Myanmar General Discussion (non military)

[alaungphaya]

Myanmar to consider changing Constitution that bars Aung San Suu Kyi from presidency
Published on Oct 31, 2014 4:21 PM
72 49 0 0 PRINT EMAIL


Aung San Suu Kyi (centre), chairman of National League for Democracy (NLD) and lower house member of Parliament arrives prior to her meeting with Myanmar President Thein Sein (not pictured) at the president's resident office in Naypyidaw on Oct 31, 2014. Myanmar's Parliament will consider amending the country's Constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, ahead of elections next year, an official said on Friday. -- PHOTO: AFP

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) - Myanmar's Parliament will consider amending the country's Constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, ahead of elections next year, an official said on Friday.

"They agreed to discuss the issue of amending the Constitution in Parliament, according to the law," presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters after President Thein Sein held unprecedented talks with army top brass and political rivals, including Ms Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi is trying to change key sections of Myanmar’s Constitution ahead of 2015 elections that are widely expected to be won by her National League for Democracy (NLD) – if they are free and fair.

The NLD has focused on altering a provision that currently ensures the military in the former junta-ruled nation has a veto on any amendment to the previous charter. To alter the Constitution there needs to be support from a majority of over 75 per cent of Parliament.

As it stands, Ms Suu Kyi is ineligible to become president because of a clause in the 2008 charter blocking anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from leading the country. The Nobel laureate’s late husband was British, as are her two sons.

- See more at: Myanmar to consider changing Constitution that bars Aung San Suu Kyi from presidency

 

[Fattyacids]

Myanmar to consider changing Constitution that bars Aung San Suu Kyi from presidency
Published on Oct 31, 2014 4:21 PM
72 49 0 0 PRINT EMAIL


Aung San Suu Kyi (centre), chairman of National League for Democracy (NLD) and lower house member of Parliament arrives prior to her meeting with Myanmar President Thein Sein (not pictured) at the president's resident office in Naypyidaw on Oct 31, 2014. Myanmar's Parliament will consider amending the country's Constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, ahead of elections next year, an official said on Friday. -- PHOTO: AFP

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) - Myanmar's Parliament will consider amending the country's Constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, ahead of elections next year, an official said on Friday.

"They agreed to discuss the issue of amending the Constitution in Parliament, according to the law," presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters after President Thein Sein held unprecedented talks with army top brass and political rivals, including Ms Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi is trying to change key sections of Myanmar’s Constitution ahead of 2015 elections that are widely expected to be won by her National League for Democracy (NLD) – if they are free and fair.

The NLD has focused on altering a provision that currently ensures the military in the former junta-ruled nation has a veto on any amendment to the previous charter. To alter the Constitution there needs to be support from a majority of over 75 per cent of Parliament.

As it stands, Ms Suu Kyi is ineligible to become president because of a clause in the 2008 charter blocking anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from leading the country. The Nobel laureate’s late husband was British, as are her two sons.

- See more at: Myanmar to consider changing Constitution that bars Aung San Suu Kyi from presidency

@alaungphaya You're obviously a well educated Burmese, do most educated class or elite in your country share your political view of Thein Sein and the military?

 

[alaungphaya]

@alaungphaya You're obviously a well educated Burmese, do most educated class or elite in your country share your political view of Thein Sein and the military?

Good question.

I think everyone has been pleasantly surprised at how much things have changed. It's obvious Thein Sein is a reformer and he has done his bit to contain hard line elements and showed that he is not just another general. He also seems to be pro-business so that's always going to win a lot of people over. Not that there is any favourable sentiment towards the army in general because those bastards ran the country into the ground and should have no place in a democratic society, but considering that they still have a lot of power, there's no getting away from working with them. It's more a pragmatic thing than genuine support.

I may seem like an apologist on here but that's because internal politics and national interests should not be confused. In the situation with Bangladesh and Muslims, for example, everyone takes the same stand as everyone sees it as a national interest issue. W.R.T. the strength of the army, again, that's a national interest issue and it's important to have a strong army. After all, this is what the army is for. Don't confuse this with support for army rule.

