Myanmar
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Go Tell It on the Mountain (0)
Go Tell It on the Mountain
-- A Prayer Guide For the Palaung Peoples of Myanmar, China, and Thailand
-- A Prayer Guide For the Palaung Peoples of Myanmar, China, and Thailand
By
PRAY. GIVE. GO.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
China opens pipeline to bring gas from Myanmar
China opens pipeline to bring gas from Myanmar
LOUISE WATT July 29, 2013
BEIJING (AP) — China has switched on a pipeline bringing natural gas from Myanmar, a state company said Monday, in a project that has raised concerns in Myanmar's nascent civil society about whether its giant neighbor's resource grabs will benefit local people.
The 793-kilometer (493-mile) pipeline connects the Bay of Bengal with southwest China's Yunnan province and is expected to transfer 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually, according to a news release on the website of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). A parallel 771-kilometer (479-mile) pipeline that will carry Middle East oil — shipped via the Indian Ocean — is still under construction.
China's investments, largely in energy and mining, have generated controversy in Myanmar because they have done little to relieve that country's chronic power shortages. In response, the Myanmar government abruptly suspended construction in 2011 of the China-backed Myitsone dam, which would displace thousands and flood the spiritual heartland of Myanmar's Kachin ethnic minority.
While the pipelines are expected to provide only a small proportion of China's oil and gas consumption, they are strategically important to Beijing. The gas pipeline that began operating Sunday offers a nearby source of gas, and the oil pipeline would eliminate the need for tankers from the Middle East to pass through the crowded Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.
The two joint ventures are between state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Myanmar's national petroleum company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. Four other companies from India and South Korea also have stakes in the project, according to CNPC.
For years, China was the closest ally of Myanmar's military regime, which was shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand power to an elected government. Since 2011, when an elected, though still military-backed, government took office, Myanmar has undergone political and economic reforms and has courted investment from the West.
The reforms have brought heightened activity from nongovernment and civil society groups in Myanmar, said Tony Nash, Singapore-based managing director of economics and risk consulting for IHS, an independent economic consultant. This, together with growing competition from Western companies in Myanmar, will push Chinese companies to be more transparent about how their investments will affect the local population, he said.
In April, hundreds of people protested in western Rakhine state against the pipeline, saying they had to give up their land for too little compensation and that salaries offered for local pipeline workers were too low.
"Some of the responses to that protest back in April were really specific to looking at community needs and responding with corporate social responsibility at the local level," said Nash. Chinese companies are increasingly "saying 'we hear you and we want to make a commitment for corporate social responsibility,' you are seeing Chinese companies becoming a bit more savvy in that respect," he said.
Wong Aung, who heads the Shwe Gas Movement, which campaigns against the pipelines on human rights and environmental grounds, said the government and companies have not clarified how the project's benefits would be shared.
"The contracts made by the previous government need to be reviewed to see whether they guarantee the national interest and rights of every citizen and whether they meet international standards or not," he said.
Even on the Chinese side of the border, opposition to the pipeline has been strong. In May, more than 2,000 people worried about air and water pollution protested in Kunming in Yunnan against a planned petroleum refinery connected to the project.
___
Associated Press writer Yadana Htun in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.
LOUISE WATT July 29, 2013
BEIJING (AP) — China has switched on a pipeline bringing natural gas from Myanmar, a state company said Monday, in a project that has raised concerns in Myanmar's nascent civil society about whether its giant neighbor's resource grabs will benefit local people.
The 793-kilometer (493-mile) pipeline connects the Bay of Bengal with southwest China's Yunnan province and is expected to transfer 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually, according to a news release on the website of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). A parallel 771-kilometer (479-mile) pipeline that will carry Middle East oil — shipped via the Indian Ocean — is still under construction.
China's investments, largely in energy and mining, have generated controversy in Myanmar because they have done little to relieve that country's chronic power shortages. In response, the Myanmar government abruptly suspended construction in 2011 of the China-backed Myitsone dam, which would displace thousands and flood the spiritual heartland of Myanmar's Kachin ethnic minority.
While the pipelines are expected to provide only a small proportion of China's oil and gas consumption, they are strategically important to Beijing. The gas pipeline that began operating Sunday offers a nearby source of gas, and the oil pipeline would eliminate the need for tankers from the Middle East to pass through the crowded Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.
