Swept from their seats by Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party, outgoing army-backed MPs are taking a good-natured approach to their fall from power.

Parliament has opted to welcome the handover to the Nobel laureate’s MPs with a party.

“I have composed a song to say goodbye to my friends at parliament,” said Saw Hla Tun, a lower house MP for the Union Solidarity and Development party, an army proxy stuffed with former generals that has run Myanmar since 2011.

“The most important thing is unity. So I wrote a song about that, even though I have been very busy recently,” he told AFP, adding that he would not be singing the ditty himself, but would have a chorus of culture ministry officials perform it.

The camaraderie is in stark contrast to the repression that characterised the junta years when Suu Kyi and thousands of democracy activists faced prison and bloody crackdowns.

Nine MPs are due to belt out their farewells to music on Friday afternoon at a banquet hall in the parliament, attended by lawmakers old and new.

These include upper house speaker Khin Aung Myint, a USDP heavyweight who regaled parliament with jokes in his parting speech Friday, even complimenting “The Lady” as Suu Kyi is known in Myanmar on her looks.

Even the parliament’s normally po-faced military MPs — unelected soldiers account for a quarter of all seats in the national legislature — are believed to be planning to join the festivities.

A short video clip posted on Youtube showed one army MP rehearsing a favourite patriotic local number called “Our Union”.

They could face a tough audience in the hundreds of new NLD MPs, who are mainly parliamentary novices, but who can boast several poets, a rapper and other entertainers among their ranks.

But NLD sources told AFP that it will not be over when “the Lady” sings — Suu Kyi is not thought likely to take to the stage today.

Timeline of Myanmar elections

— 1885 —

Centuries of rule by a Buddhist monarchy ends with the defeat and exile of Burma’s last king by the British. A lengthy period of Western colonialism begins and Burma (as it was then known) becomes a province of British India.

— 1941-1945 —

Japan occupies Burma during World War II. Nationalist hero Aung San fights with the Japanese, but swaps sides in the war’s closing stages in the hope of achieving independence.

His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi, who would go on to lead the pro-democracy movement, is born in 1945.

— 1948 —

Burma attains full independence from the British on January 4, a dream Aung San never lived to see following his assassination months earlier.

— 1962 —

After years of factional infighting, General Ne Win seizes power in a coup, turning the country from a multi-party federal union into an authoritarian one-party state ordered to follow his “Burmese Path to Socialism”.

— 1988 —

Years of disastrous economic mismanagement and political repression see Burma erupt in protest. The military responds brutally, killing an estimated 3,000 people. Suu Kyi emerges as a key opposition leader.

— 1989 —

Junta changes the country’s name to Myanmar.

— 1990 —

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a landslide victory in elections but the result is ignored by the military who launch a new crackdown. Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest for much of the next 20 years. Many other opposition leaders are jailed or flee.

— 1991 —

Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest.

— 1992 —

Than Shwe becomes the new junta chief.

— 2005 —

A new isolated city Naypyidaw (“Abode of Kings”) is revealed as the country’s capital after being built in secret by the paranoid junta.

— 2007 —

Major protests dubbed the “Saffron revolution” break out over the summer, partially led by Buddhist monks. The junta eventually responds once more with violence, killing scores of protesters.

— 2008 —

Vast swathes of the Irrawaddy Delta are devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which leaves some 138,000 people dead. The junta’s lacklustre response draws widespread criticism.

— 2010 —

The junta holds elections in early November and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claims victory. The NLD and many other parties refuse to take part. Observers do not consider the poll free or fair.

Less than a week after the election, Suu Kyi is released after spending 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest.

— 2011 —

In a surprise move, the junta relinquishes power to a quasi-civilian government under former general Thein Sein who pursues reforms. Many basic rights are restored, including the lifting of restrictions on assembly and expression, while hundreds of political prisoners are freed.

A ceasefire collapses in northern Kachin state and fighting resumes forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

— 2012 —

The NLD wins 43 out of 45 seats in April by-elections. Suu Kyi becomes an MP. Western powers lift most sanctions. Sectarian violence flares in western Rakhine state, mainly aimed at the RohingyaMuslim minority.

— 2015 —

Suu Kyi’s NLD win a landslide November victory in the first free and fair elections in decades, prompting scenes of jubilation on the streets of Yangon.

— 2016 —

Lame duck USDP-led parliament holds it final session on January 29. The NLD prepares to take power on February 1. Suu Kyi is still barred from the presidency under the constitution and the military retains significant power with 25 per cent of parliamentary seats and key ministries under its control.

– AFP

Known as the “white breed”, about 155 weaner or growers would be imported from Bangkok, Thailand, by the last week of May, National Piggery Development Centre (NDPiC) officials said.

