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Abode of the Kings (literal meaning of ‘Nay Pyi Taw’)

By
zhm
-

Status of ministries
We visited a trio of ministries and seen the wreckage aftermath with our own eyes. There was extensive damage caused to almost all ministries’ buildings that it is currently impossible to live and work under the existing premises. Ceilings had collapsed. Staircases had crumpled. Whole sections of the building have sunk a couple of feet into the ground. There were debris everywhere. Staff are scared. One senior official had been killed as the wall fell onto his neck. Another from a different ministry has been killed as a large chunk of fallen glass pieced into his body. All in all, more than 500 civil servants had died during the quake and the aftermath. There were rumours of some ministries moving back to Yangon (we hope not!). Sources from ministries told MI that it is just a portion of staff that would be temporarily relocated to Yangon, provided there are available premises over there.

Staff housing
If you think ministerial buildings are in bad shape, wait till you see the government staff quarters (other than for DG, DDG, etc.) in major housing estates in the centre of Nay Pyi Taw. All of them were four storey buildings, with each level housing four apartments, representing four families.
The compounds house families of staff and officers from various ministries and departments. The older units were most affected. The buildings that were constructed in recent years escaped unscathed as if their exping date is not up yet.
The older buildings more or less collapsed and all are now beyond the state of repairs and around 90% of them need to be demolished. Almost all the crumbling happened as a result of the ground floor caving in. The cave-in happened as the pillars on the ground floor supporting the top three could not withstand the shaking and gave way to the enormous pressure and weight from above.
Upon closer inspection, we noted the supporting columns and the iron rebars within the concrete snapped. Once these tiles broke, there was no way the downstairs would survive the weight of the three floors atop.
Every housing of each ministry is affected, MOTC being the worst of the lot. The buildings that collapsed in whole are housing for the staff of Myanmar Railways. We have interviewed some of them as well as came across recovery works in that area, trying to extract valuables and items of use.
Civil servants in Nay Pyi Taw are really in desperate need of help; they are short of cash, short of supplies, short on essentials, short of household equipment, lack in furniture and short of proper accommodation and infrastructure. Meanwhile, bills kept piling up from internet services to loan instalments to children school fees. To say they are all facing a liquidity crisis may be an understatement.
The government, respective ministries and charitable organisations are providing some aid at daily subsistence level, but the former also have their own limit as even the infrastructure repair costs could cost billions of Kyats.

IDP camps
In Nay Pyi Taw, almost all Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) are civil servants. They are now having to live in make shift IDP camps, some set up by the government and some with the aid from some friendly foreign countries.

At the time of our visit, lunch and dinner packets are supplied at respective times. The warehouses at such camps were also stuffed with emergency supplies. Yet, the situation is not ideal. The camp residents highlighted the unbearable heat during day time, from the sun above and the ground below. Having no wind or electricity is not helping either. At least, night times are more tolerable. Combined these issues with lack of furniture and fittings, no wonder some families ended up going back to their home town or villages after a week or so in camps.
IDPs can only provide short term solutions for the displaced public servants. The optimal outcome would be the reconstruction of their quarters, which would take years with even with generous government spending and dedicated international assistance.

Other buildings of stature
The esteemed exhibition compounds MICT I and II were not spared either. Collapsed false ceilings, fallen marble tiles, cracked tempered glasses, tilted fences and broken pavements lined both complexes, even though the structures of the two expo halls seemed to have remained intact.
The hotels and shopping malls in and around Nay Pyi Taw did not do well either. There were damages everywhere, from battered gardens to broken mirrors to fallen facade to ruined escalators to usable stairs. Restaurants have to shut down. Shopping centres have closed. Some resorted to selling their wares in open air areas in front of these centres.
Even less than a-year-old building of Myanmar Economic Holdings, the business arm of Myanmar military, suffered extensive damage as a result of the quake.

