Nok Air prepares for IPO in 3Q2013 with international expansion, starting with two Myanmar routes

Thailand’s Nok Air plans to pursue fleet and network expansion as it seeks to raise about USD100 million through an initial public offering (IPO). The planned 3Q2013 IPO is one of several milestones for Nok in 2013 as the low-cost carrier resumes international services, initially with flights to Yangon and Mawlamyine in Myanmar. Nok will also take delivery of additional 737-800s, completing in 2013 the phase-out of its 737-400 fleet, which it has been operating since launching services in 2004.

Nok, which is partially owned by Thai Airways, has traditionally been a relatively conservative and low profile carrier. It has not been shy to contract during challenging periods and has never been concerned about establishing an international profile, instead focusing on building a strong local brand in the Thai market. But Nok’s steady profitability and strong position in a growth market should allow for a successful IPO and could eventually lead to significant international expansion.

Mawlamyine represents interesting niche market for Nok

Nok instead sees a potential niche in Mawlamyine, which is Myanmar’s fourth largest city after Yangon, Mandalay and the new capital Naypyidaw. Mawlamyine is the capital of Mon Stat state, which is located southeast of Yangon and near the border with Thailand. Mae Sot is the closest city in Thailand and is only about 100km away by air. But to drive between Mae Sot and Mawlamyine takes several hours as the road is circuitous and rough.

As it is such a short flight, and as Nok is able to use the Saab 340 fleet operated by Siam General Aviation, the risk in entering the Mae Sot-Mawlamyine market is low. Nok already uses Saab 340s to serve Mae Sot from Bangkok and Chang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand. As a result Nok can provide connections to Mawlamyine from both its two largest bases and simply extend an existing Nok Mini Mae Sot flight to include an additional very short sector to Mawlamyine.

The Mawlamyine airport is currently only served by domestic carriers. Technically only three of Myanmar’s airports are open to international services – Mandalay, Yangon and Naypyidaw, where an international airport opened in late 2011 but so far has seen only very limited domestic services due to a lack of demand. Nok has received special clearance from Myanmar authorities to operate the first international flights at Mawlamyine.

 http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/nok-air-prepares-for-ipo-in-3q2013-with-international-expansion-starting-with-two-myanmar-routes-98884

Since Yesterday (15.)Burma army shell heavy artilleries at RCSS/SSA Homong bases

TUESDAY, 19 MARCH 2013 10:11 KP

By KP, unedited

Since yesterday (March 15) Burma Army were shelling heavy artilleries targeting at Loi Naga mountain ranges, where Shan State Army Homong bases are located in southern Shan State, sources from Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) said.

Loi Naga Mountain ranges are located at 7 km from Wan Mai village, north-west of Ban Rath-thai, Mae Hong Son, Thailand and 20 km south-west of Homong in Shan State side. It was reported that Burma Army was firing with 105 mm and 120 mm heavy artilleries, but the SSA did not retaliate, said the Lt-Gen Yawd Serk.

“One reason why we did not respond with retaliation is that the Burma Army’s shelling did not hit the SSA’s bases, and also we are still committed to peace and strictly comply to the truce agreement,” said Lt-Gen Yawd Serk.

“The sound of machine guns’ firings could be heard from Na Mon village in the Thai side,” said the locals.

Similarly, in January the Burma Army attempted to take over the SSA’s bases located in the Loi Naga mountain ranges, which has failed. In that fight 3 attempts were made in a day, which resulted a soldier from Burma army killed. In February, the Burma Army has ordered the two RCSS/SSA bases be withdrawn from Homong areas. Nevertheless, none of the RCSS/SSA bases has been withdrawn so far.

During the February, when the RCSS/SSA leader Lt-Gen Yawd Serk and U Aung Min, the leader of Government Peace Creating committee met in Chiang Mai. “We will not allow such incidents, fighting and attacks on ceasefire agreement armed groups to occur again”, promised U Aung Min.