WRT the elections, I don't think it's clear cut anymore that DASSK will win in a landslide. No doubt she will win because she was the one who embodied the fight for democracy, but I think Thein Sein has won over a lot of goodwill. He almost has a cult of personality around him. The big question is whether if DASSK comes into power, the kingmakers behind the scenes will be able to work with her. The big incentive, ofcourse, is the enormous potential of the economy and they've positioned themselves to benefit the most from this.

 

[Nike]

@alaungphaya We (Indonesia) are a country with the largest Muslims population on Earth, do you guys have any problems to cooperate with us? it seems Myanmar or Burmese have some (not entirely true but their view can be varied from person to another persons) negative view regarding Muslims, almost the same with other Buddhist countries in Indo-China, like Thailand, Cambodja and Vietnam

 

[Bong]

Good question.

I think everyone has been pleasantly surprised at how much things have changed. It's obvious Thein Sein is a reformer and he has done his bit to contain hard line elements and showed that he is not just another general. He also seems to be pro-business so that's always going to win a lot of people over. Not that there is any favourable sentiment towards the army in general because those bastards ran the country into the ground and should have no place in a democratic society, but considering that they still have a lot of power, there's no getting away from working with them. It's more a pragmatic thing than genuine support.

I may seem like an apologist on here but that's because internal politics and national interests should not be confused. In the situation with Bangladesh and Muslims, for example, everyone takes the same stand as everyone sees it as a national interest issue. W.R.T. the strength of the army, again, that's a national interest issue and it's important to have a strong army. After all, this is what the army is for. Don't confuse this with support for army rule.

WRT the elections, I don't think it's clear cut anymore that DASSK will win in a landslide. No doubt she will win because she was the one who embodied the fight for democracy, but I think Thein Sein has won over a lot of goodwill. He almost has a cult of personality around him. The big question is whether if DASSK comes into power, the kingmakers behind the scenes will be able to work with her. The big incentive, ofcourse, is the enormous potential of the economy and they've positioned themselves to benefit the most from this.

Bangladesh has no problems with Myanmar. Most of Myanmar people are uneducated and backwards. Thats why we have these problems. Give equal rights to the Rohingya people and stop pushing them to BD. Also stop the drug supply to BD. We have taken steps to educate Myanmar Army. So we hope for better future of Myanmar.

 

[Bong]

@alaungphaya We (Indonesia) are a country with the largest Muslims population on Earth, do you guys have any problems to cooperate with us? it seems Myanmar or Burmese have some (not entirely true but their view can be varied from person to another persons) negative view regarding Muslims, almost the same with other Buddhist countries in Indo-China, like Thailand, Cambodja and Vietnam

You cant believe how much these Myanmar buddhists have hatred for Muslims. I have faced some of these offenses online. And they cant be tolerated at all.

 

[Abotani]

@alaungphaya Can you give me the burmese side of the rohingya issue?Seeing the state of my neighbouring Assam due to Illegal bangladeshis,it is kind of hard to buy the whole "victim rohingya line" for me.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Asia Unbound » Myanmar Not Yet Attracting U.S. Companies

Myanmar Not Yet Attracting U.S. Companies
by Joshua Kurlantzick
November 3, 2014

Staff work at a Coca-Cola factory during its opening ceremony outside of Yangon in this file photo from June 4, 2013. The facility was the first to locally bottle Coca-Cola in more than six decades and follows the U.S. company's re-entry into Myanmar in 2012 (Soe Zeya Tun/Courtesy: Reuters).

As President Barack Obama arrives in Myanmar next week for the East Asia Summit, he will find less optimism not only about the political situation but also about Myanmar’s economic future. As I noted last week, when Obama first visited Myanmar in 2012, it was at the height of the country’s political reform process. Since then, the process of political reform has deteriorated, so much so that President Thein Sein last week held a kind of emergency summit with top civilian and military leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi. This meeting was held in an attempt, I think, to get all top Myanmar public figures to at least paper over their differences during the East Asia Summit. Still, it has become clear that the military does intend to just easily hand power over to a truly civilian government, freedom of expression and press has been curtailed once again, and western Myanmar has exploded into inter-religious conflict, leaving over 100,000 Rohingya living in squalid camps that have been described by the Arakan Project as open air prisons. It will not be easy to paper over these serious problems.

