Myanmar Charges Religious Affairs Minister with Misuse of Funds

Predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar’s religious affairs minister Hsan Sint was detained and charged with corruption Thursday as the government appointed new leaders to a religious affairs advisory group, local media reported Thursday.

President Thein Sein announced on state media that Hsan Sint has been sacked over the case, which arose amid tensions following a controversial raid on a monastery in Yangon which triggered warnings of protests by monks.   

Hsan Sint, who was appointed to head the Religious Affairs Ministry in January last year, was accused of misusing ministerial funds at a court in the capital Naypyidaw, according to Myanmar’s 7Day Daily newspaper.

It said that Hsan Sint was summoned to court at 2:00 p.m. and charged with “misappropriation of state money for personal use.” 

“Many cars and security personnel were at the court. [The hearing] lasted about 15 minutes and then [Hsan Sint] left with his convoy,” the report said, in an indication that he had been freed on bail pending trial on an unknown date.

The Eleven newspaper said the charges against Hsan Sint came under Sec. 409/109 of the Misappropriations of State Funds Act.

Misuse of funds

Eleven cited “reliable sources” as saying an investigation had revealed that Hsan Sint used some 10.5 million kyat (U.S. $10,740) in funds earmarked for the ministry to construct a pagoda in his family’s name in Naypyidaw’s Lewe township in October last year.

In constructing the pagoda, he used departmental vehicles, fuel and staff in the amount of 3.3 million kyat (U.S. $3,375)—2.8 million kyat (U.S. $2,860) of which he repaid to the ministry in November, the report said.

The project was completed in December, by which time he had misused another 7.2 million kyat (U.S. $7,360) “and falsified his departmental accounts,” Eleven said, citing a police report.

Eleven also reported that sources close to the minister said he had a falling out with cabinet members over the plan to raid a monastery involved in an ownership dispute with the State Sangha Maha Nayaka, or official Buddhist monastic committee, earlier this month.

It said that Hsan Sint was against the June 10 raid, during which officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, accompanied by around 300 riot police, took control of the disputed Mahasantisukha monastery in Yangon’s Tamwe township, while its popular abbot, Pyinya Wuntha, was visiting Japan.

Fifteen of the monks were released a day after the raid, but five others—including a British citizen—were charged, stripped of their clerical status by senior monks and sent to Yangon’s notorious Insein prison on June 13.

The raid has raised tensions, with some monks threatening to hold large protests if the five are not released.

Eleven said that Hsan Sint, a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), has a “clean record” in his past positions in the military as well as speaker of the Irrawaddy region parliament, which he held before his appointment to the Religious Affairs Ministry last year.

Religious advisory group

The corruption case came as state media on Thursday announced new leaders to a religious affairs advisory group.

Former Minister of Religious Affairs Myint Maung was named to lead the group.

Myint Maung, a brigadier under the former military junta, had retired from his post after facing blame for failing to assist monks injured in a police crackdown on protesters at the Letpadaung copper mine in 2012.

Former ambassador Sein Win Aung, the father-in-law of the president’s daughter, was appointed as the number two in the advisory group.

The government is also facing criticism from human rights groups over draft laws aimed at protecting the country's majority Buddhist identity by regulating religious conversions and marriages between people of different faiths.

The international community has also slammed the government’s treatment of minority Muslim Rohingyas in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where at least 250 people have died and thousands were displaced in several bouts of religious violence since 2012.

One-stop office’ to help migrants at border

Following an exodus of more than 200,000 Cambodian workers from Thailand in the past two weeks, the junta has urged Cambodia to expedite planned border offices that will facilitate legal labour migration.

Responding to that request, Cambodia announced yesterday that the first “one-stop service office” would open at Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet International Checkpoint in July.

The office will assist migrant workers with the large amount of paperwork required by both countries, ideally streamlining the process and enticing workers to go abroad solely through legal channels.

“At first it will be just a trial.… Our purpose will be to help illegal migrant workers become legal workers,” Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training director-general Seng Sakada said at a labour migration workshop in the capital yesterday.

He added that if the Poipet office is successful, additional offices will open in Koh Kong and Pailin.

“The important thing is not to prevent migration but to create a national policy and find appropriate measures to protect labourers,” Sakada said.

Countless Cambodians travel to Thailand every year for seasonal work, usually without the proper legal documents. An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 Cambodians of both legal and undocumented status contribute to Thailand’s unskilled workforce.

The Thai junta staunchly insists that despite trainloads and truckloads of Cambodian workers still fleeing across the border, it has no policy to crack down on its foreign workforce and has since implored workers to return as businesses complain of labour shortages.

Economists and rights monitors yesterday gave a tentative welcome to the border office initiative as an effective solution to the influx of returned, and now unemployed, workers.

