The New Dawn

U Myint’s Paper on FDI (English)

mgthantzin — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:51:30 +0000

As I’ve promised yesterday, below is the link of paper by U Myint.

U Myint’s Lecture on FDI

mgthantzin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:20:07 +0000

My friend from Yangon Art and Science University (YASU) said that there would be a lecture by U Myint on FDI in her class. I’m getting Powerpoint slides of that lecture from her and will upload it here for anybody who is interested.

Happy Diwali

mgthantzin — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:35:41 +0000

I wish all my Hindu friends Happy Diwali tomorrow.

Obama wins!

mgthantzin — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:14:02 +0000

Obama has won another term of 4 years. Congratulations to him! Hopefully, democrats will have better ties with Myanmar. He will be visiting Myanmar at the end of this month. Holding the office, his visit will be quite significant.

World Bank’s Strategy Note for Myanmar

mgthantzin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:34:56 +0000

Last month, World Bank has released a drafted interim strategy note for Myanmar. Today, they’ve released it in Burmese language as it is required to.

Click here to read English version.

Click here to read Burmese version.

PR in Myanmar?

mgthantzin — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:04:53 +0000

Recently, a piece of news surfaced that currently ruling USDP would want to lobby for Proportional Representation(PR) in 2015 elections. It could be clearly seen as an attempt to avoid another landslide victory of NLD in 2015 elections. They expect that they could retain more seats by PR. But, in my opinion, it’s indeed good news. While majority of elections irregularities were either associated with USDP or traced back to USDP, they have come to realize that irregularities should not be their techniques to win parliamentary seats. It seems that they have intended to play fairer (than previously) and make party name clean. But, still, under current winner-takes-all system, they know they don’t have much a future. So, they wanted to try something which could at least help them retain more seats.

And, yes, PR could be a better system for Myanmar since Myanmar does not have a good track record of parliament democracy system in 50s due to power abuse. But, one drawback of PR is that policy making can be slower and inefficient because one party need listen to many different views and typically parties in opposition tend to oppose anything major party does.

Happy Birthday to DASSK

mgthantzin — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 04:13:42 +0000

Peaceful Demonstrations in Myanmar

mgthantzin — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:52:40 +0000

People staged peaceful demonstrations in Mandalay as well as in Monywa in past two days in oppose to severe electricity shortage. One rumor spreading said people in Yangon would also stage similar demonstration at famous Sule Pagoda this evening in Yangon.

Authorities from electricity department recently explained that it was due to bomb blasts by ethnic insurgents which caused severe damage to two electricity cable towers.

But, people pointed out that electricity cut was happening for quite some time. Many citizens were also not pleased at all with such explanation.

Today, in a rare move, Ministry of Electricity (2) (yea, Myanmar has two ministries for electricity alone although electricity is something in the country you can’t take for granted at all) issued a letter of explanation, appeal and apology in the state-run newspaper. This could possibly be the first sign of respect to taxpayers since 1990s.

In my view, I welcome such a letter but still letter did mention that residences should also save electricity. That part could really upset many people. Although such savings are not a wrong thing to do, Government is selling gas, fuel and electricity to many neighboring countries and asking its citizen to reduce usage.

Fuel to worsen this matter is a remark made a couple of months ago by Minister of Electricity. He said we had more electricity than we need and that’s why we were selling. He also mentioned that he knew best when it came to hydropower and electricity topic.

Myanmar Foreign Minister meets US Secretary in Washington

mgthantzin — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:26:20 +0000

~~While a rumor about president U Thein Sein’s deteriorating health status surfaced in past couple of days~~ While Myanmar president U Thein Sein (who is using pacemaker due to heart condition) had not been well for past few days and resting in his residence, Myanmar FM met up with US Secretary to discuss Myanmar political reform. After close discussion, they held a press conference.

Clinton said they would appoint Derek Mitchell as US ambassador to Myanmar. And, they would also lift sanctions on US investment in Myanmar – a country whose leaders have blamed sanctions as a cause of slow development for past two decades. News said it’s due to the pressures on US Government from US businessmen. Clinton, however, does not fail to mention responsible investment and also asks investors to be agents of positive change.

Anyway, a big news to note for this week.

Watch the video clip or read the dialogue script at: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/05/190260.htm

New website launched by Myanmar President Office

mgthantzin — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:59:57 +0000

Myanmar President Office has recently launched a new website: http://www.president-office.gov.mm/

Another transparency attempt by President, as it seems. News agencies highlight that a chair right to president (supposedly meant for Vice President Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo) was unoccupied. Agencies assumed that this could be the hint to confirm the ongoing rumors about resignation by second president, due to health reason.