#MYANMAR #ELECTION #monitoring #ballots #unsealed #missing #SNLD #MON

Ballot boxes kept at administrator’s house: NLD

Aye Mya Mya Myo, the National League for Democracy’s Lower House candidate for Kyauktan, Yangon Region, has complained to the township election sub-commission claiming the ward administrator was keeping advance ballot boxes at his home.

Ohn Myint, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidate, was minister for livestock, fisheries and rural development.

“I do not know how they keep advance ballot boxes in other villages. I saw boxes of advance ballots kept at a makeshift office in front of the house of the ward administrator of Shwepyitha on November 3. I saw six polling stations in another village of Shwe Pauk and only four of which were working. I did not see the correct number of ballot boxes. When we told them, they sealed the ballot box. Another box had to be brought from the house of the administrator and then it was sealed. The boxes loaded with advance ballots should not be kept at his house. I informed the chairman of the township sub-commission. He said they were waiting for the special police to arrive on November 6 and 7 and so the boxes had to be kept at the administrator’s house. I objected for security reasons,” Aye Mya Mya Myo said.

She said the administrator’s house was in no.4 ward in Tada, adding that she would ask where other administrators were keeping their boxes.

The NLD candidate has campaigned in 57 village tracts and 80 branch villages in Kyauktan Township.

Other candidates are Soe Kyi from the Union of National Politics Federation, Soe Hlaing of the Farmers Development Party and Zin Aung of New Society Democratic Party.
There are more than 126,000 voters in the township.

########

SNLD missing from advance ballots, voters claim

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), often known as the Tiger Head party, says advance ballots did not show its logo in Mongpan Township, southern Shan State.

“The election commission is solely responsible,” said Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary of SNLD.

A SNLD candidate Sai Tun Hla said some ballot papers excluded another SNLD candidate Sai Tun Aung and the party logo during advance voting in Mongpan on November 5.

Sai Tun Hla said: “While we were monitoring in constituency no.2 in Mongpan, an advance voter called Sai Aw said he found his ballot paper didn’t include the SNLD candidate Sai Tun Aung and only had three parties. We’ve reported it to the township commission. We have never heard of such a case. Our supporters are honest and afraid of wrongdoing so they bring nothing into polling stations to obey election rules. So we have no photo record of it.”

He also said the party had already assigned monitors to the 33 polling stations in Mongpan.

The Shan National Democratic Party, also known as the White Tiger party, the NLD and the USDP will also compete in the township.

##############

We are very much concern about the voting tactics for advance ballots. Now, many have questioned the states’ abilities to protect voter privacy and secrecy as well as the errors in voting lists. In Mandalay, Pyikyitangon Township, the actual voters are around 200 only yet there are 7000 voters in the list. Another big issue is the advance voters are requested not to seal the envelopes, and yet asked them to vote right in front of the officials. The public servants are scared to vote for National League For Democracy (NLD) and those who voted for National League For Democracy (NLD), they were asked to stamp two times in order to become a wasted votes. UEC (Union Election Commission) should look into this rising concerns about advance voting tactics. UEC should encourage the officials in respective townships to abide the voting rights and voter privacy as well as to avoid the threats of force to influence the voting. Voter privacy and secrecy of ballots are the important part of the election process and we would like to urge the UEC to take urgent actions to handle these rising issues immediately. ############## Advance ballots unsealed in Mon State Some advance ballot papers were brought in open envelopes to the election commission in Mudon Township, Mon State, said Zaw Win, the in-charge of voter lists at the National League for Democracy’s branch there. “Three ballot papers from the detainees at the Kyaikmaraw police station, and 21 from the midwifery training class at Mawlamyine were brought to the election commission unsealed on November 4. Since this is infringing the voting rights of a citizen, we object to those votes,” said Zaw Win. Myint Thoung, the chair of the Mudon election sub-commission, said: “The envelopes of the ballot papers from the midwifery class were not closed individually but had been sealed together in a package.” He added that the advance ballots from 147 foreign voters and those from 600 family members of the servicemen have been received. “We get those from wards and village tracts daily. We’ve instructed the concerned officials to take care of the security measures.” Mudon Township is home to 165,376 eligible voters and 102 polling booths. 12196285_632706606872025_7501241675726903162_n

eleven media Photo-Bo Bo Myint

UEC blames parties for voter list blunders

🙂

Political parties have been blamed by the Union Election Commission (UEC) for the erroneous voter lists for apparently failing to offer constructive help to correct mistakes.