UWSP/UWSA attends the Shan–Kayah Conference tomorrow

PANGLONG ORG     It is reported that representatives from the United Wa State Party/United Wa State Army (UWSP/UWSA) will attend the Shan–Kayah Trust-building for Peace conference which is due to be held in the coming week at Lashio Motel in Lashio, the second capital of Shan State.

“We have invited armed groups and political parties totaling 25 organizations to attend the Shan–Kayah Conference. So far, we have received most of the representative names from many organizations already; including two representatives from the UWSP/UWSA” said Sai Leik, an organizing team committee and spoke person to the conference.

 

To the coming Shan–Kayah Trust-building for Peace conference on March 20 – 22, Xiao Sankun deputy director of the Exterior Affairs and Ta Yi Paleuk, a son of a famous Wa prince Ja Tae, were selected by the UWSP/UWSA, as representatives for the conference, said a source from the organizing committee.

Meanwhile, Restoration Council of Shan State sources say it will be represented by Sai Kawng and Oon Kherh.

“Political parties, armed groups and civil society organizations and all concerned are invited; not a single to be left out, we have carefully compiled the list. We do hope all will attend the conference,” said Sai Leik.

Maj Zaw Lwin, the deputy secretary 1 of the Kayan New Land Party (KNLP), and a deputy leading organizer of the conference, confirms that among the 25 organizations, includes Kayah political parties, armed groups and 8 civil society organizations.

Myanmar Peace Center urged to disclose finances following Facebook rumour

“I think it is especially important to have transparency in financial matters. The money coming from Norway, the EU and other countries is not for the Myanmar Peace Committee as well as for the government’s peace committee, it is for the country and the people,” Yan Myo Thein said. “A certain body formed by the government or other organisations has to spend that money on behalf of the nation and people. So, it is necessary to keep clear accounts for income and expenses, which need to be made public. Otherwise, there will be confusion,” he said.

The Myanmar Peace Center is facing mounting calls for it to publicly release its financial records, following a rumour that a center director receives an annual salary of US$120,000, but center staff said they have no authority to do so.

“We are mainly responsible for office work,” Kyaw Soe Hlaing, an administrative worker at the peace center told Eleven Media, directing further questions to presidential spokesman Ye Htut. “We have no authority to [release financial information]. We individual staff don’t have the authority as peace processes are arranged by the President’s Office,” he said.

Staff at Ye Htut’s office said they could not reply to questions from Eleven Media because he was accompanying President Thein Sein on a foreign trip.

Calls for financial transparency were sparked by a rumour on social media that a director at the center earns US$120,000 a year.

Although the director flatly denied the Facebook rumour, several leaders of armed ethnic groups as well as political analysts subsequently called on the center to disclose how much funding it receives and how this money is spent.

HOW MUCH MONEY?
EU President José Manuel Barroso announced US$900,000 in initial funding and $38.5million more this year for the Myanmar Peace Center at its opening last November. The center, which was established by an order of the president, also receives funding from Norway.

Myanmar’s peace process is, for the most part, funded by international donors. Two main donor groups, the Peace Donor Support Group and the Myanmar Peace Support Initiative, channel funds from western and international agencies into the peace process. Both are led by the Norwegian government, with the Peace Support Initiative focused on coordinating aid. Japan’s Nippon Foundation also funds the peace process.
The Peace Donor Support Group comprises Australia, Britain, the EU, the United Nations and the World Bank. It pledged $30 million in aid for Myanmar’s peace efforts last June. The Myanmar Peace Support Initiative will reportedly provide more than $70 million.

The Nippon Foundation contributed more than $300 million to refugees in Kachin and Kayin states through the Myanmar Peace Center last year. It also provides funds to the United Nationalities Federal Council, a coalition of ethnic parties and armed ethnic groups.

Council spokesman Colonel Khun Okka said it had signed a cooperation agreement with the Nippon Foundation. The foundation gives money to help “arrange meetings, tours and consultations”, said Khun Okka who is also chairman of the Pao National Liberation Organisation. “The foundation usually holds meetings in Japan. The assistance from Norway and the EU mainly goes to the Myanmar Peace Center. The Nay Pyi Taw government spends no money. Its budget does not describe how much will be spent on the ongoing peace efforts. The government itself admits to that,” he said.