However, it is expected to take about two to three years for the piglet distribution to happen to be able to meet the shortage.

Weighing about 25kg to 30kg each, the new breed will be reared at Yusipang, Thimphu where infrastructure is being developed.

Officials said that to receive the new breed, they have to clear the sheds at Yusipang. By March or April, the sheds will be emptied and disinfected for the new breed. The growing period of the new breed is about a year after which mating will begin and the piglets will be distributed to the Lingmithang and Gelephu farms.

The new breed would produce about 13 to 14 piglets but one to two piglets die despite proper care. However, officials are hopeful that they will be able to sell about 10 piglets of the new breed.

The three piggery farms in the country, in about two to three years, are expected to produce about 9,000 piglets annually.

NDPiC’s programme director Pema Sherab said the demand for piglets has been on the rise every year.

From about 7,000 piglets in 2013, the demand last year shot to 9,000 piglets while the farms were able to provide only about 4,000 to 4,500 piglets.

“We can only fulfill half of the demand,” Pema Sherab said. The southern belt is the priority area from where the centre also gets more demand for piglet.

NDPiC also promotes contract piglet breeder programme among farmers where farmers sell piglets to the farms. The farmers pay Nu 1,500 (US$ 22.7) for each piglet, breed and sell it back to the farms for Nu 3,500 (US$ 53).

“Even under this programme, the existing breed will be replaced by the white breed,” Pema Sherab said.

The farmers are expected to produce about 5,000 white breed piglets with this programme.

NDPiC officials said there is acute shortage of piglets currently. To increase piglet production, officials said there has to be proper infrastructure in place for which there is no budget available.

Currently the parent stock piglet at the piggery farms is the seventh generation of the three breeds- sattlepack, large black and duroc imported from the UK in 2003.

Back then about 82 of these breeds were imported.

“Given the small population, inbreeding occurred which resulted in a high mortality rate of piglets,” Pema Sherab said.

To increase meat self-sufficiency, the livestock department targets to produce 1,000MT of pork by 2018. For this, about 12,500 piglets have to be produced annually.

Pema Sherab said the new breed would help meet the demand.

“For self-sufficiency in pork, piglet is required. There are many people interested in piggery farming given the huge market,” he said. “Given the shortage of piglets, the piglet industry was dying out.”

Last year the country exported about 2,100MT of pork.//Kuensel-Asia News Network

But as attention turned to a candidate from the junta-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a heated argument erupted over his track record and suitability for office, a senior NLD official who was present at the meeting said.

The issue of how far to go in reaching out to former foes from nearly half a century of military rule may prove one of the first faultines to emerge within the NLD, with the potential to threaten or even derail Suu Kyi’s ambitious agenda.

“Some rank-and-file members are worried and not happy about the NLD working closely with the military. They never kept their promises so they don’t trust the army,” said Aung Myo, amid-ranking NLD member.

Eventually NLD leaders agreed at the early January meeting to offer the posts of deputy parliament speakers to T Khun Myat from the USDP and Aye Thar Aung from Arakan National Party (ANP), an ethnic party from Myanmar’s restive Rakhine State.

The nominations were made as a token of national reconciliation as Suu Kyi’s party prepares for office after winning about 80 percent of the elected seats in parliament at a historic general election late last year.

That the nomination provoked such heated debate underscores a growing sense of unease among some party members at the speed with which Suu Kyi has sought to build ties with powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing and former junta leader Than Shwe.

“Breaking down the distrust and convincing everybody to work together represents the single biggest challenge for the incoming administration,” said Myint U, an independent consultant and expert on Myanmar bureaucracy.

“Failure here may slow down or even stop reforms and could cost the country billions of dollars in lost investment.”

“GRASSROOTS DON’T LIKE THEM”

The NLD, which will take office around late March after a drawn-out transition, is a broad church of views united by the shared experience of the decades-long struggle for democracy and held together by Suu Kyi’s charismatic leadership.

Many members, including the Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, suffered years of persecution and imprisonment by the junta that had ruled Myanmar for 49 years until a semi-civilian government took power in 2011.

“There’s a history, a past that is hard to forget for many people,” said Lin Htoo Maung, a sales executive at a Yangon-based bank.

Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president by the 2008constitution, which experts say was drafted by the military to entrench its influence on politics.

The charter also gives her little choice but to engage withthe military, despite her huge election win.

The army controls a quarter of the seats in parliament -giving it a constitutional veto – a large number of seats at the security council and three security ministries: defence, border affairs and home affairs.

At the closed-door leadership meeting, it was also agreed to give the powerful post of the lower house speaker to Win Myint, one of the closest party acolytes of Suu Kyi, said the NLD official present at the meeting.

