Chiang Mai Latest Hub For Bangkok Air

Via: AviationPros.com

Bangkok Airways will turn Chiang Mai into its third airport hub and use it as a stepping stone to boost its coverage of Myanmar.

The privately owned carrier is set to launch three routes from the northern capital to link with Yangon and Mandalay in Myanmar as well as the northeastern city of Udon Thani (short trip to the ‘Friendship Bridge’ – Vientiane, Laos)  in late October, according to insiders.

Services to Yangon and Mandalay will strengthen the airline’s footprint in Myanmar, tapping fast-growing traffic demand.

Bangkok Airways is already the largest provider of flights from Thailand to Myanmar, operating three routes from Bangkok to Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw with a combined 40 flights a week.

http://www.aviationpros.com/article/11457995/aviationproscom-gets-responsive-design

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I predict:

1. Bangkok Airways will expand the Chiang Mai hub to include China.

2. Air Asia will follow suit and make Chiang Mai a hub, but will include: Myanmar, China Nepal, and India.

soon

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New Study Finds Thailand and Myanmar’s Religious Violence Rising

Via: City News – Chiang Mai

CityNews – A new research study led by the Pew Research Centre has found countries like Thailand and Myanmar to be rising on the list of religiously hostile countries. Around three quarters of the world’s population resides in countries where religion is highly restricted, with the Pew report finding that hostility towards religion worldwide has reached a six-year high.

The research found six countries that were similarly scored for religious hostilities in 2011 – Thailand, Myanmar, Syria, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – had all increased greatly by 2012. Of the 198 countries named as having a low, moderate, high, or very high level of social hostilities involving religion, Thailand now sits alongside countries like Egypt and Sudan in the “very high” bracket.

Religious violence in Thailand is mostly carried out in the Southern provinces of Thailand, which have been experiencingan ethnic separatist insurgency for over a decade. More than 5,300 people have lost their lives in the region since the insurgency began.

Although the Thai Constitution allows its citizens the right to freedom of speech, there are laws prohibiting insulting speech against Buddhism (the one religion significantly supported by the government). The 1962 Sangha Act specifically forbids the perceived defamation of Buddhism and the Buddhist clergy, of which offenders could face jail time or fines of up to 20,000 baht ($606 USD).

The government of Thailand does not register new religious groups outside of the five existing religious governing bodies and their denominations it already recognizes, which are: Buddhism, Islam, Hinudism, Judaism, and Christianity.

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=3173

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Thailand handling refugees over to human traffickers

Via: Daily Mail

As thousands of Rohingya flee Myanmar to escape religious persecution, an investigation in three countries has uncovered a clandestine policy to remove Rohingya refugees from Thailand’s immigration detention centers and deliver them to human traffickers waiting at sea.

The Rohingya are then transported across southern Thailand and held hostage in a series of camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until relatives pay thousands of dollars to release them.

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Read more, HERE:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518801/Thailand-handing-refugees-human-traffickers.html#ixzz2mjXHnwnu

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(2 of 2) Burma – ‘Killing in the Name of Buddhism’

It was not so long ago that Burmese monks dressed in saffron robes organised brave protests and peaceful processions against the brutal military junta led by General Than Shwe. It was dubbed the Saffron Revolution.
In 2007, the monks’ Gandhian non-violent resistance was watched with awe, and commanded the respect of millions around the globe.

But these images etched in our collective memory are hard to square with an ugly new reality: Buddhist gangs setting Muslims communities ablaze; acts of collective arson and racist brutality, with some monks playing a vanguard role in instigating this anti-Muslim campaign.

How can the same religion known throughout the world for its commitment to peace, meditation, and reflection engage in hate-filled sermons against the Muslim minority? What has happened to the world religion that is above all other world religions, devoted to peace and non-violence? Has the year of the heroic monks of 2007 metamorphosed into some devilish distortion of Theravada Buddhism, forsaking tolerance and respect for all humanity, into a crassly xenophobic new creed that endorses killing Muslims in the name of Buddhism?

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Most of the media coverage, Burmese and international alike, has narrowly focused on the anti-Muslim rantings spewed out by Buddhist monk U Wirathu, from a monastery near Mandalay. The leader of the ultra-nationalist movement known as “969” has claimed that Muslims commit virtually all the rapes reported in Burma, that their mosques and assets are being secretly financed by the Saudis, and that they will eventually take over the whole country.

Buddha preached calm and contemplation but Wirathu’s agenda calls for the opposite. “Now is not the time for calm,” declares the 46-year-old monk as he denigrates Muslims. “Now is the time to rise up, to make your blood boil.” (This quote was reported in the July 1st edition of TIME Magazine, which featured a cover shot of the angry monk headlined “The Face of Buddhist Terror.” The issue was banned inside Burma.)