Myanmar’s economic progress has stalled as well. To be sure, the country’s offshore oil and gas deposits continue to attract significant interest, which is why the government in March awarded twenty tenders to foreign companies to explore different offshore blocks. Winners of tenders included ConocoPhillips, among other foreign companies. But these oil and gas multinationals have long experience operating in some of the most politically troubled and economically restrictive environments in the world, and the fact that they are exploring offshore makes them more insulated from Myanmar’s growing political instability than if they were exploring in Myanmar itself.

In other industries, many U.S. companies that sent executives to Myanmar in 2012 and early 2013 on visits to assess the market’s potential have decided to do nothing for now. As theWall Street Journal reported this past August, although the Obama administration has eased sanctions on investment in Myanmar, U.S. companies have invested less than $250 million in the country, a tiny figure for a country with such low penetration of consumer goods and with a population of around 53 million people. Several prominent projects in Myanmar that were supposed to be hubs of investment have stalled, including the building of a new airport for Yangon and the Dawei Port project. In addition, as the Journal noted, a number of large foreign companies that had planned to invest in Myanmar’s aviation sector, which is badly under-served, or had been granted licenses to open bank branches in Myanmar, have shelved their plans.

There are several reasons why U.S. investment into Myanmar has not reached the high expectations set in 2011 and 2012. The instability caused by violence in western Myanmar, which has led to Buddhist-Muslim violence in other parts of the country, clearly worries some foreign investors not used to this level of political risk. After traveling outside Yangon and Naypyidaw during second, third, and fourth trips to the country, many U.S. executives have come to better appreciate how poor Myanmar’s physical infrastructure is outside of the capital and Yangon, which makes even low-end manufacturing more expensive than in neighboring nations like Vietnam and Bangladesh. (Yangon isn’t exactly Singapore, either, but its infrastructure and workforce is better than in other parts of Myanmar.) And a series of recent court decisions have reminded foreign investors that Myanmar lacks any semblance of an impartial judiciary or any real protections for foreign investors.

Meanwhile, U.S. companies still operate under restrictions in Myanmar that investors from most other countries do not, including being prohibited from dealing with certain companies that have links to Myanmar’s previous military regimes. Yet many of these blacklisted companies are among the most powerful potential partners in Myanmar.

Given the potential of Myanmar’s consumer market and the quantity of its (onshore) natural resources, U.S. companies will continue to pay close attention to Myanmar. The Obama administration has sent a number of high-level missions to Myanmar to promote investment and improve overall economic ties—too many, in my opinion, given the potential of other markets in the region like Indonesia and Vietnam. Still, one cannot say that the White House has not tried to foster greater investment in Myanmar. But it will be many years before U.S. investment in Myanmar matches U.S. investment into other sizable countries in Southeast Asia.

 

[alaungphaya]

@alaungphaya We (Indonesia) are a country with the largest Muslims population on Earth, do you guys have any problems to cooperate with us? it seems Myanmar or Burmese have some (not entirely true but their view can be varied from person to another persons) negative view regarding Muslims, almost the same with other Buddhist countries in Indo-China, like Thailand, Cambodja and Vietnam

I should have clarified Bangladeshi Muslims (i.e. Rohingya). Nearly 10% of the country are Muslims. I have clarified many times before my position on this issue so I don't need to again.

As for Indonesia, there is minimal economic interaction between our countries despite being part of the same regional union and anyway your ruling elite and businessmen don't really seem to see the Rohingya issue as a problem so I don't see it being an issue.

 

[alaungphaya]

@alaungphaya Can you give me the burmese side of the rohingya issue?Seeing the state of my neighbouring Assam due to Illegal bangladeshis,it is kind of hard to buy the whole "victim rohingya line" for me.

Myanmar General Discussion (non military)

 

[Abotani]

Myanmar General Discussion (non military)

Thanks..I will check it out.

 

[alaungphaya]

Asia Unbound » Myanmar Not Yet Attracting U.S. Companies

In other industries, many U.S. companies that sent executives to Myanmar in 2012 and early 2013 on visits to assess the market’s potential have decided to do nothing for now. As theWall Street Journal reported this past August, although the Obama administration has eased sanctions on investment in Myanmar, U.S. companies have invested less than $250 million in the country, a tiny figure for a country with such low penetration of consumer goods and with a population of around 53 million people. Several prominent projects in Myanmar that were supposed to be hubs of investment have stalled, including the building of a new airport for Yangon and the Dawei Port project. In addition, as the Journal noted, a number of large foreign companies that had planned to invest in Myanmar’s aviation sector, which is badly under-served, or had been granted licenses to open bank branches in Myanmar, have shelved their plans.