Bad luck comes in threes
There are a couple of proverbs in Myanmar equal to the above; one of them being ‘Heavy rains follow someone who is already unlucky” and the other being “Trying to push someone who is drowning down with a long stick”. The bad luck comes in three became a reality here, as victims of the quake were hit with heavy rains and winds in less than one week after the quake. But the worse is not over yet.
Pillage, plunder, looting, theft, robberies and break-ins are happening right in front of our very eyes. We ourselves witnessed a group of three, two man and a woman going around half collapsed and abandoned building, with a light truck, ‘collecting’ concrete deck blocks or CMU (Concrete Masonry Units) used as bases of wooden structures.
All displaced staff we had interviewed informed us that these thieves have stolen all the water pumps and motors in every block and run off with as much valuables that they could get out of collapsed premises. They have either experienced the larceny themselves or knew of colleagues and friends who suffered the same fate of triple whammy of bad luck.
Even in the administrative centre of the government itself, the prevalence of theft is astonishing and lack of law and order seems apparent, at least in and around the staff quarters areas.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (quake)!

By
zhm
-

With difficulties in accessing the actual affected areas by media organisations due to the government’s lack to adequate resources to provide security and accommodation details, MI has decided to volunteer ourselves to venture deep into the centre of the quake impacted areas on a road trip from Yangon. With the intention of making a documentary less than a month into the disaster, we had discovered many that the world has not seen and collected evidences ourselves to counter many mis-information farmed out by foreign anti government media entities. Along the way, we also did many good deeds donating to many of those in need while trying to pinpoint the genuine areas in need of assistance.

Quake details
The big one occurred on March 28, 2025, near Mandalay, occurred as the result of strike slip faulting between the India and Eurasia plates. M7.7 earthquake occurred around noon at exactly 12:50, saving many from certainly of demise and allowing many hours of daylight time to do rescue operations.
The finite fault solution, informed by satellite observations, indicates the size of the March 28, 2025 event is about 460 km by 15 km (length x width). This region has experience similar large strike slip earthquakes, with six other magnitude 7 and larger earthquakes, occurring with about 150 miles (250 km) of the March 28, 2025 earthquake since 1900.
The most recent of these was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in January 1990, which caused 32 buildings to collapsed. A magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred south of today’s earthquake in February 1912. Within this broad zone of tectonic deformation, other large earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1988, have caused dozens of fatalities.
Phone lines, electricity, water supply and internet access were all unavailable for many hours right after the quake, making rescue and coordination inaccessible to many of the first responders. So far, as of April 20, the reported death toll announced by the government stood slightly below 5,ooo. Based on our own projections after our nationwide tour, the final figure could be closer to 10,000 when the dust settles.

Destination the epicentre
As mentioned in the previous March MI issue, some of our staff, including our editor was right in the centre of the quake in Nay Pyi Taw on the Taung Nyo Road travelling from Myo Ma Market to Yazar Thingaha Road. He has already witnessed the magnitude of devastation in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital.

Within a couple of days we already heard from our local and expat sources that cities and towns along the old Yangon Mandalay Road were also severely affected.
Hence, we planned our trek to cover the towns along the old road, exiting the expressway from Taung Ngyu to reach Nay Pyi Taw via the old road and again taking the former highway to get to Mandalay from Nay Pyi Taw. From the capital of the old Kingdom of Burma i.e., Mandalay, we set forth towards Sagaing, Amara Pura and beyond.

Along the route
Other than some serious shaking throughout the nation, especially in Yangon, major damages were not noticeable until we reached the capital. Along the way to Nay Pyi Taw, the destruction to roads, bridges, pavements and curb blocks did not appear till we reached around 147 mile marker and get worse and worse as we get closer to Mandalay.
But the government was quick in getting the repairs done and more than 95% of the expressway was in operation (with careful driving) and nearly all roads in Nay Pyi Taw had temporarily been restored to usable conditions.
In addition to exploring the havoc caused to Pyin Mana, the next door neighbour to Nay Pyi Taw, we passed by five many towns along the quake track, namely Ya Mei Thin, Pyaw Bware One Twin, Ku Mare and Kyauk Se, along our route from the administrative capital to Mandalay.

Fellow Countries Put Forward Extensive Assistance for Myanmar

By
zhm
-

The government and the people of Myanmar are all expressing enormous gratitude towards fellow countries and neighbours, who came to our aid amidst the quake disaster that started on March 28.

