5 Secret Destinations to Visit in #Myanmar (Burma) in 2020

A land with a troubled past, Myanmar has only recently begun to open up to international tourism — and for many travellers, it still passes well below the radar.

 Yet, with its great expanses of unexplored jungle, extensive shoreline, diverse culture, atmospheric incense-filled temples and countless minority groups inhabiting even the most far-flung corners, Myanmar is a sleeping giant. This is a place for those who want to leave the usual tourist trail far behind and tread where few others set foot. Don’t expect travel there to ever be easy, but for the most adventurous and determined explorers, here are 5 secret destinations to visit during your trip to Myanmar in 2020.

1. Keng Tung (Kyaingtong)

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Tucked away in the north-eastern corner of Shan State where Myanmar meets Thailand, Laos and China, Keng Tung, remote, inaccessible and, until recently, off-limits to tourists, is a place to visit before word spreads. The only practical way of reaching it from the rest of the country is to fly in— although it’s also possible to arrive by road from the Thai border crossing at Mae Sai. The town itself has several attractions of interest, including a large standing Buddha, a distinctive monastery and some hot springs, but the main thing to do here is to enjoy the ample opportunities for trekking out to the minority villages in the surrounding area. As one of the most important towns of the Shan people, it’s also a great place to sample Shan food, reputedly the best in all of Myanmar.

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Chin State, bordering India and Bangladesh in the west of Myanmar, is the epitome of ‘off the beaten track’. It is one of the country’s poorest, least developed and most sparsely populated areas and has very little in the way of infrastructure. However, for intrepid explorers who make their way there the potential rewards are great. This is an area with a patchwork of tribes speaking myriad languages and with lush forests and remote mountains to discover. Trekking into minority villages around the town of Mindat is possible, and the region’s best-known peak, Mount Victoria, offers sublime views of the surrounding countryside— sometimes even as far as India on a clear day. Nearby Kanpetlet, a laidback town with decent accommodation, is a good place to base yourself before tackling the mountain.

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In the north-west of Myanmar, bordering the tiny Indian state of Nagaland, lies the Naga Self-administered Zone, home to various tribes sharing broadly similar culture and traditions that make up the loosely-defined Naga people.

This is another of Myanmar’s poorest and most inaccessible areas, and the tribal groups there maintain their age-old customs through their lively festivals, their distinctive dress and their traditional way of life, remaining largely untouched by the outside world.

 Some of these tribes may have been active head-hunters as recently ago as 1969, but nowadays they are more welcoming and friendly, and a trip to their little-known homelands will be one of the most unforgettable experiences of any trip to Myanmar.

4. Dawei
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This port town on Myanmar’s south-western Andaman coast, in Tanintharyi Region, is for those who have grown tired of the overcrowded, overpriced beaches and resorts of neighbouring Thailand and who are searching for something fresh. The town of Dawei itself can be reached by land since the road is now open to international visitors — or if you want to save some time, you can fly in from Yangon. Once there, you will have access to a good range of accommodation, pristine stretches of sand, simple beach restaurants, a handful of pagodas to visit and a secret place of your own to chill, safe from tourist hordes across the border just a little further south.

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5. Mergui Archipelago

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If you’ve ever studied a map of Myanmar, you may have noticed the fractured coastline of the deep south and wondered what undiscovered island paradises lie hidden there. However, the breathtaking beauty of the unspoiled beaches and transparent, turquoise seas of the Mergui Archipelago is likely to be far beyond anything you ever imagined. Try picturing the most perfect Thai islands before the arrival of mass tourism — or any kind of tourism at all — and you might be somewhere close. These islands have only been open to foreign visitors since 1997, and this is a destination you need to see before it hits the mainstream.

Although it is gradually opening up, Myanmar is still largely terra incognita to most international travellers, and even the most popular destinations like Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake receive relatively few tourists. However, if you want the chance to discover some of Southeast Asia’s last truly secret destinations, this is a country that should be on your holiday list.

