20-year Sentences for Trafficking Women
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
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
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.
Government Funding Foreign Consulates?
I am talking about everybody’s second favourite subject here; private cars. Myanmar citizens and residents pay between 175% – 200% of a vehicle OMV (Open Market Value) in import taxes, when getting a car into Myanmar. For a car with an OMV of $30,000 (Say, a fully loaded Camry), the locals ended up paying close to $90,000 to ride that saloon brand new.
Foreign consulates and embassy staff pay no such duties. They can buy the car right now at $30,000, import into Myanmar and enjoy a brand new vehicle. The issue is what happened when the diplomats leave at the end of their terms? And we are saying the Myanmar government is subsidising them at the expense of the country and local citizens.
There are two alternatives; for disposal one is simple, selling the used car to anyone within the diplomatic community. The other is more complex, registering the car for a black number plate (non-diplomatic use).
The latter process first require approval from MOFA. It is normally given if the price is reasonable and the diplomat has been in the country for around three years. The second checkpoint is a little more complicated. It has to go through Ka Nya Na aka Road Transport Authority (RTA), the governing body responsible for road transportation and vehicle registration. The purpose to compute the tax required to be paid in relation to vehicle model, type and age, for re-registration.
Even though the first checkpoint may not necessary be prone to misconduct, the person in charge can still abuse his authority by denying or approving the transfer or sale to a local. The second checkpoint is where the risk of corruption is high. The assessment of tax is in the hands of a senior RTA official and as such, dealers can pay him handsomely to lower the tax bill measured in million of Kyats. MI has spoken to one such dealer. He acknowledged paying the officials in millions prior and his willingness to bribe 10 million Kyats, if he can lower his tax assessment by 20 million. The tax quantum is not uncommon for even ordinary cars. The variations can even be wider if the cars are top of the range luxury cars such as Range Rovers or Mercedes S Classes.
With such potential profits at the dealers end, he is able to pay the diplomatic staff more. Some of the diplomatic staff that MI has spoken to said, owning diplomatic cars is Myanmar is a once in a life time opportunity. They never lose money. In fact, they will make profits out of that car after riding them comfortably for 3 years. They said they will never have that opportunity in other parts of the world.
How RTA taxes play a role in determining dealers and diplomats profitability…
| Exchange rate @4500 | Kyats (millions) | $ | Dealer Net Revenue | Dealer Net Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Price of a three year old Camry now | 200 | 44,444 | ||
| RTA Taxes (case 1) | 20 | 4,444 | 40,000 | 7,000 |
| RTA Taxes (case 2) | 30 | 6,666 | 37,778 | 4,778 |
| Dealer payment to diplomat for a 3 years old car | 33,000 | |||
| Original cost to the diplomat | 30,000 | |||
| Diplomat profit, after using the car free for 3 years | 3,000 | |||
This loophole has to be shut by making the system of converting white plats to black plates more transparent or making sure that the diplomatic cars (white plates) can only be sold among the diplomatic community or to the government. Else government and the people would continue to suffer at the benefits of private enterprise, a few bad apples of civil servants and the whole diplomatic community.
If you managed to view at the latest White House meeting between Ukrainian Zelensky and Trump/Vance, you would probably notice how Zelensky has to put up with Trump and Vance bullying him with alternate truths and slight shoves and pushes by Trump. He was not given time to respond. The meeting was undiplomatic at best, but Zelensky needed the funding. He has no choice but to put up with the antics. Simply because he is poor. He needed the money to fight the war. His people needed that.
The same thing happened with China many decades ago. China was poor by today’s standards then. Now China and India stands at par with countries of the West, not taking any potshots lying down. Oh what a difference money can make.
I can imagine Myanmar leaders having to put up with richer ASEAN neighbours and some preachers from the West, trying to scold and bully them in meetings and in public, simply because the country is poor and in need of funds and investments.
Now you get my drift on why we would need poverty alleviation as a national strategy, right after putting development over peace as our priority (Chicken First or Egg First – December 2024 Myanmar Insider).