An announcement said political parties did not cooperate enough to correct inaccuracies in the voter lists, adding that all they had done was criticise the commission.

It also said advance voter lists were announced four times nationwide and the parties did not persuade enough voters to correct the lists.

It said: “Although the nationwide voter lists were on public display from September 7 to 14, some of the errors could not be corrected as few voters came to check the lists because of a major party’s criticism.” This was seen as an apparent reference to the National League for Democracy.

The commission said repeated names in the lists caused the duplication of voter ID cards. Continue reading “#MYANMAR #ELECTION #monitoring #ballots #unsealed #missing #SNLD #MON”

!!! #MNHRC #ကိုအောင်နိုင်(ခ) #ကိုအောင်ကျော်နိုင်(ခ) #ကိုပါကြီး #သေဆုံးမှုနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်၏ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးမှုထုတ်ပြန်ချက

1796414_748959795182621_3856343493957415283_n10425381_10205107284180568_8743526368104146336_n

​၂ ဒီဇင်ဘာ ​၂​၀​၁​၄
၁။ ၂၄-၁၀-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကာကွယ်ရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာနက KKO (Klohhtoobor Karen Organization)မှ ဗိုလ်ကြီးအဆင့်ရှိ ပြန်ကြားရေးတာဝန်ခံ ကိုအောင်နိုင်ဆိုသူ သေဆုံးကြောင်း ၂၅-၁၀-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့ထုတ် နိုင်ငံပိုင်သတင်းစာများတွင် သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ ၎င်းကိစ္စနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်း၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသား လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကော်မရှင်သည် ၂၈-၁၀-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် မင်းသီဟန်(Education Digest)၏ “နိုင်ငံသားဂျာနယ်လစ်ကိုပါကြီး သေဆုံးမှုအပေါ် အဖြစ်မှန် အတိုင်း စုံစမ်းဖော်ထုတ်ပေးပါရန်” တိုင်တန်းချက် ကိုလည်းကောင်း၊ ရက်စွဲမပါ မသန္တာ၏ လိပ်စာ (၁၇)ခုသို့ “ဥပဒေမဲ့ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးချုပ်နှောင်ထားခြင်း” တိုင်တန်းချက်ကို လည်းကောင်း၊ ၃၁-၁၀-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် မသန္တာ၏ “ကိုအောင်ကျော်နိုင်(ခ) ကိုပါကြီး မတရား ဖမ်းဆီးညှင်းဆဲ သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရမှုအတွက် မိသားစုမှ တိုင်ကြားတင်ပြခြင်း” တိုင်တန်းချက်ကိုလည်းကောင်း လက်ခံရရှိ ခဲ့ပါသည်။

စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့ ဖွဲ့စည်းခြင်းနှင့်ဆောင်ရွက်ချက်များ

၂။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကော်မရှင်သည် ကိုအောင်နိုင်(ခ) ကိုအောင်ကျော်နိုင် (ခ) ကိုပါကြီး သေဆုံးမှုတွင် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ရှိ/မရှိ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရန်အတွက် စုံစမ်း စစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့ကို အောက်ပါအတိုင်းဖွဲ့စည်းခဲ့ပါသည်-

(က) ဦးစစ်မြိုင်

ဒုတိယဥက္ကဋ္ဌ

မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကော်မရှင်

(ခ) ဦးဇော်ဝင်း

အဖွဲ့ဝင်

မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကော်မရှင်

(ဂ) ဒေါက်တာဉာဏ်ဇော်

အဖွဲ့ဝင်

မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကော်မရှင်

၃။ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့သည် ၁-၁၁-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့မှ ၈-၁၁-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့အထိ မော်လမြိုင် မြို့နှင့်ကျိုက်မရောမြို့များသို့ ပထမအကြိမ်သွားရောက်၍ တပ်မတော်သားများ၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ရဲတပ်ဖွဲ့ ဝင်များနှင့် အခြားသော သက်သေများကို တွေ့ဆုံစစ်ဆေးခဲ့ပါသည်။