The two joint ventures are between state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Myanmar's national petroleum company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. Four other companies from India and South Korea also have stakes in the project, according to CNPC.
For years, China was the closest ally of Myanmar's military regime, which was shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand power to an elected government. Since 2011, when an elected, though still military-backed, government took office, Myanmar has undergone political and economic reforms and has courted investment from the West.
The reforms have brought heightened activity from nongovernment and civil society groups in Myanmar, said Tony Nash, Singapore-based managing director of economics and risk consulting for IHS, an independent economic consultant. This, together with growing competition from Western companies in Myanmar, will push Chinese companies to be more transparent about how their investments will affect the local population, he said.
In April, hundreds of people protested in western Rakhine state against the pipeline, saying they had to give up their land for too little compensation and that salaries offered for local pipeline workers were too low.
"Some of the responses to that protest back in April were really specific to looking at community needs and responding with corporate social responsibility at the local level," said Nash. Chinese companies are increasingly "saying 'we hear you and we want to make a commitment for corporate social responsibility,' you are seeing Chinese companies becoming a bit more savvy in that respect," he said.
Wong Aung, who heads the Shwe Gas Movement, which campaigns against the pipelines on human rights and environmental grounds, said the government and companies have not clarified how the project's benefits would be shared.
"The contracts made by the previous government need to be reviewed to see whether they guarantee the national interest and rights of every citizen and whether they meet international standards or not," he said.
Even on the Chinese side of the border, opposition to the pipeline has been strong. In May, more than 2,000 people worried about air and water pollution protested in Kunming in Yunnan against a planned petroleum refinery connected to the project.
___
Associated Press writer Yadana Htun in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Myanmar Muslim face uncertain future after attacks
Myanmar Muslim face uncertain future after attacks
By | Associated Press – Wed, May 1, 2013
Buddhist Mobs Set Fire to Myanmar Villages
OKKAN, Myanmar
(AP) — They slept terrified in the fields, watching their homes burn
through the night. And when they returned on Wednesday, nothing was left
but smoldering ash and debris.
One day after hundreds of Buddhists armed with bricks stormed a clutch of Muslim villages in the closest explosion of sectarian violence yet to Myanmar's main city, Yangon,
newly displaced Muslims combed through the wasteland of their wrecked
lives. Unable to go home, they faced an uncertain future — too fearful
of more attacks even to leave.
"We ran into the fields and didn't carry anything with us," Hla Myint, a 47-year-old father of eight, said after the mobs overran his village.
Tears welling in his eyes, he added, "Now, we have nothing left."
Thet Lwin, a deputy commissioner of police
for the region, put the casualty toll from Tuesday's assaults at one
dead and nine injured. He said police have detained 18 attackers who
destroyed 157 homes and shops and at least two mosques in the town of Okkan, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Yangon, and three outlying villages.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Myanmar riots stoke fears of widening sectarian violence
Whole neighborhoods were still smoldering on Friday and agitated Buddhist crowds roamed the streets after three days of turbulence, said Reuters reporters in the city 540 km (336 miles) north of the commercial capital Yangon.
Twenty people, including a Buddhist monk, have been killed and dozens wounded since Wednesday, said Win Htein, a lawmaker for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Two camps now held more than 2,000 people displaced by the fighting, he added.
The unleashing of ethnic hatred, suppressed during 49 years of military rule that ended in March 2011, is challenging the reformist government of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries.
Jailed dissidents have been released, a free election held and censorship lifted in Myanmar's historic democratic transition. But the government has faced mounting criticism over its failure to stop the bloodshed between Buddhists and Muslims.
"I am really sad over what happened here because this is not just happening to one person. It's affecting all of us," said Maung Maung, a Buddhist official in Meikhtila.
Hundreds of Muslims have fled their homes to shelter at a sports stadium, local officials said.
........ See Myanmar riots stoke fears of widening sectarian violence for complete reports
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
32 Myanmar nationals rescued at sea off Sri Lanka, 98 bodies thrown overboard
32 Myanmar nationals rescued at sea off Sri Lanka, 98 bodies thrown overboard
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's navy says it has rescued 32 Myanmar nationals whose wooden vessel began sinking while making a perilous journey to Australia.
A navy statement says the rescue was made about 250 nautical miles off the island's eastern coast on Saturday. Those rescued are being treated for acute dehydration.
The group comprising 31 adult males and a boy had been at sea without food for 21 days when the navy rescued them after being informed by a local fishing boat.
