News
Myanmar garment workers’ rights abuse critical, says report
Myanmar garment workers’ rights have now reached critical levels under criteria set by international labour laws, a director of the Labour Rights Defenders and Promoters Daw Ei Shwe Zin Nyunt said on February 7. Her comments came as ‘The Myanmar Dilemma Report” on the condition ...
Expansion work starts at Myanmar's Thilawa industrial park
An expansion project at Myanmar’s first modern industrial park began Tuesday, as the government concluded negotiations related to resettling residents of the development area. The Thilawa special economic zone, which came about as a public-private effort between Japan and Myanmar, will undergo a roughly 100-hectare ...
Factory owners say fake ‘squatters’ extorting them
The issue of illegal tenants and land compensation remains a major challenge for the Yangon Region government, and, in the absence of solutions, the matter has taken a new turn with factory owners now accusing farmers of trespassing and extortion. U Aye Thaung, chair of the ...
Imagined urban futures of Yangon
As a newcomer to the city earlier this year, I noticed that urban development and planning in Yangon was a topic that often came up in many discussions, be it with colleagues or during other informal encounters. The general sentiments among locals and foreigners were ...
Teachers call for better security after educator’s murder
Teachers around the country demonstrated on January 22 calling for better protection of educators after one of their colleagues was abducted and shot dead in Kachin State’s Hpakant township. Primary school teacher U Aung Zin Tun, who was assigned to Hpakant township’s Nantmaphit village, was reportedly ...
New day dawns for Yangon bus system
Today it begins – Yangon’s brand new experiment in public transport. In a major step toward reducing consumer chaos and hazardous competition among private bus lines, the number of routes has been reduced to only 61, starting on January 16. On January 14, Yangon Region Chief ...
Government holds off on paddy purchases
The Ministry of Commerce is suspending plans for a paddy purchase program due to a recovery in market prices, according to ministry spokesperson U Khin Maung Lwin. U Khin Maung Lwin told The Myanmar Times in the first week of December that the ministry had approval ...
Draft law could see men jailed for deceitful promises of marriage
Any man who cohabitates with or impregnates a woman after agreeing to marry her, but then fails to stand by the promise, could soon face prison terms if a draft law comes into effect. The Prevention of Violence against Women Law includes a clause that ...
Japan's Taiyo Life to open Myanmar software company
Japan’s Taiyo Life Insurance will jointly establish an insurance software company in Myanmar as early as February, partnering with local business in an effort to secure its position here before the market opens to foreign investment. The enterprise will launch with roughly 1.2 billion kyat ...
Further delays to workplace health and safety law expected
Despite being in the works since 2012, there is no end in sight for enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Law, which has not yet reached the floor of the hluttaw for a vote. Since it was drafted, the law has been discussed among ...