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Read more, HERE:

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=3856

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(1 of 2) Burma ‘No place to call Home’ – Image Gallery

Via: Chiang Mai Citylife

One of the most negative aspects to develop out of the newly democratic and open society of Burma is the use of freedom of expression and freedom to gather as a catalyst for ethnic and religious hate mongering.

While ethnic tensions between the Buddhists in Rakhine state and their Muslim Rohingyan neighbours have been underlying for generations in both civil society as well as politically, the new open society has allowed for these tensions to be provoked into riots, violence and the destruction of Rohingyan villages in and around the capital of Rakhine state, Sittwe.

This has led to a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in outlying areas.

The Burmese government has done little to quell the violence or to set up proper support structures within the camps, where conditions are extremely poor with little access to clean water and enough food as well. The Rohingya that have stayed in Sittwe are relegated to a cordoned-off neighbourhood called Aung Mingalar that is also referred to as “the ghetto.” It is controlled by state security forces that do not let the Rohingyans leave, making it nearly impossible for them to take part in any kind of commerce. These photos depict the day-to-day existence of Rohingya living in Sittwe. While the violence towards Muslims began here, it is now spreading nationwide, spurning a fear of Buddhist jihad as well as retribution by both domestic and foreign Muslims.

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Read MORE, See MORE, HERE:

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=3873

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WARNING! – S.E. Asia – Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Via: The Nation

A Ranong Public Health official yesterday urged the province’s childcare facilities, in particular 13 centres caring for 3,000 Myanmar pre-schoolers along the border, to watch out for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD).

Dr Thongchai Kiratihattayakorn said Thai authorities were worried because HFMD outbreaks had been reported in many provinces as well as in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, where 40,000 patients and 18 deaths were found.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/HFMD-warning-to-Ranong-pre-schools-30186186.html

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UPDATE:

Via: Thai Visa

“Thai Health Ministry: Number Of Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease Patients Rises To OVER 12,000“

Read more, HERE:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/569877-thai-health-ministry-number-of-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-patients-rises-to-over-12000/

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UPDATE:

“More than 381,000 infected in Chinese outbreak”

Read more, HERE:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/15/more-than-381000-infected-in-chinese-outbreak/

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reference:

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a human syndrome caused by intestinal viruses of the picornaviridae family. The most common strains causing HFMD are coxsackie A virus and enterovirus 71 (EV-71)

HFMD usually affects infants and children, and is quite common. It is moderately contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. It typically occurs in small epidemics in nursery schools or kindergartens, usually during the summer and autumn months. The usual incubation period is 3–7 days.

It is less common in adults, but those with immune deficiencies are very susceptible.

HFMD is not to be confused with foot-and-mouth disease (also called hoof-and-mouth disease), which is a separate disease affecting sheep, cattle, and swine (both are caused by members of the picornaviridae family, but are not trans-communicable between humans and livestock).

Read more, HERE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand,_foot_and_mouth_disease

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1 of 2 – Opium production expand in Myanmar

photo: Shan State Army

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Via: Chiang Mai Mail by Khaghon Boonpath

The Border Patrol Police (BPP) and military intelligence agencies report that the areas opposite Mae Hong Son’s Pangmapha District and Ban Pangkong Pass specifically have seen increasing cultivation of opium poppies.

The BPP sources report that Ho Main District in Lang Khoi Province of Myanmar has seen more than 5,000 rai (1,977 acres) of land opened up for cultivation of the poppies and that they are under the control and supervision of the Southern Shan State (SSS) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

The sources added that Pa-o hill tribe villagers have indicated the poppy fields have been expanding since 2008 under the direction armed forces of the SS led by a Major who was the leader of the Ban Ho Main village as well as Lisu man from Pai who has been hiding in Myanmar to escape drug charges in Thailand. They added that Myanmar government soldiers have cooperated with the SSS collecting tax on the output.

The raw opium is sold at 25,000 Baht ($833 USD) per joi or 1.6 kg. It is then delivered to heroin refineries under the control of the UWSA in Ban Khailuang opposite Tambon Thamlod in Pangmapha District of Mae Hong Son (Thailand).

Prior to 2008 the opium was sent to central parts of the Shan state in Doi Laem Province under the control of the Myanmar government and the Red Pa-o or SNPLO. However, since then the opium is being sent to the Red Wa as they offered higher prices.

The Wa National Army, Shan State Army and Pa-o National Liberation Organization along with the SSS have been fighting against the Myanmar government and their patrols of drug routes and tax collection on opium has resulted in the change of refining areas.

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read more, here.

http://chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd13

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