Burma’s Natural Resources Sector Ranked Least Transparent in Global Study

[Zomi for Federalization and Democratization of Bur]

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The Brutal Bamar Buddhist Fascist Mercenary Terrorist Rapist (BBBFMTR)
USDP Military Government have been thieves and robbers, who dared not
walk in daylight, but have been doing their jobs under cover of
darkness. Openness and transparency are words of taboo to them.
Opacity and closedness their bywords.

Those who do evil things do not want to be exposed in the light. They
want to do their evil deeds in darkness.

Do you know how much do the corrupt BBBFMTR generals steal? You just
know that they steal, but you do not know how much they steal, because
most of their deeds are hidden.

They will be revealed someday in the future.

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Burma’s Natural Resources Sector Ranked Least Transparent in Global
Study

By SEAMUS MARTOV / THE IRRAWADDY| Thursday, May 16, 2013 |

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Photo:
8.-Extractive-industries.jpg

A section of pipeline for the Shwe gas project is seen on Kyaukphyu
Island in February 2013. (Photo: Shwe Gas Movement)
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A just-released study examining transparency in the global natural
resources sector has found that Burma holds the worst record for
disclosure and accountability out of 58 nations examined.

The survey, conducted by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), ranked
Burma’s transparency levels lower than Turkmenistan, Equatorial Guinea
and Zimbabwe, all of which are infamous for their blatantly corrupt
extractive sectors.

RWI’s study looked at a list of indicators including the level of
information that governments share with the general public about
natural resource projects, from the amount of revenues raised to the
process by which projects are approved and regulated. Burma
consistently ranked at the very bottom of every criterion measured and
received an overall failing grade in every category.

RWI is a nonprofit policy institute headquartered in the United States
with offices in Africa and Europe. Its aim is to promote “the
effective, transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and
mineral resources for the public good.”

RWI attributed Burma’s poor showing on the annual index to the
government’s consistent refusal to disclose even basic information
about large scale resources projects, and a failure to follow
international standards and guidelines.

According to RWI, in Burma “almost no information is available on the
management of the extractive sector. Myanmar has no freedom of
information law, and environmental and social impact assessments are
not required.”

At present, billions of dollars in revenue are flowing into Burmese
government coffers from the Yadana and Yetagun natural gas pipelines,
which send gas to Thailand. According to the study, however, “It is
unclear which authority receives payments from extractive companies.
It is widely assumed that corruption is rampant in the sector.”

Burma’s government has acknowledged that from 2006 to present it
received more than US$19 billion from the sale of natural gas to
Thailand. How this money was spent and where it ended up remains
shrouded in mystery.

In 2009, the US-based legal rights NGO, EarthRights International
(ERI), accused the Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation
(OCBC) of assisting Gen Than Shwe’s military regime in hiding the
billions of dollars in revenue it received from the lucrative Yadana
pipeline, which continues to be operated by France’s Total, the US
firm Chevron and Thailand’s state-owned oil firm.

While President Thein Sein’s government has embarked on a series of
reforms since coming to power two years ago, the poor showing on the
RWI index supports activists’ claims that corruption remains
widespread in Burma’s lucrative energy sector. At a press conference
in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Thursday, Wong Aung of the
Shwe Gas Movement called the current level of governance and
accountability in Burma’s natural resources sector “completely
unacceptable.”

Wong Aung, whose advocacy organization provided some research for the
RWI report, said his group is very concerned with what the government
will do with the vast revenues it will receive from the Shwe oil and
gas pipeline project, which will send fuel from Burma’s Arakan State
coast to China’s Yunnan province.

The controversial project, led by China’s state-owned China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with partners including South Korea’s
Daewoo and a Burmese state-owned firm, is supposed to be ready soon.
The project, which will cost more $3 billion, has been marked by a
lack of disclosure and transparency from the very beginning, Wong Aung
said.

“The projects are backed by military cronies so when we try to push
for disclosure of revenue information we face a very hard time,” Wong
Aung explained.