India sent 120 member team, including medical personnel under the codename ‘Operation Brahma’. They were the first to arrive at Nay Pyi Taw deploying two C17 military transport aircraft equipped with a field hospital and carrying many supplies such as blankets, tarpaulin, hygiene kits, sleeping bags, solar lamps, food packets, kitchen sets, etc. Two naval ships subsequently arrived in Yangon. Indian naval vessels carried instant noodles, fortified nutritious biscuits, plastic buckets, plastic cups, personal hygiene materials, tents, tarpaulin sheets, clothes, sanitation equipment and medicines, weighing some 40 tons.

China was not far behind, dispatching a team of 118 rescuers, six sniffer dogs and 82 medically trained personnel. It also sent 17 cargo trucks full of supplies from Yangon to Mandalay. China was quick to give cash aid too, dispersing $13.8 million in emergency funds. They have also provided 1200 tents and many generators so far. The nearest state of Yunan was even earlier than India perhaps, sending the specialist team into Myanmar within 18 hours after the quake.

Myanmar strategic friend Russia also flew in via four military air crafts, with 120 rescuers, four dogs, ambulances and an airmobile hospital. The aircrafts landed in Nay Pyi Taw and they will be focusing their efforts in the epicentre of Sagaing.

Pakistan has also showed it is really a friend indeed by sending the first trench of much-needed aid of 35 tons of supplies on April 1 and second trench of another 35 tons on April 3.

Far away land of UAE has also contributed; search and rescue units from Abu Dhabi Police, the National Guard and the Joint Operations Command were here to assist in locating and aiding the quake victims. They have also delivered medical supplies and relief materials to the affected communities.

Trump was proactive pleading $2 million via USAID, despite some American channels mentioning that the aid would be distributed through humanitarians organisations, astonishingly including the PDF (the terrorists).

Bangladesh has also sent rescue teams via military aircrafts and ground convoys. They have delivered essential medical supplies and rescue equipments.

In terms of ASEAN, neighbouring country of Laos has sent in a 33 member team including engineers and military medics. They will provide search and rescue support, medical aid and essential supplies for the victims of the quake.Philippine also assembled and deployed rapid-response rescue and medical teams via military transport planes and helicopters. They delivered essential medical supplies and coordinated support with local agencies. The team was also essential to rescuing and repatriating many Philippine nationals working in Mandalay, now caught up in the disaster.

Rescue teams from Indonesia have also arrived via by sea and air, comprising of a hospital ship and hospital team. They will focus on providing medical care, search and rescue operation and damage assessments.

Vietnam was very proactive among ASEAN sending over 100 rescuers and medical personnel. They also delivered three tons of medial supplies, including antibiotics, other medications and essential healthcare equipment.

Malaysia has also deployed a 50 member team with ASEAN coordination and provided $2.25 million in aid.

Myanmar closest neighbour Thailand sent in 55 air force personnel, comprising of medics and search specialists and brought in medical supplies.

Singapore 80 members rescue team with sniffer dogs and equipment also arrived, with more than $100,000 aid via Singapore Red Cross.

US, Singapore and Thailand aids were marred by explicit or tacit support for the anti government forces. While US might want to distribute money via PDF terrorists, Singapore government wanted SAC to stop attacks on rebels and terrorists (despite all of them starting the attacks on the civilians and government personnel) and some Thai MPs promote propaganda supporting insurgents movements.

Apocalypse Now!

By
zhm
-

It may seem quite quiet and cozy in the centre of Yangon right now, but the people were shaken and stirred since the swinging and swaying started by 7.7 magnitude earthquake with the epicentre 10 mile underneath the ground near the city of Sagaing. Some of them are still out onto the streets in the middle of the night, not because of insomnia, but because of the seismophobia.