Another NLD leader familiar with the meeting told Reuters that, while Suu Kyi was firmly in charge and led most decisions, the mood among party grassroots was already having an influence on the speed and depth of rapprochement.

“We are worried, or concerned that our people have little or no experience in actual governance,” the NLD leader said, explaining why the party had been discussing who from the outgoing administration might be retained.

“The majority of the cabinet will be NLD. But there will be some technocrats from ethnic parties and other parties,” he said. “It would be difficult for us to keep any current ministers. The rank-and-file, the party grassroots don’t like them.”

Both NLD leaders, who belong to the party’s 15-member Central Executive Committee, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

BITTER LEGACY

One of the areas that arouses most bitterness in dealing with the legacy of junta-rule would likely be land grabs that the military and army-linked enterprises were accused of by rights activists, said Win Min, who runs the NLD office in southern Yangon.

“They tortured villagers, grabbed the land and forced them to move out by setting crops on fire,” said a rank-and-file Yangon-based NLD member who did not want to be identified out of fear of retribution. “I’m not saying that our senior members are making the wrong move, but I think we need to be careful while working with them.”

No one from the military or USDP was available for comment.

To be sure, many political prisoners and the top echelons of the party support Suu Kyi’s reconciliatory approach.

Tin Oo, NLD’s “patron” and one of its most deeply respected leaders, told Reuters that the NLD did not want to put any pressure on the military or push for the constitutional amendment immediately.

“We will agree to anything that would make them feel comfortable to make the transition stable,” said the88-year-old, who served as army chief in 1970s.

“We know that we will win in the end anyway, but we don’t think it’s the right time to prioritise it now.”

– Reuters

Nearly 1,300 members of the Dawn Archipelago Movement (Gafatar)arrived in Semarang in Central Java province from Borneo by ship late Wednesday, local navy base commander Colonel Elka Setiawan said.

The first batch of more than 300 people arrived on Monday. Officials said they would be “re-educated” before being sent back to their hometowns on Java. The controversy over Gafatar erupted this month after a doctor and her young son disappeared in Jakarta, and were later found to have joined more than 100 other families in the movement. Since then more families have come forward with reports of missing relatives, also believed to have joined the sect.

Islamic clerics in the Muslim-majority country said the sect taught deviant teachings mixing Islam, Christianity and Judaism, and a group of locals attacked and torched homes belonging to Gafatar members on January 19. Former Gafatar leader Mahful M. Tumanurung told local media that the group is not part of Islam, but follows the teachings of Abraham, and is loyal to Indonesia.

Indonesia has six state-sanctioned religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

– DPA

Taipei insists Taiping Island in the Spratlys is part of its territory, but the chain is also claimed in part or whole by Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

In a speech to personnel stationed on Taiping, Ma said the islands were “an inherent part of the Republic of China”, using Taiwan’s official title.

“This is indisputable.”

His trip comes as several other claimants have been beefing up their military presence in the disputed region.

Beijing regards almost the whole of the South China Sea as its territory and other claimants have complained it is become increasingly aggressive in pressing its claim.

Ma, however, adopted a more conciliatory tone, calling for the setting aside of disputes and proposed joint exploration of natural resources the area is believed to harbour.

“To resolve disputes in the South China Sea, the ROC government will work to safeguard sovereignty, shelve disputes, pursue peace and reciprocity, and promote joint development,” he said.

Washington, which has said it does not want to see an escalation of tensions in the region, said Wednesday Ma’s trip was “extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.”

Vietnam also protested Thursday.

“We resolutely oppose President Ma’s action of going to Itu Aba,” Tran Duy Hai, representative of the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, told AFP, using an alternative name for the island.

“The situation is already very tense. Each country shouldn’t take any unilateral action. His action doesn’t contribute to stability in the region.”

The Philippines also warned Taiwan not to increase tensions in the disputed waters.

“We remind all parties concerned of our shared responsibility to refrain from actions that can increase tension in the South China Sea,” foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose said.

China, which also regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, gave a measured response to Ma’s trip.

“The Nansha (Spratly) islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. The Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait all have the responsibility to safeguard the ancestral property of the Chinese nation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

Ma was due to visit a hospital, farm, and solar-power facilities on Taiping, according to an earlier statement from the presidential office.

He was also to send a letter to Taipei via the local postal service and hand out small gifts ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday before returning to Taipei later Thursday.

– AFP

Arts performances will be held as well at Ly Thai To Park, around Ha Dong, Tay Ho centres, and in front of My Dinh national stadium, and at the fireworks points.

Director of Culture and Sports Department To Van Dong said on the occasion, a programme entitled Vietnamese Tet will be held for the first time at the Museum of Hanoi from January 29th to February 3. “If the event is successful, this will be an iconic cultural activity for the capital’s citizens on each lunar New Year,” Dong said.