The recent lifting of most Western sanctions against Burma over the
past 12 months has created a situation where there is a great deal of
interest from foreign firms seeking to invest in Burma. According to
Wong Aung, however, little has actually changed under President Thein
Sein’s nominally civilian government with regard to the way it handles
accountability issues in the natural resource sector.

“There are still a lot of problems with mining as well as oil and gas
projects in different parts of the country that affect local people
who are losing their livelihoods,” he said.

While Burma’s nominally civilian government has indicated a
willingness to commit itself to the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (EITI)—a voluntary framework that sets minimum standards on
financial disclosure for nations that sign on—doubts remain as to
whether Burma will actually follow through.

Paul Donowitz, campaign director for ERI, a group that has focused on
Burma’s extractive sector for more than 15 years, believes significant
policy changes need to be made by the government before Burma achieves
a level of disclosure consistent with the EITI.

Donowitz wants Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the state-owned
entity that oversees much of Burma’s energy sector, to change the way
it operates in accordance with international standards. “Some of the
things that MOGE could do immediately, for example, would be around
disclosure. They could require in the new contracts, any company that
wants to bid has to agree to disclose payments, contracts,
assessments.”

Whether Burma’s government chooses to implement policies that promote
transparency remains to be seen. Critics point out that such change is
possible. Brazil, a resource-rich nation that was also once run by
generals, has scored very well on recent RWI surveys, largely because
of transparency rules implemented over the last decade.

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2 Responses to Burma’s Natural Resources Sector Ranked Least
Transparent in Global Study
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andamanonge Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 3:46 pm

How can you expect transparency when the greedy and arrogant
Chinese are involved. I have always warned (for many years now) that
China is employing the 2Y strategy (Yuan and Y-chromosomes) to
colonize Burma and the Burmese ruling class (especially the ex-junta
generals and their business cronies like Tay Za) accepts that because
they are getting rich from that. The Chinese use the 2B tactics
(bribery and bullying!).
All this talk about “Rule of Law” and constitutional amendments
about Burmese citizenship etc. don’t apply to the Chinese. You can buy
a Burmese ID (and an Burmese bride even?) for less than 1000 Yuan in
Ruili, and soon there will be a railroad line from Kunming to
Kyaukphru while all those Burmese ultra-nationalists are picking on
the down-trodden Riohingyas. What a country, full of transparent
hypocrisy!
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Reply
Khin Nwe Win. Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 4:00 pm

Lack of transparency and accountability ?

From RWI report ( a non profit policy institute headquartered in
US ) , our beloved Motherland ranked lower than Zimbabwe, Equatorial
Guinea, and Turkmenistan in the government sharing with general public
about natural resources project.

The 19 Billion they got from the sales of natural gas to Thailand
is still unaccounted for.

Now that Myanmar has opened up for business, international
companies are clambering to compete with each other for all kinds of
natural resources project.
Meanwhile the hospitals are bare, government owned hospitals are
filthy, people are poorer except for the cronies.

The organizations lead by the famous Buddhist monks are providing
free health care to the poor and impoverished in the most remote areas
including free cataract surgery and other surgical procedures with the
help of volunteer doctors. I know first hand about this because I am
involved in this health care and educational projects. We need a lot
of help.

If you study the health and education projects in Myanmar, they
are carried out mainly by the famous Buddhist monks. In fact, they
provide treatment in different parts of Myanmar regardless of religion
– MUSLIMS, HINDUS, CATHOLICS, BAPTISTS, ATHEISTS ). I have all events
documented since I am directly involved in these projects. I am
willing to share with anyone if interested. Our organization built a
hospital for cataract surgery in the Catholic compound in upper part
of the country.

So please stop bad mouthing about Buddhist monks without knowing
the full facts of all the good deeds they are doing where the
government has failed to we the people.

I am currently trying to get the mobile health units for these
projects. They will be used as operating theaters for surgical
procedures because the hospitals do not allow us to use their
facilities. Besides, the hospitals in this current state of affairs
are not the ideal place to operate anyway.

Anyone interested in helping can contact me as to how.
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Reply

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