Saturday, July 26, 2008

No time for Drama!

Dear Mia

it is no time for drama

we are not hollywood

we need food and goods

the kids need to be fed

sent to schools

health checked

fathers need to be in the fields

working with monsoon rain

mothers need maternal care

hospitals need medicine

workers need factories

entrepreneurs need capital

we have full human rights

with our Buddhism

we always own our own soul and mind

not lost to any capitalist mechanism

come and see yourself

how free we are 

come among us feel the warmth of religion

our very own culture

Un spoilt! Yet!

Help Myanmar!

‘700,000 Myanmar children need long-term aid’

GENEVA: Around 700,000 children are in need of long-term aid in Myanmar due to the devastating effects of May’s Cyclone Nargis, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Friday.

“While we have observed a gradual improvement in the situation for children, and have avoided the emergence of major epidemics, we must maintain our efforts,” added UNICEF’s Myanmar representative Ramesh Shrestha in a statement. The agency has launched an appeal for just over 90 million dollars it needs for operations through to April 2009. To date, it has raised less than half of that sum. The United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have estimated that it will cost about one billion dollars in total to rebuild Myanmar after the cyclone left more than 138,000 people dead or missing and over two million survivors in need of aid. afp

Friday, July 25, 2008

Foreign Exchange Certificates

The official exchange rate is 6 Kyats per dollar so you are lucky to have in FEC.

They said they followed Chinese style in FEC.

Foreign exchange certificate is lower than USD.

But it can also be higher than USD if the trade ministry gives out import permits.

The exchange prices fluctuate every hour in the market so it is difficult to audit company accounts.

The government used to take 10% on remittances so people prefer to use outside services mainly from Singapore.

All foreign firms change their dollars in black market.

The hotels are discriminatory to foreign visitors insisting that they pay in USD rate.

They all prefer 100$ notes if you change in the black market.

Any green back has to be new to have a good exchange rate.

All businesses are done in cash basis and people carry notes in big bags.

When and How will they be clean , fair and transparent?

in Politics and In Exchange rate? 

Myanmar desperately needs Major Reforms!

If they want foreign investments and if they want to be a part of ASEAN.

Hope they know what reforms mean!

Hope they will get assistance and Help needed.