire reportedly flamed bigger due to the strong winds. While the villagers were trying to extinguish the fire, the Military and the Border Guard Police (BGP) from the camps in the (Taman Thar) village also arrived and extended their hands to the villagers.
While extinguishing the fire, some villages got injuries.
The Military and the BGP listed the number of the homes destroyed in the fire and encouraged the people affected not to be saddened due to the incident. The BGP donated 2100 bamboos to set up temporary tents for the displaced people. They also promised to provide the villagers with rations. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV)
Global migration crisis and the Bangladesh experience
More than 1 million refugees have entered Europe by land and sea in 2015. The mass exodus of people from North Africa and Middle East have made the migrant crisis Europe's worst since World War II. While more than 80% of the migrants have arrived by sea routes, the fierce winter has not been able to slow down the daily influx, particularly in Greece. Europe has been struggling to deal with these large groups of helpless people, registering them as migrants and refugees, catering to their basic needs of shelter and food. In many stances, relocation of the migrants to share burden among the EU nations have failed due to resistance from both some of the EU countries as well as migrants who wanted to migrate to their country of choice. Hence, balancing the crisis has become a key challenge for Europe both socially and economically.
While there is ongoing debate on Europe's policy on refugee management, Bangladesh has experience and learnings from the successful refugee migration and repatriation in a number of cases. During the liberation war in 1971, approximately 10 million refugees from Bangladesh fled to neighbouring India facing brutal aggression by the Pakistani military force. After the 9-month-long war ended, they were successfully repatriated back to their homeland. Bangladesh also has successfully managed the waves of Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar at different stages in time. Despite resource constraints, Bangladesh has successfully repatriated majority of the refugees through mass repatriation and provided citizenship to many of them who chose to stay back. Even in the context of Biharis, a large portion of the minority chose to stay back after 1971; many of them in recent years have applied of citizenship and have been granted. Hence, the country has a strong record of success stories in dealing with migrant flow as both the source and destination country. These case studies could provide substantial learning evidence for bothpragmatic policy resolution as well as effective means to deal with the migrant crisis facing Europe. (Courtesy of The Daily Star)
While there is ongoing debate on Europe's policy on refugee management, Bangladesh has experience and learnings from the successful refugee migration and repatriation in a number of cases. During the liberation war in 1971, approximately 10 million refugees from Bangladesh fled to neighbouring India facing brutal aggression by the Pakistani military force. After the 9-month-long war ended, they were successfully repatriated back to their homeland. Bangladesh also has successfully managed the waves of Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar at different stages in time. Despite resource constraints, Bangladesh has successfully repatriated majority of the refugees through mass repatriation and provided citizenship to many of them who chose to stay back. Even in the context of Biharis, a large portion of the minority chose to stay back after 1971; many of them in recent years have applied of citizenship and have been granted. Hence, the country has a strong record of success stories in dealing with migrant flow as both the source and destination country. These case studies could provide substantial learning evidence for bothpragmatic policy resolution as well as effective means to deal with the migrant crisis facing Europe. (Courtesy of The Daily Star)
Friday, February 5, 2016
U Wirathu, NLD Luminary Trade Barbs Over Graphic Video
A war of words has erupted between senior National League for Democracy member U Win Htein and U Wirathu, a leading figure in the Buddhist nationalist Ma Ba Tha movement, over a violent video reenactment of an infamous murder that sparked statewide unrest in Rakhine State and led to the ongoing segregation of much of the state’s Muslim community.
On January 29th, U Wirathu posted to his Facebook account a video graphically recreating the 2012 rape and murder of Rakhine woman Ma Thida Htwe in Ramree Township at the hands of a group of Muslim men. U Wirathu told the Myanmar Times that the video was a trailer for a longer feature planned for release in the following months, with the intent of demonstrating to the incoming NLD government the need to “prioritise protecting the race and religion of the country”.
The video was viewed more than 100,000 times before it was pulled on Monday for violating Facebook’s community standards. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
On January 29th, U Wirathu posted to his Facebook account a video graphically recreating the 2012 rape and murder of Rakhine woman Ma Thida Htwe in Ramree Township at the hands of a group of Muslim men. U Wirathu told the Myanmar Times that the video was a trailer for a longer feature planned for release in the following months, with the intent of demonstrating to the incoming NLD government the need to “prioritise protecting the race and religion of the country”.
The video was viewed more than 100,000 times before it was pulled on Monday for violating Facebook’s community standards. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
Political risks may hinder Myanmar’s port development, analyst says
Political risks may hamper the growth of port development in Myanmar, according to UK-based consulting firm Drewry Maritime Advisors, following the country’s recent change from military rule to a democratic government.
Aden Wong, senior consultant at UK-based Drewry Maritime Advisors, told IHS Fairplay that there is a lack of proper institutions to direct the country’s port development, and this may represent a steep learning curve for investors on the uncertainty in trade policy.
“The new-elected government has yet to come on board in March 2016, and after that they still need around six months to [a] year to [established their plans regarding] Myanmar’s port developments,” he explained.
Despite the risk, he highlighted that Myanmar has huge potential to grow with a young workforce and low industrial cost base. The drawback, however, is that the country’s economy is still in its infancy. For instance, the country started an international banking system only a year and a half ago. Communication and road networks remain a problem in cities, and in some parts of the country infrastructure development is primitive at best. (Courtesy of IHS Fairplay)
Aden Wong, senior consultant at UK-based Drewry Maritime Advisors, told IHS Fairplay that there is a lack of proper institutions to direct the country’s port development, and this may represent a steep learning curve for investors on the uncertainty in trade policy.
“The new-elected government has yet to come on board in March 2016, and after that they still need around six months to [a] year to [established their plans regarding] Myanmar’s port developments,” he explained.
Despite the risk, he highlighted that Myanmar has huge potential to grow with a young workforce and low industrial cost base. The drawback, however, is that the country’s economy is still in its infancy. For instance, the country started an international banking system only a year and a half ago. Communication and road networks remain a problem in cities, and in some parts of the country infrastructure development is primitive at best. (Courtesy of IHS Fairplay)
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