How about a top down approach?
Well we have tried that, in dispensing of the Covid loans. Some of these recipient companies bosses used the loans for themselves and convert these into $ to invest in overseas properties and assets. Now the government is left with 160 billion Kyats ($40 million) worth of bad debts.
There are still some business leaders who believe that top down approach of funding or giving money to them would create employment opportunities and hence, somehow help the poor get out of the poverty trap. When I asked them, whether she (the boss) is willing to employ someone who was bed-ridden because of tuberculosis, disabled or someone who can only come on irregular days to work, because he/she has to take care of the sick parents or siblings, she has no answer.
Businesses and companies are best helped by the government creating an environment that promotes enterprise and investments into the country. Giving them funds and incentives would not get Myanmar out of poverty as Covid evidence has shown.
Hence we need to strategise an alternative approach to mass poverty alleviation. Who better to learn from than China! GDP per capita of China has gone up from $300 four decades ago to now $12,000+. In terms of property alleviation en mass, no one has done it better than China, in the history of this world. And contrary to communist and socialist ideologies, they are not using the top down approach to help the poor.
What foundations do we need?
First and foremost we really need to identify the poor. Covid loans in Myanmar may have been dispensed off in a ‘who knows who’ format, but this certainly is only going to enrich those who are already not poor. So identifying the poor correctly is the first step in targeted poverty alleviation.
At the same time, being poor is not static. You may not be poor the next day. Your circumstances can change. Hence we need dynamic management that accompanies the identification process.
As with the Mao’s campaign, the success of the project depends on the grassroots support. With village residents’ assistance and participation, the works of the poverty alleviation is more likely to be successful.
Last, the support team of civil servants and partisans. They are the staff that is going to make the idea work. The government can only give out policies, guidance and funding. It is the people who will implement and carry out the whole plan to make it a success.
How do we know who is poor?
When it comes to getting free handouts from the government, everyone wants to be poor. We need a systematic and scientific way of actually identifying the poor, so that the decision is not left to the whims and whimsical choices of ward administrators and village heads. The current corrupt practices by a few of them on selection of military conscripts came to the mind.
China, when it started the program, used the famous four looks to determine those in need; house, food on the plate, able-bodied labor in the household and presence of a school going child. Scores and weights are giving on details of each look. Later ‘having a bed ridden patient’ was added to the list. Some provinces added negative list to remove certain populace from the poor list too. An example of a negative list would be ownership of some farm machinery or motor cycle.
Dynamic management, residents’ assistance and support?
After identifying the poor, the dynamic nature of life requires that the list needs verification at village or ward level, nomination by representatives, appraisal by higher authorities, announcement to public, correction if needed, arbitration if disputed and review if necessary.
The support of the program by all residents would ensure that the poor themselves are motivated to get out of poverty. The mindset has to be altered from getting as much handouts as possible to being motivated to determine one’s own destiny. The assistance by capable and well-off residents would also help in the team effort to poverty alleviation.
The team of civil servants implementing the scheme is also critical to the success of the program. They must love the people, act with integrity at all times, work hard, be scientific in their approach, yet realistic, unafraid to face challenges and love the country enough to fully dedicate themselves to this cause. They will be the contact points between the central government and the village. They will provide all the services the program needs and supervise all the aspects of the program.
How do we do that?
The key is to combine village level industrialisation with targeted property alleviation. China industrialised the villages in four key ways;
– upgrading the planting and breeding industries by improving productivity and providing access to the market.
– E commerce by facilitating the village wares and produce to be sold throughout the whole country using e commerce platforms.
– Tourism by promoting unique village attractions, nature and surrounding environment.
– Photovoltaic by selling electricity by solar energy to other regions and provinces in need.
Is that all?
Many books have been written on the triumph of targeted poverty alleviation in China. Even President Xi Jinping has got a book ‘Up and Out of Poverty’, specifically putting down his experiences on the program.
The program is large, nationwide and required unwavering commitments from all those involved.