Source - MM Times

#Myanmar (Burma) - Illegal sugar trade continues at Myawaddy border area

Illegal sugar trading continues at the border area of Myawady in Kayin State despite the government suspension of sugar import and re-export, an official of a local sugar trade group said. 

To control the unstable foreign currency exchange rate, the Ministry of Commerce temporarily stopped issuing re-export licenses for sugar and fuel in August. 

Although sugar re-exports are suspended, there are still illegal imports and a large local stockpile of sugar locally, as there are few buyers in China, U Win Htay, vice president of the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association, said. 

“There is illegal trading, mostly in Myawady. There is plenty of sugar locally. It is hard to estimate the amount of the sugar in Myanmar, so we should stop the smuggling,” he said. 

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 The sugar season is from December to April. As sugar prices in the global and Myanmar markets are not much different, sugar mills are buying sugarcane for less than the amount paid last season, according to sugarcane farmers, he said.  

  One tonne of sugarcane was priced at K50,000 last year compared to K45000 this year, so farmers are losing K5000 per tonne.

“The sugarcane price goes up or down depending on the price of sugar,” he said.
If there is very low demand for sugar from the mills, then the sugarcane farmers are likely to suffer a bigger loss, he said, so illegal imports of sugar must be stopped, he said.
Imported sugar is exported to China with the re-export license.

Sourse - MMTimes 

#Myanmar journalists fly home after arrest in #Bangladesh.

Bangladesh allowed two journalists from Myanmar detained while reporting about fleeing Rohingya Muslims to fly home on Tuesday and was dropping charges against them, their lawyer said. 

Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat were picked up from the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh in early September because they were working as journalists on tourist visas, police said.

They were released on bail after calls from Germany’s GEO magazine, which had assigned Minzayar Oo to cover the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, as well as rights groups.

“It’s so good to be free again,” Minzayar Oo, one of Myanmar’s most prominent photographers, told Reuters soon after his plane landed in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

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Bangladesh authorities had begun the process to drop the charges against the pair, their lawyer, Jyotirmoy Barua, said.

 

Minzayar Oo has worked for various media outlets, covering Myanmar’s emergence from military rule. He had previously worked as a contractor with Reuters.

Hkun Lat is also a well-known photographer in Myanmar and has won prizes for his coverage of conflict in frontier regions.

About 582,000 refugees from Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh since August 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts triggered an army crackdown in response.

Source - mmtimes

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#Myanmar (Burma) Over 4,000 ethnic Rakhine flee fighting.

Staff members of the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations prepare to depart Sittwe airport on August 28 in the wake of last Friday’s terrorist attacks. 

 Over 4000 ethnic Rakhine have fled their villages as fighting between terrorists and the Tatmadaw escalated during the past three days, a Rakhine State official said Monday. 

Minister for Social Welfare and Resettlement Win Myat Aye and Rakhine officials provided aid to the beleaguered villagers and helped in their evacuation.

Minister Win Myat Aye and senior Rakhine officials visited some of the villages that were badly damaged by the fighting, including the Taung Bazar village, where some 100 suspected terrorists launched an attack on August 26. 

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 The minister told The Myanmar Times that thousands of ethnic Rakhine were fleeing their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

“We only visited a few villages, so maybe in other villages more people have fled their homes,” he said. “We are not sure if the number of evacuees has doubled but there is already a list of evacuees.”

The Rakhine State information department said the ministers went to at least five villages in two days and provided necessary assistance and medical kits for fleeing ethnic people. Many people are fleeing to Sittwe, Rathidaung and Ponnagyun, which are safe places from terrorist attacks.

Minister Win Myat Aye said they have enough provisions to support some 24,000 evacuees for two months.

“We discussed with security forces the safety of all ethnic people and we are satisfied with security conditions we have seen on the ground,” he said.