For the people of Mandalay, Sagaing and Nay Pyi Taw, the experience can be a lot worse. The majority in all these three cities were still sleeping rough on the streets, as subsequent aftershocks came in incessantly. In fact, there are nearly 50 aftershocks from the judgement day till April 04. A lot of people are still feeling very uneasy about the current situation. While Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw residents may only have to suffer the elements outdoor, while painfully viewing their dilapidated houses, condos and apartments, spare a thought of the people of Sagaing. Nearly 100% of the houses in the cities were damaged by the earthquake. And due to the collapse of the old bridge and the damage to the new bridge (the only two bridges that span across the Ayeyarwaddy river connecting Sagaing and Mandalay), people are having to cross the mighty river using barges only. That makes the rescue efforts close to impossible.

Most of the surrounding areas of the Sagaing city was controlled by PDF terrorist forces. They even shot at some aid convoys coming into Sagaing for rescue efforts. Because of that double whammy, the previously clear air of Sagaing is now taken over by the stench of putrefaction everywhere. In the excessive heat of the summer, dead bodies take less than two days to decompose, worsening the already desperate situation and health of the survivors.

 

MI has spoken to one lady, Ma Ni from Sagaing who has been working in Yangon since Covid times. Her family has to run from their home town in upper Sagaing region, due to PDF terrorists. The PDF terrorists burned their two houses. The family rented a house in Sagaing and survived with whatever little provisions that had. Now Ma Ni has not heard from her family since earthquakes. The phone calls went unanswered. She feared all of them might be dead because of the quake.

Infrastructure is bare bone now
Most of the roads in affected cities are now totally unusable, due to fissures, fault lines, waves and collapsed buildings and debris. Electricity is still out as of April 4 in these cities. Even Yangon was out of electric supply for nearly the whole days for three days in a stretch. Since most of the water supply is through underground water in Myanmar, water pumps are a must for a continuous supply of this basic necessity. And pumps need power to run.

The highways were gone too due to the sinking of the roads, it would take months to repair, optimistically speaking.

Collapse of many large buildings and condos would take years to clean up, denying residents of the standard of living that they were accustomed to a couple of years ago.

The government services
Civil servants are now living rough as their quarters in Nay Pyi Taw are no longer safe to live in. Even though rescue teams from friendly countries bought tents and tarpaulins in, the summer heat, which is highest in central regions of Myanmar traversing from the capital until Sagaing and Mandalay, no one is sleeping in these tents or under these tarpaulins.

Without proper sanitary facilities, communicable diseases would start to spread, making the government resources even more thinly spread. The government is no doubt doing its best within its limited capacity and budget, but without international help, the recovery would take doubly long.

Even now, with ministries offices in tatters, the approvals, payments, payroll and transactions are expected to delay, brining more misery to the helpless civil servants and general public.

The remains of the day
As of April 4, the death toll has creeped up close to 5,000. When the dust settles it is expected to probably reach close to 10,000 people. An enormous loss of life by any standard. Yet it would take close to a decade for the cities to recover.

In a country as poor as Myanmar, under attacks by its own NNCP terrorists, besieged by 75 years of civil conflicts, we have to ask our lord and heavenly beings above us – why must we suffer some more! Is Covid, flood, infighting, drugs, scams and recessions not enough for us? While hoping that this earthquake would be the last disaster for all of us, while looking at the horizon, we see serious storms brewing, some even thinking of ballooning into major cyclones, in the upcoming raining season. While currently being down on our luck, our unlucky streak may not be over that soon.

Canada, Mexico, China Responded to US tariffs

By
zhm
-

United States’ three largest trading partners have responded to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the last week of January to impose a 10% tariff on goods imported from China. The latest US trade protectionist measure has drawn widespread opposition and criticism from both domestic and international community. The White House said the 10% tariff is on all imports from China is on top of existing tariffs. Trump says the tariffs are in line with his embrace of protectionist measures.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said that China always believes that there is no winner in a trade war or tariff war, and remains steadfast in safeguarding its national interests. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said China’s position on the tariff issue is consistent. Tariff measures are not conducive to the interests of either China or the United States, nor to the rest of the world, he said.

On February 4, China further announced it would impose additional tariffs on certain US imports from February 10, 2025 in retaliation to Trump’s action. The retaliatory tariffs included a 15% additional duty on imports of US coal, coke, and liquified natural gas, and a 10% additional duty on imports of US crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement vehicles, and pickup trucks, among others.