In the later parts, we will look at the other essentials of its success, entrepreneurship and employment, ecological issues, human resource development, mobilisation, reforms, public services and exit and prevention of return of poverty.
Myanmar may be slow at this point in tackling this face-saving issue, but as Confucius said “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”.
Thank You Mr Trump
Its has been a little over five weeks, since Trump took over the White House from Joe Biden. He has appointed all ministers of his choosing, albeit many projections and protests from democratic senators over their qualifications to serve in positions of power.
Just to take stock of a few of his estranged decisions, he proceeded to exit from the World Health Organisation (WHO) amid a potential outbreak of measles and another SARs like disease. He quit the Paris Agreement, an international treaty that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. It was adopted in 2015 and entered into force in 2016. With global warming getting worse and climate change heading south, it might have disastrous consequences for the world as a result of one mistake by one key person from the second highest greenhouse gas emitting country globally.
Other executive orders worthy of note included stopping $80 billion a year USAID, stopping security clearances of the previous presidents, and imposing tariffs on friends and foes alike. Gulf of Mexico has been renamed as Gulf of America and news agencies that refused to follow suit were thrown out of the white house press corp.
Among the threatening warnings that have the whole world up in their arms included the intention to make its northern neighbour and long-time steadfast ally the 51st State of America. And taking over the Panama canal is another one of that. Denmark too, has to kowtow somewhat to Trump, by offering him more cooperation and space for military bases, after he threatened to take over the former’s territory Greenland. Gaza was not spared either. Trump suggested that US should takeover Gaza to turn it into a resort after sacking all Palestinians out of the land.
Global economy is not spared either. With the introduction of tariffs even on its staunch neighbours such as Canada, Mexico and EU, and also on its biggest trading partner, China, Trump is creating chaos in global economy as these nations scrambled to put forward a slew of retaliatory measures to counter Trump antics.
Role of Musk
Musk funded Trump elections campaign in a significant way. Using his enormous wealth and technology assets, he turned the election in Trump favour and Trump owed him big. The founder and CEO of Tesla and Starlink, is now the person in charge of DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency, trying to cut as many government jobs as possible.
He sat in cabinet meetings, he was with Trump on important outings, held press conferences together and hold enormous sway over Trump, at least for the time being.
And cut he has. He is instrumental in cutting USAID, digging into Social Security to plough through possible fraudulent claims by dead people and getting into federal employees database to send emails to improve efficiency or else.
What about us?
Trump actions that are likely to impact Myanmar stem from cutting off US Aid funding and not continuing with the $400 million Burma Act. The former $80 billion budget is far reaching, from giving BBC $1.2 billion in 2024 to half of it being dedicated to humanitarian relief. Myanmar got around $250 million of that last year. Even if half of it has gone into helping the wounded terrorists, promoting Christianity and sending economic migrants on a 18 months (extendable) all inclusive trip to the USA, i.e., ‘humanitarian assistance’, the rest were channeled into anti establishment machinery of NNCP terrorists, fake news agencies and ‘very polite’ celebrities, whose speciality seems to be swearing at and throwing vulgarities at the government people who, they think do not follow their way of thinking. More than $100 million for the latter three, even before including the Burma Act.
Their activities would eventually grind to a halt, as bullets run out and the US digital platforms can no longer accommodate these terrorism activities of these agencies and social media celebrities, without the tacit support of the US federal authorities. Digital espionage is also expected to go down as DOGE dig deep into FBI, CIA and NSA spending habits.
So far, based on the recent Guardian UK interview with some exile media in Mae Sot, some are keeping their chins up while trying to get free money from alternative donors. But most are resigned to losing their jobs and having to seek alternative employment, as their fake news agency employers will no longer pay their salaries past February of this year.
Upsides and Downsides
The upsides are obvious; fake news from Siam and Ayutthaya are going down, funding to NNCP would stall and no more effortless migration to the US, by just showing a couple of pictures taken with Su Kyi or some other NNCP leaders. Even in the months of February, terror attacks have gone down. Number of fake news also have gone down significantly. The countering and pinpointing of fake news in government papers have gone down from almost everyday to now a once or twice a-week affair.