၄။ ၅-၁၁-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့ နံနက် ၈ နာရီအချိန်တွင် စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့သည် တပ်မတော် စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးခုံရုံးဥက္ကဋ္ဌနှင့်အဖွဲ့ဝင်များ၊ အမှတ်(၂၂)ခြေမြန်တပ်မဌာနချုပ်မှ နည်းဗျူဟာမှူး၊ တပ်ရင်းမှူးများနှင့် တပ်မတော်အရာရှိများ၊ မွန်ပြည်နယ်ရဲတပ်ဖွဲ့မှ ဒုပြည်နယ်ရဲတပ်ဖွဲ့မှူးနှင့် ရဲအရာရှိများ၊ ဥပဒေနှင့် ဆေးပညာဌာန၊ အမှတ်(၂) ဆေးတက္ကသိုလ်၊ ရန်ကုန်မြို့မှ ပါမောက္ခ (ဌာနမှူး)နှင့် မှုခင်းဆရာဝန်ကြီးများ၊ ကျိုက်မရောမြို့နယ် တရားသူကြီး၊ သက်သေအဖြစ် ကျေးရွာ လူကြီးများ၊ ဒေါ်သန္တာနှင့်အဖွဲ့ဝင်များ၊ အလောင်းတူးဖော်ကြမည့်သူများနှင့်အတူ ကိုအောင်နိုင်(ခ) ကိုအောင်ကျော်နိုင်(ခ) ကိုပါကြီးဆိုသူ၏ အလောင်းတူးဖော်မှုကို ကြည့်ရှုလေ့လာရန် ကျိုက်မရောမြို့နယ်၊ ရွှေဝါချောင်ကျေးရွာသို့ သွားရောက်ခဲ့ကြပါသည်။ နေ့လည် ၁:၄၅ နာရီအချိန်တွင် အလောင်းတူးဖော်မှုပြီးစီးခဲ့ပြီး အလောင်းကို မော်လမြိုင်မြို့၊ ပြည်သူ့ဆေးရုံ ရင်ခွဲတိုက်သို့ သယ်ဆောင်၍ ဆေးကြောခြင်း၊ ဓါတ်မှန်ရိုက်ခြင်း၊ ဒဏ်ရာဒဏ်ချက်ရှာဖွေခြင်း၊ ရင်ခွဲစစ်ဆေးခြင်း များကို ကြည့်ရှုလေ့လာခဲ့ပါသည်။

၅။ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့သည် ၁၃-၁၁-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့မှ ၁၆-၁၁-၂၀၁၄ ရက်နေ့အထိ မော်လမြိုင်မြို့သို့ ဒုတိယအကြိမ်သွားရောက်၍ တပ်မတော်သားများ၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ရဲတပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်များ နှင့် အခြားသက်သေများကို ထပ်မံတွေ့ဆုံစစ်ဆေးခဲ့ပါသည်။

၆။ တွေ့ဆုံစစ်ဆေးခဲ့သောသက်သေများမှာ-

(က) မွန်ပြည်နယ်အစိုးရအဖွဲ့မှ ဝန်ကြီး (၁) ဦး Continue reading “!!! #MNHRC #ကိုအောင်နိုင်(ခ) #ကိုအောင်ကျော်နိုင်(ခ) #ကိုပါကြီး #သေဆုံးမှုနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်၏ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးမှုထုတ်ပြန်ချက”

#MYANMAR #BURMA #Killed #Journalist #Par #Gyi’s #body #exhumed

The body of freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing also called Par Gyi, was brought from Mon State to Yangon and laid to rest in a tomb at Yay Way cemetery on Friday.
His body was conveyed to Yangon after being exhumed from a shallow grave in a field in Kyaikmaraw Township in Mon State on November 5. More than 500 people, including Buddhist monks and members of political and social organisations, attended the funeral of the slain reporter.
Along the route from Mawlamyine Hospital to the Yangon city, Par Gyi’s body was flanked by members from township branches of the opposition National League for Democracy and social organisations and political activists for the safety and convenience of the body conveying.
“In Mawlamyine, eight monks tried to stop us carrying the dead body as they thought it was unholiness for the town. When we were about to leave Bago, three monks tried to stop us,” said Naw Ohn Hla from Democracy and Peace Myanmar Women Network, who joined the procession.
“How we will continue to react to the murder of Ko Par Gyi, we are still discussing. His wife Ma Than Dar is poor health.”
The funeral was also attended NLD’s patron Tin Oo and members, local and foreign correspondents. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, political parties and civic organisations sent wreaths.