According to the administrative department of Maungdaw township, the police outposts and stations in Maungdaw were attacked by terrorists before dawn on August 25 and clashes have continued between the terrorist group and security forces since then. Security forces were also conducting clearing operations in some villages. 

U Kyaw Kyaw Oo, deputy officer  of Maungdaw’s administrative department, told The Myanmar Times many people are fleeing and some are settling in safer areas.
“In the past two days we recorded 5000 evacuees,” he said. 

According to refugees living in the makeshift camps in Bangladesh, at least 2000 people have crossed into Bangladesh since Friday.

Source - MyanmarTimes

#Thailand - Myanmar suspects submit their final appeal in Koh Tao tourist murder case.

TWO MYANMAR nationals convicted of killing two British tourists in Koh Tao in 2014 have submitted their final appeal to the Supreme Court asking for a review of the judicial process and the evidence against them, according to their lawyers.

The two men, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, are seeking to overturn death sentences handed down to them by the lower court in December 2015 for the murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, in Surat Thani’s Koh Tao. The sentence was upheld by the Appeal Court in March this year. 

“The legal team asks the Supreme Court to re-examine the legal process and evidence, and whether the DNA samples collected from the crime scene really matched those of the defendants,” lawyer Nakhon Chomphuchat told The Nation.

The case has been closely watched internationally and domestically due to the brutal nature of the crime involving foreign tourists, particularly since tourism is a major source of income for the economy. 


Witheridge was raped and Miller beaten before both of them were killed. Their bodies were found on a beach on the island.

The death sentences have raised concerns among human right defenders amid claims that the evidence presented by prosecutors had failed to establish the pair’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Critics have also accused the police of failing to properly collect and test DNA samples from the scene. Myanmar authorities and civil society groups have also expressed their concerns over the conduct of Thai police and the way they handled the case. 

The two men were arrested weeks after the murder amid severe pressure on the police from the military government and media. Initially, police claimed the two men confessed but the men later retracted their statements, saying they were tortured. 

While public prosecutors said DNA evidence collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims linked Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun to the murders, their lawyers argued DNA from a garden hoe allegedly used as the murder weapon did not match samples taken from the men.

The defendants’ legal team has submitted a 319-page document to the Supreme Court for its consideration, a lawyer on the team said.

 After visiting the two men in Bang Kwang Central Prison last Thursday, Nakhon said the two defendants continued to maintain their innocence. 

The Supreme Court’s judgement will be final, although capital punishment sentences have not been carried out in the Kingdom for years.

Source - TheNation
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#Myanmar (Burma) - Over 200,000 people displaced by floods

 

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Over 200,000 people were displaced in floods brought about by monsoon rains in various parts of the country, the rescue and resettlement department said Thursday.

The agency said that from July 1 to August 10, a total of 208,450 people from 51,774 households have fled their homes due to floods.

Among the areas badly hit by flood were parts Sagaing Region, Magwe Region, Chin State, Bago Region, Kayin State, Ayeyarwady Region, Mon State, Nay Pyi Taw, Rakhine State, Shan State and Tanintharyi Region.

Rescue camps in Sagaing Region, Magwe Region, Kayin State, Nay Pyi Taw, Rakhine State, Yangon Region and Tanintharyi Region were closed on Aug 10, but some 69,697 evacuees remained in the camps as of August 10.

Dr. Kyaw Moe Oo, meteorology and hydrology department deputy director, warned people – especially those living near river banks – to be always especially when there is heavy rains.

“If river level rises again and it rains more, there will be floods again. But it cannot be as bad as in 2015,” he said, adding that rain is normal this year.

“In 2015 but monsoon was strong and there were storms. Therefore, conditions were worse. Currently, depressions are mainly formed in the internal areas of India and Bangladesh,” he said.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said that at this time the Chindwin river level can rise again and it can reach up to danger level mark in Hkamti and Homalin and there might be more rains in upper Sagaing Region, Kachin State and Rakhine State within next two days.