KIA’s Maj-Gen Gwan Maw and MPC members at Ruili talks on March 11

Colonel Khun Oakka said that the Myanmar Peace Center’s quasi-governmental status raised concerns. “The actions of the Myanmar Peace Center are semi-official. Actually, these matters should be dealt with in Parliament. A committee or an investigation body, after it has been formed by the government, must forward any important issue to Parliament in accord with the law. It is better to seek approval of Parliament. But the Myanmar Peace Center was formed with a special order from the president,” he said.

Khun Oakka also said the peace center had lost its neutrality. “In the beginning, it defended its role without showing bias, but now it has swayed to one side. It has become a member of the government’s Union Level Peace Working committee,” he said.

http://elevenmyanmar.com/politics/2846-myanmar-peace-center-urged-to-disclose-finances-following-facebook-rumour

Leaders of prominent activist group 88 Generation Students said they plan to form a political party to work for democratization, peace and reconciliation

RANGOON—Leaders of Burma’s prominent activist group 88 Generation Students said they plan to form a political party to work for democratization, peace and reconciliation in the country. Some in the group however, expressed doubts about joining Burmese party politics.

Although no clear time frame has been set for the plan, the new party is likely to compete in the 2015 national elections.

Min Zay Ya, one of the 88 leaders, said the group would continue to focus on strengthening civil society organizations in Burma, but after 2013 they planned to expand their activities and enter Burmese politics.

“Our group will be working as a political party on one side and as an NGO on the other. We all have agreed on that,” said Min Za Ya. “We certainly have a two-way basic principle, but it is just a preliminary stage at the moment.”

From next year onwards, he said, the popular group would hold meetings to form a political party and decide on a future program for the organization.

Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Pathberiye Gnanaloka Thero, was assaulted by members of Tamil outfits at the Big Temple in Thanjavur

A group of Sri Lankan tourists was attacked by three unidentified persons at Central railway station on Monday. The incident happened when the 16 tourists alighted from Tamil Nadu Express that reached the city from New Delhi.

 

http://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/26826-sri-lankan-tourists-attacked-in-chennai.html

Nobody was injured though two Sri Lankans were targeted. Sources said that the attackers fled after the assault.

“A video footage is available but it may be difficult to trace them because the men were wearing caps,” said a railway police official. (Source: Times of India)

——

SOURCE    ဒုတိယပုိင္း
======
အိႏၵိယႏိုင္ငံ၊ တမီနဒူျပည္နယ္၊ ခ်နိုင္းျမိဳ႕ဘူတာရံုတြင္ ခရီးသြား သီရိလကၤာအဖြဲ႕ေခါင္းေဆာင္ဘုန္းၾကီးတစ္ပါး တနလၤလာေန႔က ျမုိ႕လယ္ရထား ဘူတာတြင္ လူျမင္ကြင္းေနရာမွာ အရုိက္ခံလုိက္ရတဲ႔ ဗြီဒီယုိဖုိင္ အဆက္ ထပ္မံ တမီနဒူေတြက ဝုိင္းဝန္းရုိက္နက္ျခင္း ျဖစ္ပြားခဲ႔သည္။
အိႏၵိယနုိင္ငံနွင္႔ တျခားေသာ ဘာသာျခားနုိင္ငံမ်ားသုိ႔ ပညာေတာ္သင္ ရဟန္းေတာ္မ်ား၊ ဘုရားဖူး ရဟန္းေတာ္မ်ား အေနျဖင္႔ အထူးသတိထား သြားလာသင္႔ပါတယ္။ ျဖစ္နုိင္ရင္ ဗုဒၶဘာသာနုိင္ငံမဟုတ္တဲ႔ နုိင္ငံေတြကုိ မသြားေစခ်င္ပါ။ အရမ္းအႏၱရာယ္ၾကိးမားေနတာပါ။ အဓိကေတာ႔ မူဆလင္နုိင္ငံေတြကုိ လုံးဝလုံးဝ အလည္အပတ္ေသာ္မွ မသြားသင္႔ပါ။

Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Pathberiye Gnanaloka Thero, was assaulted by members of Tamil outfits at the Big Temple in Thanjavur, in Tiruchi, India on Saturday.
He was part of a team of students of the Institute of Archaeology of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), New Delhi, on a study tour.