In addition to China, the United States also imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada. For energy products from Canada, the administration imposed a 10% tariff. Meanwhile, the leaders of Mexico and Canada struck last-minute deals by offering concessions on border security spending and others, to postpone the imposition of these hefty tariffs on goods exported to the United States, averting at least temporarily a damaging trade war that would roil North America and the global economy.

CBM Launches National QR Standard MMQR

By
zhm
-

Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) has developed a national QR standard MMQR, finally, to enable secure and smooth international financial transactions and remittances while keeping abreast with other countries. The plan was already in place since 2017, but the road to successful implementation requires more time than the initial projections, to say the least.
With MMQRs, retailers do not have to have different pay/wallet arrangements with different providers and consumers can pay across different wallet platforms, making the use of digital money and wallets much easier than the current arrangement of the users having to open every single pay on their phones to actually use digital money effectively. It would also help develop the digital business infrastructure of the country. With the advancement of technology, CBM also needs to monitor online and digital money fraud while the new arrangements are provided.

Colorful Celebrations In Yangon! Holi Festival 2025

By
zhm
-

20-year Sentences for Trafficking Women

By
zhm
-

Two individuals involved in trafficking women to China for forced marriage have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonments. Khin Myo Kyi (aka) Myat Noe from San Pya Village, Myaing Township, Magway Region, and Thet Htar Swe (aka) Thet Htar from Myin Chin Village, Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, had planned to transport two women, aged 22 and 24, from Shwebo and two other women, aged 24 and 30, from Chauk, Magway Region, to China. They promised the women 10 million Kyats each once they were married to the Chinese men.
Offenders were charged under the Anti Trafficking in Person Law and the District Court of Aung Myay Thar Zan in Mandalay, sentenced each person to 10 years each for each incidence, totalling 20 years for their roles in the human trafficking scheme.

EOI Sought for Private Hospitals in Pyin Oo Lwin

By
zhm
-

A committee implementing the establishment of private hospitals in Pyin Oo Lwin invited companies to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to set up private hospitals of international standards, under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system.

The project will be located on the state-owned land in Pyin Oo Lwin Township, Mandalay Region. This project aims to support private health sector development and provide comprehensive healthcare services for people, prioritising chronic kidney disease, eye diseases, cancer, kidney surgery and primary care.

Those entities and individuals who would like to invest and establish a private hospital focusing on the aforementioned specialities have been invited to submit the EOI by April 23, 2025. EOI form can be available at the Private Health Division of the Ministry of Health in Nay Pyi Taw and interested companies can inquire about details through 067 4311069, 067 3411630 and the division’s email privatehealthdivision@ gmail.com.

We are Just Like Rockets

By
zhm
-

Myanmar border regions are like wild wild west of the yesteryears And the wild part has exploded exponentially in these semi autonomous locations, governed by war loads, crime loads and drug lords. The contagion has shifted from the previously confined boundaries of the golden triangle to even mushrooming to penetrate into the centre of the business hub of Yangon.

Now mesmerising casinos, illegal gambling dens, scam operations, human trafficking, drug paddling, kidnapping, gun violence can be seen from Pan Shang in Wa State, Nam Kan in northern Shan, Myawaddy right opposite of Mae Sot, Three Pagoda pass in the South, to Hlaing Thar Yar FMI estate and famous towers of Golden City and Myanmar Plaza. Obviously the latter three are in Yangon municipality hence the activities there are more of supervisory and management in nature, rather than openly engaging in these underworld activities.

And myanmar leadership has been aware of these for decades, yet taking effective action is easier said than done. With peace between the central government and the ethnic regions on thin ice, getting rid of obvious criminal activities took a back seat, giving way to preserving the stability, while hoping for the dawn of a development era.

Yet, the results have not be encouraging at best. Violence spread more, peace accords were as fragile as a rose bud, regions under the control of the central government got smaller and smaller. The government is fighting back. Recent speeches by the Senior General signalled a shift towards a more decisive and heavy handed approach towards dissidents and unruly EAOs.(Ethic Armed Organisations).