KO PAR GYI RIP

Killed Journalist Par Gyi’s body was exhumed  in a field in Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State on Wednesday with evidence immediately pointing to torture.

According to eye-witness Nay Myo Zin, the corpse showed signs of a broken jaw, a caved-in skull and swelling on the torso indicating broken ribs.

“It is completely clear that Ko Par Gyi was tortured,” he said. photo cr. Ko Nay Myo Zin

 

https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/update-611-videos-nay-myo-zin-ေ%E1%82%90%E1%80%BD%E1%80%BC၀%E1%80%ABေခ%E1%80%BAာင္သို%E1%82%95စ/

1010146_826320044072797_8678586456105229031_n10405376_826319967406138_7040001110920775276_n1508558_826523990719069_994781181702003929_n64266_945423488820327_9031140418791889282_n13259_10205102953992316_8314972502214702023_n

 

PHOTO CR. Aung San Thway T

 

1891468_577072192425830_7929925054567961331_o10515279_577071249092591_7403738677647862280_o-110697337_577071582425891_6155772657225333948_o-1

#MA #THANDAR #SEEKING #JUSTICE FOR #KO #PAR #GYI AT #MON STATE

Than Dar, said police had told her to go on Wednesday 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.

MA THANDAR MA NILAR, MA MEE MEE, KO NAY MYO ZIN

10698538_825969234107878_5624207068152850658_n

10661890_10205098823849065_8180831157652484041_o10680078_10205098829369203_4865080301426903861_o10712410_10205098832969293_4870572340591378835_o

13013_825969380774530_6631939226113706044_n

!! #update #6/11 #BURMA #MYANMAR #MISSED #Reporter #Ko #Par #Gyi #SHOT #during #interrogation

6/11/2014

Five bullet wounds were uncovered on the exhumed body of Par Gyi, according to a doctor involved in his autopsy, speaking to Naw Ohn Hla, the head of the Democracy and Peace Women Network and a colleague of Ma Thandar, Par Gyi’s widow.

“The doctor said one bullet passed through the chin to the head; two were shot through his back and exited through the chest; one was in his thigh; and one in his ankle,” she told DVB on Thursday. “He told us that the gunshot through the back had broken Par Gyi’s ribs.”

No official forensic report has yet been issued.

5/11/2014

Killed Journalist Par Gyi’s body was exhumed in a field in Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State on Wednesday with evidence immediately pointing to torture.

According to eye-witness Nay Myo Zin, the corpse showed signs of a broken jaw, a caved-in skull and swelling on the torso indicating broken ribs.

“It is completely clear that Ko Par Gyi was tortured,” he said. About 100 people comprising Par Gyi’s wife Ma Thandar, political activists, lawyers, members from Mon political parties, forensic doctor, head of district police force,judge, army column, police members and officials from the Human rights Commission were present at the exhumation.
Forensic doctors Yan Naing Soe and Khin Maung Oo, Township judge U Than Aung, witnesses village administrators U Than Swe and U Thein Aung and captain Lu Zaw from No.210 Light Infantry Battalion – pointed out the place where the corpse was buried. it is found that Par Gyi’s body was not cremated as the army’s report said.
They started exhuming the corpse at 11 a.m. and found it at 1 p.m. The corpse was taken to Mawlamyine Hospital at 5 p.m. photo cr. Ko Nay Myo Zin

 

1508558_826523990719069_994781181702003929_n

10435122_826320024072799_871863566416815120_n10405376_826319967406138_7040001110920775276_n1508193_826360397402095_5967205709963643617_n13259_10205102953992316_8314972502214702023_n

 

Than Dar, said police had told her to go on Wednesday 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.