 

 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will never ever change her attitude, mind-set and stance towards the country and the people until the day she dies

Written by Than Htut Aung  However, I totally do not agree that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is siding too much with the military; I do not agree that she is favouring the government; and I refuse to take the notion that she has changed to take side with some others.

She will never ever change her attitude, mind-set and stance towards the country and the people until the day she dies. We all know and firmly believe it. She is now edging towards 70 years of age, and that she has not much time left to work for the good of the country. If there is no change in the country this time, there never will be. For 25 long years with the military generals, she is thoroughly enveloped with the bitter and harsh experiences, and she understands too well what to do for the country.

 

KHU DAUN

If she is not flexile like this, you would not be able to visit here. We the journalists would not be in this position to write like this. The protesters will not be in the streets. Even the President would not be able to make overseas trips and welcomed by foreign leaders.

She quietly become low-key is not necessarily meant that she had changed or siding with the other side. Someone approaching 70 is showing benevolence and compassion towards the country.

On the other hand, we have a lot of questions to ask Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. With the issue of Rakhine and Bengali affairs and the issue of Kachin conflict, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stays neutral and does not take the rap or blame out of the messy predicament.

However, she involved herself in the Letpadaungtaung copper mine issue and took part in the political problem that is sure to hold responsibility, for that part I do not understand the reason. By all means, I agree more than 80 per cent of the probe report.  The tasks to be implemented for the benefits of the local people are nothing to do with the investigation commission. In the case of smoke bomb containing prosperous under reference or the fire bomb as termed by the protesters, I am of the view that such bomb should not be used to crack down the sit-in protesters. If the premises of the case is to be decided based on “Guilty or not guilty”, then it is obviously “guilty”. In this connection, the local people should not be annoyed or irritated over the report of probe commission.
At this crucial juncture, I am taking the liberty to comment strongly on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for taking the responsibility in the matter that was not necessary. She is not required to meet with the local residents in such hurry, and no need to console the villagers. The best possible advice was already given. Duty and obligation is fulfilled. Negotiation and compromise is to be conducted between the government, the UMEHL and the concerned residents. If something risky situation occurred to the life of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, our nation would have to bear the inconsolable tragedy similar to 1947 when national hero General Aung San was assassinated.

Could NLD win the 2015 general election? Will Daw Aung San Suu Kyi be elected as President? I would say nothing on these topics. If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi lives long and healthy, then our country is quite enough to continue our journey to step ahead.

http://elevenmyanmar.com/opinion/2829-i-will-tell-the-real-truth-11

Burma Myanmar danger without national action land mines program -videos

FTUB အား MITU ျပင္းျပင္းထန္ထန္ရႈံ႕ခ် ေရႊဟသၤာသတင္းဌာန

Phophtaw-News-Association   18.MARCH 2013      ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ အလုပ္သမား သမဂၢမ်ား အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ (FTUB) သည္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ စက္မႈဇံု အလုပ္သမားမ်ား သမဂၢ MITU ၏ အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ သမဂၢ နာမည္မ်ားကို အသံုးျပဳျပီး ၀ါဒျဖန္႔ အကၤ်ီမ်ား ရိုက္ႏွိပ္ျဖန္႔ေ၀သျဖင့္ မေၾကနပ္ေၾကာင္း ယမာန္ေန႔တြင္ သတင္းစာ ရွင္းလင္းပြဲ က်င္းပျပီး ကန္႔ကြက္ လိုက္သည္ဟု MITU အေထြေထြ အတြင္းေရးမွဴး ကိုေအာင္သူက ဆိုပါသည္။