Sudden change of attitudes

The fact is that the government has been aware of these for at least a couple of decades. Our big brother China has also been pushing the government to take decisive action to tackle cross border criminal activities in the border regions for many years. Yet, the resolute measures did not happened until like a month ago.

Between the second and third weeks of February, the government papers pages are full of stories of crackdown on scam centres and returns of illegal migrants, settled here to do nothing but crime. The front pages were also occupied with news of similar nature.

Actions followed

February 5: Acting on a tip-off, security forces raided the places where the online gambling and scams are concentrated in Mong Yai Township, Shan State (North), and an armed engagement occurred with security personnel of ‘Zia Pian’ in the southeast of Mong Yai. During the clash, security forces discovered two dead bodies, arrested five ‘Zia Pian’ security personnel, seized six weapons, detained eight Chinese nationals and seven Myanmar nationals.

Security forces also seized seven buildings and 181 mobile phones, 25 laptops, 21 desktops, 28 keyboards, two Wi-Fi devices, two Starlink devices, one gun and five bullets and other gambling materials near Naung Han village.

February 6: Security forces arrested nine Chinese nationals — eight males and one female, 18 Vietnamese females and 27 Myanmar nationals — two males and 25 females — near Naung Han village in Mong Ha area together with 72 computers, five Starlink devices, 79 mobile phones, five fish gambling machines and two vehicles.

February 7: 12 Chinese males were arrested with one Alphard vehicle and one generator near the vicinity of Naung Han village.

Prosecution will be made against the offenders, and foreigners were transferred to their respective countries board on bilateral relations between the countries and on humanitarian grounds.

Minister of Home Affairs also met with Chinese Ambassador on February 14, probably to explain the ‘urgent’ enforcement measures being undertaken to rid the country of gang lords and escapees from China.

The talks focused on the expulsion of foreigners in Myawaddy of Kayin State as per the procedures, arrests of online scammers and gamblers in the Mong Ha region of Mong Yai Township in Shan State (North), transfer of Chinese fugitives, holding of China-Myanmar-Thailand senior officials meeting to combat online scams and gambling in Myawaddy, ongoing cooperation between the two ministries and future cooperation.

2,500 captured and extradited so far

Shortly after the get-together, Myanmar authorities transported 300 Chinese nationals, who illegally entered the country via border routes to run online gambling and telecom fraud in Myawaddy, Shwe Kok Ko and KK Park areas, to China on February 23.
The detainees admitted on media interviews that they illegally entered Myanmar passing through some neighbouring countries, and were forced to work in telecom frauds and online gambling in Myawaddy and KK Park areas.

On February 24, another batch of 22 foreigners were arrested and deported again from Myawaddy areas and handed them back to the welcoming hands of China’s Ministry of State Security.

All in all, within the month of February, nearly 2,500 were arrested and extradited to their respective countries. And the world wonders why it is taking so long to do such a quick job.

Why Such an Abrupt Change of Heart?

The change in attitudes and prompt actions came after various countries, including China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, publicly or privately asked the government to act. After initially blaming Kayin EAOs on what’s been happening and Thailand on supply of infrastructure, the latter cut of the electricity, fuel and internet infrastructure within one month, depriving the local residents of essential services except for a few houses, powered by solar energy. The Thais acted swiftly. Within another week or so, the BGF Chief Saw Chit Thu, held a press conference, right after the Thai government designated him as a fugitive with an immediate warrant of arrest. He amazingly claimed to be totally oblivious of such scam and illegal activities being carried out right under his more by his tenants in Shwe Kok Ko compound and audaciously blamed one of the ministers in the current cabinet for introducing him to the scam gang. You can see in Saw Chit Thu actions too on the expert application of the blame game and acting blur in the midst of all arrows being pointed at him.

With that the government strategy of pointing fingers at others fall short of credibility and they being put into a corner, in urgent need to be decisive initiatives, all stars got aligned in the mid of February in salient to push back the invading forces of scam gangs.
As one of the DAs (Defence Attachés) in Myanmar said, Myanmar people are like rockets; Only when their ass is on fire, they will act really fast.

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