View attachment 143758

This part confuses me. Dawei is moving ahead, the new Yangon airport has been commissioned, the current airport's expansion is on schedule, the aviation sector has had significant orders for planes placed and, biggest of all, no US bank applied for nor won any bank licenses so I find the final part most confusing.

Edit: I misread. It was foreign companies. But AFAIK no bank has pulled out from opening branches.

2nd Edit: I just remembered what the aviation investment was about. ANA were planning to buy a stake in Myanmar Airways International but pulled out because they were gazumped by a local conglomerate (KBZ Group).

 

[alaungphaya]

Asia Unbound » Myanmar Not Yet Attracting U.S. Companies

Myanmar Not Yet Attracting U.S. Companies
by Joshua Kurlantzick
November 3, 2014

View attachment 143758Staff work at a Coca-Cola factory during its opening ceremony outside of Yangon in this file photo from June 4, 2013. The facility was the first to locally bottle Coca-Cola in more than six decades and follows the U.S. company's re-entry into Myanmar in 2012 (Soe Zeya Tun/Courtesy: Reuters).

As President Barack Obama arrives in Myanmar next week for the East Asia Summit, he will find less optimism not only about the political situation but also about Myanmar’s economic future. As I noted last week, when Obama first visited Myanmar in 2012, it was at the height of the country’s political reform process. Since then, the process of political reform has deteriorated, so much so that President Thein Sein last week held a kind of emergency summit with top civilian and military leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi. This meeting was held in an attempt, I think, to get all top Myanmar public figures to at least paper over their differences during the East Asia Summit. Still, it has become clear that the military does intend to just easily hand power over to a truly civilian government, freedom of expression and press has been curtailed once again, and western Myanmar has exploded into inter-religious conflict, leaving over 100,000 Rohingya living in squalid camps that have been described by the Arakan Project as open air prisons. It will not be easy to paper over these serious problems.

Myanmar’s economic progress has stalled as well. To be sure, the country’s offshore oil and gas deposits continue to attract significant interest, which is why the government in March awarded twenty tenders to foreign companies to explore different offshore blocks. Winners of tenders included ConocoPhillips, among other foreign companies. But these oil and gas multinationals have long experience operating in some of the most politically troubled and economically restrictive environments in the world, and the fact that they are exploring offshore makes them more insulated from Myanmar’s growing political instability than if they were exploring in Myanmar itself.

In other industries, many U.S. companies that sent executives to Myanmar in 2012 and early 2013 on visits to assess the market’s potential have decided to do nothing for now. As theWall Street Journal reported this past August, although the Obama administration has eased sanctions on investment in Myanmar, U.S. companies have invested less than $250 million in the country, a tiny figure for a country with such low penetration of consumer goods and with a population of around 53 million people. Several prominent projects in Myanmar that were supposed to be hubs of investment have stalled, including the building of a new airport for Yangon and the Dawei Port project. In addition, as the Journal noted, a number of large foreign companies that had planned to invest in Myanmar’s aviation sector, which is badly under-served, or had been granted licenses to open bank branches in Myanmar, have shelved their plans.

There are several reasons why U.S. investment into Myanmar has not reached the high expectations set in 2011 and 2012. The instability caused by violence in western Myanmar, which has led to Buddhist-Muslim violence in other parts of the country, clearly worries some foreign investors not used to this level of political risk. After traveling outside Yangon and Naypyidaw during second, third, and fourth trips to the country, many U.S. executives have come to better appreciate how poor Myanmar’s physical infrastructure is outside of the capital and Yangon, which makes even low-end manufacturing more expensive than in neighboring nations like Vietnam and Bangladesh. (Yangon isn’t exactly Singapore, either, but its infrastructure and workforce is better than in other parts of Myanmar.) And a series of recent court decisions have reminded foreign investors that Myanmar lacks any semblance of an impartial judiciary or any real protections for foreign investors.