Source - mmtimes

Myanmar (Burma) - Mechanism for foreigners to trade in YSX under way

A mechanism for foreign investors and organisations to take part in the Yangon Stock Exchange is under development, according to Myanmar Securities Exchange Centre.

Daily stock trading in Myanmar has declined significantly and the market is sluggish. In order to revive the trading activities, a system to include non-Myanmar investors from various sectors must be developed, MSEC executive director Takashi Takahashi said.

The MSEC and the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) are in collaboration, he said during a stock exchange education talk held at Parkroyal Hotel on July 19.

“To make the Myanmar stock market active, what is necessary now is to develop a system to include investors from various sectors.

“If that system is successful, there will be more investors in the market. Right now, there is also a need to attract individual investors,” he said.

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The average volume of daily stock trading in June 2016 was K313 million but it declined to merely K70 million in June 2017, resulting in a significant decrease.

Myanmar stock index, with its base point at 1000 on March 25, 2016, dropped to 552.62 on July 11, 2017.

“We can assume that the change is due to traders shunning the market as the stock prices are stagnant.

“To revive the market, it is necessary to have more listed companies and more traders,” Mr Takahashi added.

 

Under the existing Myanmar Companies Act, a company where a foreigner has any share is defined as a foreign company. Companies listed on the YSX have many restrictions in selling their shares to foreigners.

The government is currently working on a new Companies Act and the draft piece of legislation has been submitted to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. In the new law, a domestic company is allowed to have up to 30pc foreign investment.

“Without the participation of wealthy foreigners, domestic stock market will remain slack. An individual local investor cannot invest much.

“For foreigners to take part, the Companies Act must be amended,” Myanmar Agriculture Public (MAPCO) executive director U Ye Min Aung told The Myanmar Times.

There are only about 30,000 securities accounts opened for stock trading in the YSX. Compared to the national population, it is a very small fraction, with only 0.05pc per head. 

Those are accounts owned by individuals, and not organisation-based accounts.

The YSX, which was established in December 2015, only has four listed companies on board, while Laos and Cambodia have five listed ones each. In contrast, Vietnam boasts 695 companies and Thailand 731 companies.

“In other countries, foreign investors are allowed to take part. Moreover, banks and insurance firms are seen to be actively trading in the stock market,” Mr Takahashi said.

Source - MM TIMES

7 #Myanmar workers rescued from sugarcane farm in #Thailand

 

Thai and Myanmar officials have rescued seven Myanmar nationals who were tricked into working for nothing on a sugar-cane farm in a forest in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.

 According to the Myanmar Aid Alliance Committee (AAC) and Myanmar embassy officials, the seven were rescued Wednesday by Thai officials, including members of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), immigration and army.

Speaking to The Myanmar Times on Thursday, AAC member Ko Ye Min said “The workers were asked by a Myanmar labour broker to work at a sugar-cane factory in Thailand.

“But the broker had sold them as slaves. They had to work without pay, their cell phones were taken away and kept by the farm owner, and they were under constant guard to prevent them from escaping.”

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 The victims are all from Bago Region, five of them from Sat Su village in Waw township and two from Htan Tapin village in Taungoo township.

The victims managed to escape on foot from the farm and called the AAC for help.

According to the seven, the broker had threatened them by saying the girls would be sent to brothels and the men to work on fishing boats in Thailand.

The AAC reported the matter to the DSI, which, after consultations with Myanmar embassy officials, mounted a rescue operation and saved the seven from the forest, Ko Ye Min said.

“We [the AAC] and the embassy managed to send them home. All the victims are back in Myanmar,” Ko Ye Min confirmed on Friday.

Embassy officials said the broker took the victims to Thailand via an illegal route two months ago.

The officials told The Myanmar Times on Thursday that they had sent back all the workers to Myanmar and Thai officials will investigate and take action against the broker for human trafficking.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Thet Naung of the Myanmar Anti Human-Trafficking Police Squad said they had received news that the DSI had saved the workers. “But, we have not got the official version from the Thai side. We will speak to the workers when they get back home. We will take legal action after we have investigated and have all the information on the matter from the workers,” he said on Friday.