“ ဒီလိုပါဗ်။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ MITU အဖြဲ႔၀င္ျဖစ္တဲ့ ယူနီကာလာ ဗလာ စာအုပ္စက္ရံုႏွင့္ ျမန္မာ့မ႑ိဳင္ ပလပ္စတစ္ေလာင္း စက္ရံု ေတြရဲ့ နာမည္ေတြနဲ႔ FTUB တံဆိပ္ ရိုက္ႏွိပ္ျပီးေတာ့ အက်ီၤမ်ား ျဖန္႔ေဝေနတဲ့ ကိစၥပါ။ ရံပံုေငြ သေဘာေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ ဒါကိုမေၾကနပ္ တာပါ။ သူတို႔နဲ႔ ဘာမွ မပါတ္သက္တဲ့ အဖြဲ႔နာမည္ကို အလြဲသံုးစား လုပ္တဲ့ သေဘာဘဲေလ”ဟု ဆိုပါသည္။

ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ စက္မႈဇံု အလုပ္သမားမ်ား သမဂၢ (MITU) ၏ သတင္းစာ ရွင္းလင္းပြဲကုိ ေတာင္ဒဂံု ဆိပ္ကမ္း ျမိဳ႔နယ္ရွိ မဟာပ႑ိ တရာမေက်ာင္းတိုက္တြင္ ယမာန္ေန႔ ေန႔လည္ (၂) နာရီမွ ညေန (၃း၃၀) အခ်ိန္အထိ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္ပါသည္။

-အဆိုပါ သတင္းစာ ရွင္းလင္းပြဲသို႔ MITU အလုပ္ အမႈေဆာင္မ်ား ၊MITU အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ သမဂၢမ်ား ျဖစ္ၾက ေသာ ေတာင္ဒဂံုျမိဳ႔နယ္ ႏွင့္ ဒဂံုဆိပ္ကမ္း ျမိဳ႔နယ္ရွိ ျမန္မာ့ မ႑ိဳင္ ပလပ္စတစ္ေလာင္း စက္ရံု၊ ယူနီကာလာ ဗလာစာအုပ္ စက္ရံု၊ ျမန္မာဂလိုဂြန္ အထည္ ခ်ဳပ္စက္ရုံ၊ ဒဂံုႏွင့္ ကိုကုိ ဗလာ စာအုပ္ စက္ရံု၊G.T.P ကြန္ဂရစ္တိုင္ စက္ရံု၊TEFFEL ပီနံအိတ္ စက္ရံု၊Asia World ပီနံအိတ္စက္ ရံု၊Asia World စကၠဴ စက္ရံုမ်ားရွိ အေျခခံ အလုပ္သမား သမဂၢ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားႏွင့္ ေလ့လာသူ အျဖစ္ နီလာစတား စကၠဴစက္ ရံုအေျခခံ အလုပ္သမား သမဂၢ ဥကၠဌ ကိုေက်ာ္မ်ိဳး၊ ေတာင္ဒဂံု ဆိပ္ကမ္းျမိဳ႔နယ္ NLD ပါတီမွ တာဝန္ရွိသူမ်ား တက္ေရာက္ ခဲ့ၾကသည္။

ဤကိစၥFTUB မွ ရပ္တန္းက မရပ္ပါက MITU အဖြဲ႔၀င္မ်ား ပူးေပါင္းျပီး တရားစြဲဆိုရမည့္ အေျခအေနသို႔ ေရာက္ရွိႏိုင္သည္ဟု ဆိုပါသည္။ ကာယကံရွင္ ယူနီကာလာ စက္ရံုနဲ႔ ျမန္မာ့ မ႑ိဳင္ စက္ရံုမ်ားကလည္း ၄င္းတို႔အား အေၾကာင္းၾကား ခဲ့ျခင္း မရွိ ျခင္း အေပၚ ကန္႔ကြက္ခဲ့သည္ဟု ဆိုပါသည္။

Committee for implementing Latpadaungtaung copper mine report meets farmers in project area