MA THANDAR MA NILAR, MA MEE MEE, KO NAY MYO ZIN

10661890_10205098823849065_8180831157652484041_o10680078_10205098829369203_4865080301426903861_o10698538_825969234107878_5624207068152850658_n

MA THANDAR, The wife of slain local journalist Aung Kyaw Naing said on Monday that police in Mon State’s Kyaikmayaw town have accepted her complaint and agreed to open an investigation into her husband’s killing by the Burma Army.

“We only could open one complaint for a criminal charge at the moment, which is a murder case. They only let us file one first. But we will add three more crimes soon, which are arbitrary arrest, torture and hiding [evidence] the dead body,”
MPC 10676213_10152524071586374_8257713927300441374_n
10348380_10203737974148339_8291312425085095053_n10404303_539179719547711_8406481883571680034_n
” Ko Par Gyi Memorial Fund ” , send your donation directly to Ma Thandar vis Western Union et al, crowdfunding to Ma Thandar, 12/ Ah Sa Na (Naing), 157082, No. (1) Saya Saung Street, Saw East Quarter, Ahlone Township, Yangon, Myanmar.

24/10/2014 Freelance reporter Ko Par Gyi died during interrogation at a military command. He was arrested by soldiers while he was covering armed conflicts in Mon State, southeastern Burma. The government army said he was shot as he attempted to flee.
There must be independent investigation on the case and the Myanmar Press Council must question to the government counterparts. Continue reading “!! #update #6/11 #BURMA #MYANMAR #MISSED #Reporter #Ko #Par #Gyi #SHOT #during #interrogation”

#BURMA #Mon #Women #Establish the #Women’s #Party

1891039_591613464263031_1932869316_n-1

Mon women have established the Women’s Party on October 8, 2014, according to party founder,Mi Than Shin (aka) Mi Layaing Mon.
“The major objectives [of the party] are to increase the involvement of women in the political sector, and to [promote] better positions [for women] because, if we did not [establish] this party, we [women] would not be included in [leadership] positions, but only permitted [involvement in certain] areas,” said Mi Than Shin.

Ma Than Shin continued that by establishing the party, women no longer have to worry as to the level they are able to participate in the political sector, rather they can enjoy full participation in Burma’s politics.

“We have prepared to submit [our party] for registration soon. Whether the registration is already submitted or not, the fact that we could form the party is important,” said Mi Than Shin.

The recently-established Women’s Party does not solely represent Mon State, but represents [women] throughout the nation, with plans to expand its work to other ethnic areas nationwide.

The Women’s Party has a a fifteen-member central committee and a nine-member executive committee; with Mi Than Shin elected as party chairwoman, Mi Ni Ni as vice-chairwoman, Mi Seik Ka-mar Chan as secretary, and Mi Thazin Mon as joint secretary.

“For women, they should have found[ed] a party,” said Nai Aung Ba (aka) Nai Ouksar, of All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) executive committee member.

Nai Aung Ba notes that he is not yet able to comment on the Women’s Party because they have not released the party’s objectives and constitution, and he will reserve comment until after they have announced this information.

“We have not heard that the Women’s Party has been founded yet,” said Dr. Min Kyi Win, Joint-Secretary of the Mon National Party (MNP).

Political parties that are currently active in Mon State include the MNP, the AMDP, the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUP).http://monnews.org/2014/10/15/mon-women-establish-womens-party/

MYANMAR BURMA : Mobile phones, cameras banned in Kyaiktiyo Pagoda

EMG

The precinct of Kyaiktiyo Pagoda seen on December 6, 2013 (Photo – Win Myint Kyaw/EMG)
The precinct of Kyaiktiyo Pagoda seen on December 6, 2013 (Photo – Win Myint Kyaw/EMG)

The authorities have recently enforced a ban on mobile phones and cameras inside the precinct of Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, in Mon State for security reasons, according to Thaton District Police Force.

The security officials have installed a metal detector outside the footbridge leading to the precinct, which women are forbidden to enter as they are not allowed to touch the pagoda’s golden boulder.