An official of Waw township administrative department said on Friday he had no knowledge of any human trafficking.

Source - mmtimes

Myanmar and Thai NGOs support ‘Nation’ reporter hit by suit for ‘defaming’ mining firm

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EIGHTY Thai and Myanmar NGOs have voiced their support for The Nation journalist Pratch Rujivanarom, who has been sued by a Thai mining company over a report about the environmental impacts of a tin mine affecting local people in Myanmar.

The group of 80 human rights and environmental protection organisations led by Reporters without Borders issued a joint statement yesterday urging the Thai government to protect press freedom, decriminalise defamation, and align the 2007 Computer Crime Act with international laws and standards.

The groups also demanded that Myanmar Phongpipat Co Ltd, the Thai mining company operating in Myanmar, withdraw all criminal proceedings against Pratch and The Nation newspaper immediately.

On March 20, Myanmar Phongpipat filed suit against Pratch on allegations of defamation and violations of Computer Crime Act. 

 The company claimed that an article written by Pratch and published in March regarding the impact of the company’s tin mine on villagers in Myaung Pyo village in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region damaged its reputation.

In the complaint, the mining company said the allegation that the mine had contaminated the river and water supply of Myaung Pyo village was false and the mine had never discharged heavy metals into the environment. 

The water from the mine contained safe levels of manganese, arsenic and lead, which would not harm people’s heath according to international standards, the mining company claimed.

Kriangkrai Chavaltanpipat, managing director of Myanmar Phongpipat, filed suit against Pratch as the first defendant and The Nation as the second for violations of the Criminal Code articles 59, 83, 91, 326 and 328, and Article 14 of Computer Crime Act in Nakhon Pathom Court.

The Nation has tried to reach the mining company, but the company’s lawyer declined to provide any other information relating to the mining operation or the case.

The statement signed by 24 Thai and 56 Myanmar NGOs said the charges against Pratch were a vivid example of the use of overly broad criminal law to diminish freedom of expression and intimidate the reporter.

The groups also insisted that the lawsuit created a chilling effect for the media and human rights defenders, and conflicted with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a state party.

NGOs signing the joint statement included Amnesty International, the Spirit in Education Movement, Earth Rights International, TERRA, the Seub Nakasatien Foundation, the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, the Green Network Mergui Archipelago and the Dawei Watch Foundation.

The Nation managing editor Jintana Panyaarvudh also expressed her support for the NGOs’ statement and members of the public who shared concerns about media freedom. She said Pratch had performed his duty as a journalist with professionalism and honesty. 

“Pratch reports information that has significance for and for the benefit of the public because the matter has affected the environment and people’s quality of life,” she said.

The Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) has listed the case as the 49th use of Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act to silence journalists and activists.

Nakhon Pathom Court will conduct a preliminary examination of the case on July 17.

Source - TheNation

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400 #Myanmar migrants sacked without compensation

Over 400 sacked Myanmar migrants have filed a complaint at the Thai labour rights protection department for action to be taken against the Thai snack factory Taokaenoi from Ladlumkaew, Pathumthani township.