“The formal way for workers to work in Thailand should be as cheap and fast as possible,” said Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association, going as far as to suggest that passports should be offered free of charge.

But others still offered a word of caution.

“We would be really concerned about corruption that’s already a problem among immigration and customs officials on both sides,” said Moeun Tola, labour coordinator at the Community Legal Education Center.

At home, options few for migrants

Over the past couple of weeks, as thousands of migrants streamed across the Thai border every day, humanitarian groups and the government responded with aid.

But the assistance won’t have much of an impact on Cambodia’s economy, which is highly vulnerable to the influx.

Despite shortages in some sectors, jobs will not be easy to come by, particularly for those looking for wages they receive in Thailand – the magnet that lured workers over the border in the first place. In addition, total remittances from Cambodians around the world, which in 2012 accounted for $256 million, or 1.8 per cent of GDP, will slow down, depriving families of money for loan repayments, business capital and everyday necessities.

“It is a big burden,” said economist Srey Chanty. “Someone had to be proactive, but now it has to be reactive,” he added, pointing the finger at the government, which he says hasn’t done enough to entice migrants to stay in the country.

A lack of formal training for Cambodian workers and investment incentives for businesses – other than those in the garment sector – to help create attractive job opportunities, mean the prospects for returning workers are limited. And for those jobs that are available, they can’t compete with Thailand’s minimum wage of $10 per day.

There is no fixed minimum wage in Cambodia across all industries. The garment sector has a minimum wage of $100 per month, while according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) a labourer doing elementary work in construction earned $116 per month on average in 2012.

“It is only garments and basic industries that we have. Otherwise, they have to go to farm with their family. But farming is not profitable; it is not very productive,” Chanty said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that more than 200,000 Cambodian migrant workers have crossed back into the Kingdom over the past two weeks, fleeing Thailand amid rumours of heavy-handed tactics by Thai authorities since the May coup.

The majority of the returning, mostly undocumented workers are male and left jobs in construction and agriculture, according to the IOM.

As for options, Cambodia’s garment sector would normally be at the top of the list. The ILO said last year that the industry still had a 17.7 per cent vacancy rate at the same time it was employing more than 600,000 workers.

But that was a year ago, before violent protests for a minimum wage rise in early January cost factories millions and led to the shooting deaths of at least four workers at an industrial park in Phnom Penh.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said Tuesday that following violent protests in late December and January, buyers have been more tentative in placing orders, and factories have been more cautious in hiring.

“Timing is not good to say the least,” Loo said. “In terms of demand for these workers, maybe there is a lot less demand than what there was last year.”

A different set of problems exist in Cambodia’s booming construction industry, where workers are in high demand. Some of the largest construction companies yesterday welcomed the flow of potential workers.

“I think we need at least 1,000 more workers,” said Touch Samnang, project manager and architect for the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, which works on large construction projects on Koh Pich.

“Now we have more projects coming up, not only my company but other companies also require a lot of workers,” Samnang said, citing new Chinese developments in Phnom Penh.

Thierry Loustau, managing director for construction company LBL International, also saw the situation as an opportunity, but he added that the industry alone could not absorb all the workers.

“For us at our construction site, we have about 30 per cent workers less than what is required; we face quite a lot of problems to find some people,” he said.

Still, he pointed out, the wage differences in neighbouring Thailand would make it a difficult balancing act for the labour market.

“I think it will [be] very critical, even if there is more supply I cannot foresee a redistribution of the price increase for the worker,” he said.

Kang Chandararot, president of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, agreed, saying that wage expectations would put pressure on the industries that are the most poised to absorb migrant labourers.

Chandararot said the government, private sector and NGOs would soon need to connect workers to Cambodia’s workforce to prevent a worsening crisis on the home front.

“[There is] little time left due to financial pressures amongst families of returning workers, he said.

The stories have much in common. Like many returning workers, May Mann moved to Thailand to better his financial situation. He took out a loan from an informal lender based on future earnings from his work in Thailand. Now, he can’t make the repayments.

“I do not know what to do to solve the issue,” he said, adding that creditors have already approached him. “I just have empty hands. I beg for understanding from the creditors as I don’t know how to get money to give them.”

Remittances are often used by families to help support agricultural work and in many instances to help pay back loans, according to microfinance institutions (MFIs).

Mam Choeurn, chief operating officer at Angkor Mikroheranhvatho (Kampuchea), one of Cambodia’s major MFIs, told the Post that an initial assessment of the situation had revealed that the ability to repay loans was hampered, but the full extent will not be known until a more detailed study is completed.

“We are worried, but I hope it is not serious,” he said.

The financial burdens and a lack of employment opportunities mean that many who have returned will seek to move on again, according to Ya Navuth, executive director of KARAM, an NGO that assists migrants.