“We have tightened the security during this year’s Kyaiktiyo Pagoda Festival and are doing inspections,” said Police Lt-Col Aung Than from Thaton District Police Force.

Security officials said thousands of pilgrims have flocked to Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, which is perched on the edge of a cliff and is believed to be enshrined with Buddha’s hair relic.

“The pilgrims need to protect their valuable items. So far, there haven’t been any cases of pick pocketing. The police force is monitoring to prevent this,” he added.

Siam Cement Group (SCG),Providing assistance for high school students in Burma, but “broken promises” made to Mon villagers .

November 7, 2013

HURFOM: Thailand’s largest industrial conglomerate, Siam Cement Group (SCG), is reportedly collaborating with Pacific Link Cement Industries Ltd. to construct a 12.4 billion baht cement plant in Kyaikmayaw Township, southeast of the Mon State capital. But residents of Pyar Taung village, located on the eastern bank of the Attaran River that bisects Kyaikmayaw, have alleged that the fledgling project has been accompanied by rampant unjust land acquisition and numerous “broken promises” made to villagers by the companies.

https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/myanmar-burma-broken-promises-at-pyar-taung-cement-project/

pyar-taung3-212x300

 

EMG YANGON—Siam Cement Group (SCG), one of Thailand’s leading business conglomerates, has provided educational assistance for 200 high school students in Yangon Region and Mon State, company sources say.

One hundred students from the Yangon townships of Hlaing Tharyar, Shwe Pyi Thar, North Dagon, South Dagon, Mingalardone, Hmawbi, Khun Chan Kone, Tun Tay, Seit Gyi Kanaung To and Kawmhu received scholarships at a ceremony held at the International Business Centre (IBC) in Yangon yesterday. The awards are presented to students who have shown gratitude towards their families, proactively contributed to their communities and have good academic records.

A further 100 students from Mawlamyaing, Kyike Mayaw, Mudone, Paung and Chaung Sone townships in Mon state were also honoured. They will receive their scholarships at an award ceremony to be held at the Strand Mawlamyaing Hotel on Sunday (December 1).

Each student receives funding of up to Ks 200,000 (approximately US$ 206), which helps cover school fees, as well as supplies, for an academic year. Providing the assistance is part of SCG’s “Sharing the Dream” programme, which has been presented in Myanmar for the second consecutive year.

“Education is essential to ensuring that children will grow up to form a new generation of ASEAN citizens who are ethical and knowledgeable. I believe that they (young scholars who received the grants) deserve a bright future and hope that they will pursue higher education and use their talents to support their families and communities,” said Chana Poomee, country director of SCG Myanmar.

“I would like to thank SCG for their commendable corporate social responsibility programme, which not only benefits Myanmar students, but also demonstrates the goodwill of the Thai private sector and the Thai people to our Myanmar friends,” Pisanu Suvanajata, Thailand’s Ambassador to Myanmar, said at the awards ceremony.

“I also want to commend its strong determination to serve society and contribute towards sustainable and human resources development, leading the way towards [Myanmar’s membership in] the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.”

This year, the firm expanded the programme in Myanmar to offer 200 scholarships, an increase from the 99 students from Yangon, Mawlamyaing and Kyike Mayaw who were awarded scholarships last year. In October, applications were invited from high school students in Yangon Region and Mon State who are studying in Grade 10 or Grade 11.

“SCG also awarded seven students who received scholarships in 2012 and went on to do well in the following academic year with additional grants in recognition of their academic achievements,” said a senior official from SCG.

The programme has granted scholarships to more than 5,000 students in ASEAN countries, including Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Laos. The company aims to pursue this program on an annual basis and will develop other programmes that create a better quality of life for Myanmar people.

With more than 200 companies under its umbrella and approximately 47,000 employees, SCG, comprises three core businesses: SCG Cement-Building Materials, SCG Chemicals, and SCG Paper. SCG Trading offers a wide range of services, including distribution and logistics management for building materials and cement products across Myanmar.

SCG recently announced plans to invest 12.4 billion baht (Ks 378.89 billion) to build its first integrated green field cement plant in Myanmar. To be located in Mawlamyaing, the plant is expected to start operating in mid-2016.