Meanwhile, U.S. companies still operate under restrictions in Myanmar that investors from most other countries do not, including being prohibited from dealing with certain companies that have links to Myanmar’s previous military regimes. Yet many of these blacklisted companies are among the most powerful potential partners in Myanmar.

Given the potential of Myanmar’s consumer market and the quantity of its (onshore) natural resources, U.S. companies will continue to pay close attention to Myanmar. The Obama administration has sent a number of high-level missions to Myanmar to promote investment and improve overall economic ties—too many, in my opinion, given the potential of other markets in the region like Indonesia and Vietnam. Still, one cannot say that the White House has not tried to foster greater investment in Myanmar. But it will be many years before U.S. investment in Myanmar matches U.S. investment into other sizable countries in Southeast Asia.

View attachment 143758

The second airport at Bago.

Singapore group wins bid for new Myanmar airport - Channel NewsAsia
A Singaporean-led consortium has won the bid to build Yangon's second international airport.

• PHOTOS
• VIDEOS

Workers at a construction site at the airport in Yangon, Myanmar. (AFP PHOTO/YE AUNG THU)

• Enlarge
• Caption

YANGON: A Singaporean-led group has won a US$1.4 billion (S$1.78 billion) bid to build a second international airport in Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon, authorities said Wednesday (Oct 29), as the nation gears up for a dramatic increase in foreign arrivals.

The winning consortium, which includes Singapore-based engineering and construction group Yongnam and a subsidiary of Singapore's Changi Airport, will build and run Hanthawaddy International on the outskirts of Yangon by December 2019, according to Myanmar's Civil Aviation Department.

Yongnam said that the consortium will now enter into advanced discussion and negotiation with Myanmar's Department of Civil Aviation to finalise details.

Hanthawaddy International, about 80 kilometres northeast of downtown Yangon, is projected to handle around 12 million passengers a year - a huge leap from the 3.7 million arrivals at the existing Yangon International Airport last year.

"We intend it to become the primary gateway for transit routes and also for cargo," Win Swe Tun, Director-General of Myanmar's Civil Aviation Department, told a press conference.

He said Hanthawaddy was at the centre of the country's ambitions for a huge increase in passenger capacity as the country expects tourist numbers to continue to swell. "We plan to extend (the airport) until it can handle 30 million passengers in the future," he said.

Myanmar has seen surging visitor numbers - from tourists and investors - since it began opening up to the world after the junta made way for quasi-civilian rule in 2011. The country, which is hoping to reclaim its former status as a regional air hub, says it needs to take the pressure off the current Yangon airport, which technically only has a capacity of 2.7 million passengers annually.

Yangon International Airport was considered one of the region's most modern aviation hubs at the end of British colonial rule over six decades ago, with direct flights to European destinations. But the country lost its position to regional neighbours as visitors dwindled during military rule.

The new winning bid, which will meet 49 per cent of the costs through a loan from Japan's international development arm, was selected following the collapse of an earlier agreement with South Korea's Incheon Airport over financial concerns.

Win Swe Tun said the Incheon bid stumbled when the Myanmar government would not agree on the amount it would pay if it terminated the contract before completion.

Myanmar authorities were also unable to guarantee electricity and water supplies to the site during construction. He did not provide details of the agreement with the Yongnam-CAPE-JGC Consortium, comprising of Singapore's Yongnam and Changi Airport Planners and Engineers as well as Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation.

Dawei stalled because the Thais are short on money. Their PM's visit last month probably centered on getting things back on track.

Initial phase of Dawei SEZ set to start next month | Bangkok Post: business

 

[William Hung]

Which country/people group do Burmese people feel the deepest affinity to?

How would you rank each groups or countries?

I'm talking about the feeling of the average Burmese in Myanmar, not the political type.

 

[TopCat]

Myanmar orders body of murdered journalist Par Gyi exhumed

Myanmar police have been ordered to exhume the body of a journalist who was shot dead by the army last month, according to the victim's wife.

The US State Department has called for a transparent investigation into the death of the journalist, Par Gyi, a former democracy activist who once worked as a bodyguard for Aung San Suu Kyi.

His wife, Than Dar, said police had told her to go to her husband's burial place at Shwewarchaung Village, in Mon state, but gave her no other details.