“Many Cambodian people migrate to other countries, especially Thailand, for employment. Now you can see after thousands of Cambodians have been deported by the Thai junta, it creates a big burden for the royal government of Cambodia to create more jobs, for Cambodian people,” he said.

“Migrant workers, they cannot stay long in Cambodia because they do not have jobs, they might remigrate again to other countries, so they might face exploitation and human trafficking again in the country of destination.”

Joe Lowry a spokesperson for the IOM, said the top priority now is dealing with the humanitarian situation on Cambodia’s border. However, he added that damaging economic effects could be avoided if migrants returned to Thailand – but only as documented workers.

“It would be nice to regularise the situation and people can re-enter the country legally to work and not have to pay any fees to brokers and so on, because that’s what really keeps people in poverty,” he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement after a meeting with Thai officials on Tuesday encouraging those with legal migration status to return to Thailand. It adds that Thai officials will look into how they might process registrations for the many undocumented workers who have left.

“They [migrants] have to pay to get jobs because they are coming out as illegal, so if they didn’t have to do that it would be much simpler for them to send money home and that benefits everybody,” Lowry said. “That benefits Thailand, that benefits Cambodia, and migration benefits the ASEAN community at large.”

Thousands of litchi trucks cause congestion on highway

On Wednesday morning, Highway 31 in Bac Giang province became seriously congested when thousands of trucks carrying litchi were headed to Luc Ngan Market.

It is now the peak harvesting season of litchi in this province, the largest litchi area in Vietnam.   The highway at 9am on 18/6.   Litchi trucks on the way to Luc Ngan Market from 6am.   Traffic congestion was several kilometers long.   Litchi was transported by trucks and motorcycles.   Each motorcycle can carry 120 to 150kg of litchi.   The price for litchi is VND8,000 to VND18,000 per kilo ($0.04-0.9).   A roadside litchi seller said the traffic jam had occurred for many days, from 8am to 11am daily.   Several kilometers south of the Luc Ngan market, the congestion was less serious.     The owner of a litchi garden said he had seen a great deal of traffic congestion in this area.

Light pollution a HCM City health hazard

Many people in HCM City complain that they are nervous and screw up their eyes when travelling on Truong Chinh Street from Tham Luong Bridge to the An Suong intersection.— Photo tuoitre

Nguyen Tran Thanh An of District 12 is one of those.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted him as saying: "One day at 11pm I was returning from Cu Chi to the city along with my wife and daughter.

"When I arrived at the street, everything was blindingly bright and I [lost balance and] fell. A bus luckily missed my family by just a few centimetres. After that I heard many people fell like me, but do not know why."

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the HCM City Energy Saving Centre, said the street has many high-capacity streetlights to serve the heavy traffic. But he said designers forgot one important thing: that the lights must not blind drivers.

"Traffic densities are different at 19h and 23h. It means that drivers only need adequate and not blinding light.

"This is light pollution," Tuoc warned.

"And its long-term impact is horrible. It seems there have been no studies into urban light pollution, but it is of a serious magnitude."

Le Thi Hoai Nam, who lives in Nguyen Son Street, Tan Phu District, said that she and her family are victims of light pollution who have been unable to sleep for a long time and her son and daughter are not able to focus on studying.

"At first we thought we were stressed. But when a doctor asked me if I live near signboards or buildings with high-capacity lights I was startled because around our bedrooms are signboards of karaoke parlours, restaurants, hotels.

"My doctor said electromagnetic waves from signboards and lights around my house have made my family insomniac and caused physiological disorders."

Light pollution destroys urban dwellers' health gradually.

"High capacity lights have a strong effect on people's central nervous system," Dr Phuong Loan of Sai Gon General Hospital said.

"It makes people easily angry, and in the long term skin and breast cancers are caused by light pollution.

Lighting design ignored

Pham Thanh Hung, an architect at a Japanese company, said: "Light design should always come first before any construction. However, [people] do not pay attention to this. In developed countries, regulations about lighting are very clear and all Vietnamese architects understand that."

A renowned advertising expert said: "To get permission for one outdoor signboard, a company has to furnish at least 20 documents but none of them about lighting.

"But foreign companies [in Viet Nam] adhere to strict rules about lighting and materials that are appropriate for sight."

Dr Che Dinh Ly, deputy head of HCM City's Natural Resources and Environment Institute, said: "It is time to act and consider light pollution a threat to people's health."

According to Dr Jason Pun, head of Hong Kong University's Light Pollution Study Group, in mega cities, light pollution is often several thousand times above safe levels and it means that in such cities people's health faces a threat.

"Let us restrict and even say no to electric light when it is not necessary," he said.