Survivors have told local newspapers that there were 130 passengers at the beginning of the journey and 98 died on the way and their bodies were dumped in the sea.
They said they were planning to go to Australia after their attempt to enter Malaysia failed.
A navy statement says the rescue was made about 250 nautical miles off the island's eastern coast on Saturday. Those rescued are being treated for acute dehydration.
The group comprising 31 adult males and a boy had been at sea without food for 21 days when the navy rescued them after being informed by a local fishing boat.
Survivors have told local newspapers that there were 130 passengers at the beginning of the journey and 98 died on the way and their bodies were dumped in the sea.
They said they were planning to go to Australia after their attempt to enter Malaysia failed.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
2012 Annual Report
Report of Love4Burma 2012
Thanks for supporting the
Love4Burma non-profit organization with your love and prayers.
It is an exciting year for
Burma. President Obama visited Burma marks a new era for Burma-US relationship.
A new political atmosphere had brought a new hope for the long suffering
country Burma. This is also our beloved country where we have longing for its
blessing from God. Especially in this holiday season we celebrate Jesus Christ
our savior who brought the way, the truth and the life for all the people
including Burma. We also thank Him who is the Creator of the Universe, who is
the one can alter the minds of the ruler, who is the one who guide the
direction of the History.
Supports
We continue to support the
Palaung village of Meihan at Lashio, Myanmar. Even though I have no opportunity
to visit there this year, but many people who went to Lashio this year had
brought us most current status from them.
My experience with Meihang
Hope Student Center:
I have visited that
student center twice. It is a program for Palaung kids to attend. The fee
collected is small bag of rice. The student lived in the student center with
Mother Language education. They also attend Burmese regular school as required
by the law to learn Burmese. Most are Pale Palaung. The wife of this center’s
president is a Pale Palaung used to work with Dr. Hermann of Chingmai. This
Center’s president Pastor Chen is from Grace Heaven Orphanage with seminary
training.
During this year I have
heard from Rev. Cha of Burma and Rev. Paul Lee of Partner Internationals about
the new status of this student center. They had received a Micro-loan from
Singapore last year to plant corns in order to support more students. The
project turned out quite successfully. They have good harvest this summer.
(With the current flooding happened in Lashio this winter we have no news yet.)
They have some needs for
us to pray. Their cars are old and out of permits soon due to their law
changes. They will need a car/truck soon. This request is still out of our
capability and also not within our focus. But, it can be in our prayers.
We also received a report in
June, 2012 from Pastor Chen in English. I have posted in the previous web site, but
replace the pictures with the pictures I took on 2008.
Tax-Exempt Status - Federal
This year 9/27/2012 we got IRS 501©(3) Federal Tax Exempt,
exempt date: 4/29/2010
We are pleased to
inform you that upon review of your application for tax
Exempt status. we have
determined that you are exempt from Federal income tax
under section 501(c)
(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to you are
deductible under
section 170 of the Code. You are also qualified to receive
tax deductible
bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106
or 2522 of the Code.
Because this letter could help resolve any questions
regarding your exempt
status, you should keep it in your permanent records.
Organizations exempt
under section 501(c) (3) of the Code are further classified
as either public
charities or private foundations. We determined that you are
a public charity under
the Code section(s) listed in the heading of this
letter.
Employer Identification
Number:
27-2577710
Public Charity Status:
170 (b) (1) (A) (vi) ~.'.
Effective Date of
Exemption:
April 29, 2010
Contribution
Deductibility:
Yes
Addendum Applies:
No
Tax-Exempt Status – California State
We have applied Form 3500
for CA Tax Exempt, it is still in progress. In the mean time since we received
IRS Tax Exempt Determination, therefore, we also applied Form 3500A for quick
qualification.
(Update on 1/19/2013 We have received CA Tax Exempt status thru 3500A effective date: April 29,2010)
Donation
If you are moved by the Spirit and would like to support this non-profit organization, please send the check to:
Love4Burma
18820 Newsom Ave.,
Cupertino, CA. 95014
(A tax-deductable receipt will be provided at the end of Tax Year)
(If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email to love4burma@gmail.com)
Last Words
I don’t know how this tiny
Love4Burma nonprofit charity organization can do. But we pray that God’s
love can be known everywhere and glory to God alone!
May God bless you all!
Wen-Jen Chen
President (Servant) of Love4Burma
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