If you ask the senior civil servants to name one major issue for the government now, they would be pointing out fake news as the one. With Trump’s action on foreign aid, the elephant in the room would have been addressed. His actions seem to be all positive for the current administration. What a good president for Myanmar, may be Russia perhaps judging from the latest antics with Zelensky in the White House.
The downside is sort of hidden in plain view. It relates to the performance analytics of ministers and cabinet members. A few of them are in charge of fighting fake news and for the past four years, they have been at it, but more or less about to accept the unavoidability of defeat, after trying out many unproductive counter measures and appointing oldies to combat new age weapons. Now they would be all ready to steal someone’s thunder. So the top dogs have to watch out for a few ‘good’ men who would claim credit for the performance that they did not create and hyper vigilant against giving green lights for funding the activities that are a waste of national resources, in the context of fighting fake news.
The order of the Phoenix
The world’s order is in dynamic shape at the moment. EU is even trying to drag Canada into its grouping. They are in full support for Ukraine. China is getting the upper hand in diplomacy as US funding to overseas stopped. Russia is getting much needed support from its new found ally in Washington. May be the oligarchs can pay Trump back by donating $5 million each to buy into his ‘gold card’ residency scheme!
Thai PM Declares Her Assets
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declared more than $400 million in assets, her party said, including more than 200 designer handbags worth over $2 million and at least 75 luxury watches, valued at almost $5 million.
The youngest daughter of telecom billionaire and ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn took office in September as the fourth member of the clan to lead a Thai government in 20 years.
She was obliged to declare her assets and liabilities to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). She identified 13.8 billion baht ($400 million) in assets, a document posted on media websites showed. Her investments were worth 11 billion baht and she had another billion baht in deposits and cash, her declaration said.
Her other assets included 75 watches valued at 162 million baht and 39 more timepieces, plus 217 handbags worth 76 million baht, as well as property in London and Japan, among other holdings.
She also declared liabilities of nearly five billion baht, according to the NACC document posted by local media, giving her a net worth of 8.9 billion baht ($258 million).
Thailand has lead the way in ASEAN in terms of transparency of disclosure of assets of top politicians. Don’t expect to see it in Myanmar during our lifetime.
Trump Threatens to Take Control of Panama Canal, Seize Greenland and Make Canada part of the US
Incoming US president Donald Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington. He also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as US businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic president Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control in 1999.
Canadians might be relieved to learn that the president-elect would not be sending the military to their sovereign land. Unlike the canal, he said he’d only use economic force to annex the democratic country to the north and make it the 51st state.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America may be a strategy to divert his lack of ideas on executing campaign promises such as reducing groceries prices, but asking Denmark to cede Greenland to the USA may be a bridge too far even for the Greenlanders.
America has elected a president who cares nothing about his own ethics and the opinions of the world. His insistence on measuring everything on financial grounds and cost benefit analysis should allow current Myanmar government to ‘carpe diem’ for the next couple of years at least.
Myanmar Population Shrinking
Myanmar population is shrinking, according the the latest census conducted in October 2024. Even though 30% of the country has been surveyed in details, amidst constant threats of terrorist attacks on census personnel, the published figures provided a guide to extrapolate the direction of the population growth.
The total population of Myanmar as per the 2024 census is announced to be 51.3 million including 32.2 from the census and 19.1 from estimated data. A gender ratio of 46.9% males and 53.1% females were recorded.
The most populous region is Yangon with 14.4% of the population, and the least populous region being the Kayah State with 0.6%. Based on historical census data, Myanmar population was only 7.7 million in 1891, 10.5 million in 1901, 28.9 million in 1973, 35.3 million in 1983 and 51.5 million in 2014. The government attributed the population decline are due to birth rates, death rates, and migration.
However, if you do take into consideration of Myanmar diaspora overseas, the population among people of Myanmar origin might have increased. Considering Thailand alone, the diaspora is estimated to be between 5 and 10 million.