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 Most sacked workers are pink-card holders and some are working at the snack factory as MOU workers.
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 According to Thai based migrants rights group Aid Alliance Committee (AAC) and workers, the migrants had filed a complaint as they had been sacked without compensation.
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“Workers were stopped from working as there weren’t enough jobs but no suitable compensation was given,” AAC member Ko Ye Min told The Myanmar Times yesterday.
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He also said that all workers had to pay the factory official 2500 baht for hiring jobs and they also had to pay between 8500 baht and 11,000 baht to get work-permits, but the migrants had not been provided with any work-permit documents.
.“We have filed a case at the township labour rights protection department for workers to be given the fees taken by the factory officials and to be given suitable compensation for losing their jobs,” AAC member Ko Ye Min said.
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The dispute is scheduled to be examined on May 11 (today) at the Department of Labour Protection in Pathumthani, according to AAC and migrant workers.
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“Today, factory officials have asked us to sign if we are willing to return to work. They have also applied for work-permits for us. But, most of the workers have refused to sign. We can’t trust them anymore. They failed to provide us with work-permits although we were asked for around 100,000 baht,” Ko Zaw Hein, a migrant worker, told The Myanmar Times yesterday.
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He was employed by the snack factory four months ago and has not been provided with work-permit documents although he was asked to pay 8500 baht for work-permit fees and 2500 baht for employment as a factory worker.
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According to AAC and workers, most sacked workers are pink-card holders and some are working at the snack factory as MOU workers. There are about 500 Myanmar migrant workers at the factory who have been working there for over two years.

Workers also said that the factory used to retrench workers very often because factory officials and their brokers make a bigger income from migrants by firing old workers and hiring new ones, thus enabling them to charge hiring fees to the tune of 2500 baht and work-permit fees at 8500 baht.
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Myanmar embassy officials did not respond to The Myanmar Times yesterday when the paper attempted to get a comment on the issue.
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Source - MMTIMES

 

Exhibit explores a transforming #Myanmar (Burma)

However, sometimes a single photo can say more than the longest news piece or essay.

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This idea is now on display at the Catching the Light exhibit and book launch at Myanmar Deitta until May 14..
The exhibit showcases the work of German photographer Birgit Neiser, who has been visiting here since the early 1980s..
“On my first trip, we couldn’t see a lot of Myanmar, but I became fascinated by the culture and people,” she told Weekend, recounting her 1981 trip..
Like many Europeans, Neiser first came to Myanmar as a backpacker but then returned in 2010 to support an NGO in the Delta region. Since then, she has spent a couple of months here every year.

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Catching the Light focuses on the dramatic changes from the period 2010 to 2016.
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“Looking back, I feel that the country has changed more between 2010 and 2017 than between 1981 and 2010.”
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The black and white images deftly portray the political, economic and cultural transformations.
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“By documenting today’s Myanmar, my photos might serve as a point of reference in decades to come. My goal was to capture the status quo as something to come back to in the future,” she said.
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“The country will continue to change radically so I tried to record as many unique moments of this time as possible.”
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Neiser discussed with Weekend one of her more unforgettable moments on this journey – documenting an elephant camp in the forest near Putao.

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She said at the camp, the elephants worked hard to pull timber out of the forest and push it onto a truck from an elevated embankment.

“They are highly skilled and intuitive; when one log was close to rolling off the truck, they immediately tried to stop it from falling with two elephants working as a team to grab the log and heave it back onto the truck,” she said.

“The elephants seemed to enjoy the challenges they faced and I interpreted in their eyes the same proud look I saw on their mahouts at the end of the day.”

She also travelled using all sorts of local modes of transport including on the back of a timber truck in the Kachin mountains, on a motorbike through Northern Shan State and on board an old fishing vessel in the Andaman Sea.
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“If I have been able to capture the spirit of Myanmar, even scratch on its surface, I am happy.”
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“An achievement for me would be to make others understand – at least to some extent – the spirit of the country and to give back to Myanmar people not only the pictures that I took of them but also show remote corners of the country where many have not travelled.”
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During her current trip, Neiser will also do some photography in Mandalay.
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Neiser’s work has previously been displayed at the National Museum Yangon where her photographs of the country were juxtaposed with old photographs taken by Christine Scherman, another German documentary photographer who had travelled in Myanmar 100 years ago.
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“Everyone in Myanmar has become a photographer through mobile phones. Also there are many more professional photographers around than before,” she said.
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“This is wonderful, especially because the Myanmar photographers will hopefully introduce some new styles and fresh ideas to photography.”
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Myanmar Deitta is at 49 44th Street, Botahtaung Township.

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Source - MMTIMES