She said she was unsure if she would be able to arrange for an independent autopsy.

"I don't know anything yet," she said. "But I don't think they will let me do that."

The police have said military representatives, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, and legal and medical personnel would witness the exhumation, along with police officials.

President Thein Sein last week ordered the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the death, the government said in a statement published in state media.

Gyi was detained by the army on September 30 after photographing clashes between the military and the rebel Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), and was killed on October 4, according to the Myanmar-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The AAPP has disputed a statement by the military that Gyi was shot when he tried to steal a gun from a soldier and escape after being detained because he was a member of an ethnic Karen rebel organisation.

Ms Dar, a prominent women's activist, denied her husband was a member of any military organisation. She said she suspects he died while being tortured, leading the military to bury his body in secret.

She urged the government to return the body to the family.

"I sent a request letter to bring my husband's body back to Yangon for a proper cremation," she said. "But I don't know yet when or if they'll allow me to do this."

The incident comes at a sensitive time for Myanmar as the government prepares to host US president Barack Obama at a regional summit later this month.


Myanmar orders body of murdered journalist Par Gyi exhumed - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


Myanmar: Murdered Journalist Highlights Thein Sein's U-Turn on Reforms

Burmese authorities have ordered that the body of a journalist who was murdered by the country'spowerful military be exhumed, casting a shadow over US President Barack Obama's visit later this month.

Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, was killed after being detained for photographing clashes between the military and a rebel group in the state of Mon.

The military stated that Par Gyi was gunned down when he tried to steal a gun from a soldier, but domestic and foreign human rights organisations immediately challenged these remarks forcing reformist president Thein Sein to call for an investigation into the death.

The wife of Par Gyi said she suspects he died while being tortured, and urged the government to return the body. The journalist once worked as a bodyguard for Aung San Suu Kyi and was a prominent activist in the country, which was formerly ruled by a military junta.

"They killed the wrong person," Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told IBTimes UK. "He was a known activist and journalist and they mistakenly accused him of being a member of a military organisation - something that everyone knew was a blatant lie."

International rights groups voiced firm condemnation of the killing of Par Gyi, turning a domestic story of abuse into a worldwide call for justice. That is likely to embarrass the Burmese government and put a spotlight on daily human rights abuses in the country at a time when the government prepares to host US President Barack Obama at an important regional summit.

Crackdown on freedom of expression

The Asian human rights commission (AHRC), New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Committee to protect journalists (CPJ) have all pressured the Burmese government to investigate the death of Par Gyi and release all journalists still in prison.

The US state department called for a transparent investigation into the death of the journalist and "raised concerns with the government on the matter".

"We call on the government to conduct a credible and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, and to hold the perpetrators accountable," an official statement said. "Respect for press freedoms is a cornerstone for every flourishing democracy. We urge the Government of Burma to release journalists still in captivity who have been detained for exercising these freedoms."

The killing of the journalist comes against the background of a massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Myanmar, which has reportedly become less tolerant towards press freedom, jailing journalists who criticise the government.

Earlier in October, three journalists and two publishers were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of defamation of the state.

After a period of liberalisation in 2012, during which at least 12 imprisoned journalists were freed and pre-publication censorship ended, Thein Sein's government has resumed the suppressive policies towards the press, according to rights group.


Suu Kyi president? 'Just a PR spin' (I said it all along, she was made a PR bee for Junta)

Myanmar's president Thein Sein has embarked on a series of reforms to ferry the country from authoritarian military junta rule to a proper democracy. But activists claim the dramatic reforms that saw international sanctions removed are just a cover-up from the powerful military to hang on to power.

"The government is not slowing down on reforms, it is clearly backtracking," Farmaner said. "The number of political prisoners has doubled, discrimination against Rohingya Muslims has increased and journalists are jailed on a daily basis."

Last week, media outlets reported that the Burma parliament was considering amending the country's constitution to allow human rights champion and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to run for elections next year.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to win the 2015 polls. A current provision in the 2008 constitution blocks anyone whose spouse or sons is overseas citizen from leading the country. Suu Kyi's husband was British as are her two sons.

However, Farmaner called the report "a PR spin from the Burmese government ahead of Obama visit".


Myanmar: Murdered Journalist Highlights Thein Sein's U-Turn on Reforms