Alexander, as stated on his social media account, is "back to work" in Nay Pyi Taw before Xi makes his first ever trip to Myanmar in 19 years. George Soros, an influential billionaire that have been criticised as having his hands in many countries' politics, had blasted Xi as an enemy to 'Open Society' at the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, January 2019.
Similar to the "coincidence" of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Myanmar before State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi's trip to defend against the ICJ lawsuit, Alexander Soros is here in Myanmar before the Chinese chief gets here.
George Soros, now 89 years old, has also been criticised as manipulating Myanmar's politics with him supporting over 100 organizations through the Open Society Foundation (OSF), as stated on the foundation's website. The OSF has been spending billions of US dollars in over 100 countries across the world under differently labeled projects, be it human rights, education, women's rights, children's rights, democracy and peace. It has also spent 57.6 million dollars in funds across four countries, including Myanmar, in the Asia-Pacific during 2019.
George Soros has also been blamed for heavy handed swings in the financial markets of countries, with one instance being in 1997 where he was the one that started the financial crisis in Thailand which led to the ruin of many Thai businesses - in some cases leading to suicide. He had also been pointed out of his potential to be one of the parties that will brew trouble in Rakhine State in order to slow down China's Belt and Road Initiative.
"I worry that it would get too personal when I speak. This also has to do with business. I think he, back during 1993-1994, played with finances in Thailand which led to a great deal of trouble for business owners. A lot of construction businesses buckled, some committed suicide.
So I think one of his objectives is that China's economy is growing rapidly. The GDP is going through the roof. He plays with finances. It is in his interest to keep trouble afoot in Rakhine so that the One Belt One Road will slow down so that his investments will be protected.
All of us - government, citizens, ethnicities - must tread carefully when dealing with this. History will show who is right and wrong," said Zaw Aye Maung, Minister of Rakhine Ethnic Affairs, in his interview by Akonthi Media on November 7, 2018.
After the 10 million dollars for Bengalis/Rohingyas, the foundation had also funded Kofi Annan's foundation, a key member of the commission formed to investigate the attacks by ARSA in 2017, as stated on Kofi Annan Foundation and OSF websites.
DVB, Yangon Journalism School, Thabyay Education Foundation, Mal Daw Clinic, Equality Myanmar, Myanmar Observer Group Media Group, Institute for Strategy and Policy: Myanmar, Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, Pen Myanmar, Myanmar China Pipeline Watch Committee, Myanmar Center to Empower Regional Parliaments, Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, and Irrawaddy Publishing Group are amongst many that have been stated as partners by the OSF.
The OSF had also stated that Fortify Right group, a group fighting for Bengali rights under the title human rights, was also funded by it once. Observations and speculations abound that out of over 100 organizations connected to the George Soros in Myanmar, many of them are connected to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - the organization behind the lawsuit initiated by the Gambia at the ICJ.
Due to data leaks following a hack in 2016, it was also found that the OSF had paid between 50 thousand to 300 thousand dollars per organization to around 50 groups, medias and political activist groups.
The book written by Soe Thane, 'Myanmar's Transformation and U Thein Sein: An insider's account by U Soe Thane', also claims that George Soros, as per his modus operandi to paint the image he wants through lavish funding across the world, had also tried to do the same with the Myanmar government.
The author, ex-Union Minister Soe Thane, of the book recounts on how George Soros and the then-president Thein Sein began contact all the way to the social projects that was carried out in cooperation. And that George Soros had tried to extract information that he wants from the government, later going onto put in large amount of funds into the Rohingya (as originally stated in the book) affairs.
It says that Thein Sein and George Soros met in 2012 where the latter helped with education and health projects. In 2013, George Soros met with the president and Aung San Suu Kyi as well as other ministers. The book also stated that he only ever met with Aung San Suu Kyi and other ministers at Nay Pyi Taw's Myat Taw Win Hotel where he stayed.
Again in 2014 and 2015, he met with the president again, later meeting with the author Soe Thane himself - asking the author to request of the president for appointing Thaung Tun as the minister to go around the world to invite investments in to the country. That request was rejected by the president later, according to the book.
"I've been working since the previous administration. I know very well how Thaung Tun, the previous government and George Soros are connected. I am the witness. But time was short, and I only had myself as evidence. The other thing is that when Thaung Tun submitted his detailed information, everything related to working with Soros have been deleted.
"The other thing was that I've sent an email to America. If the reply comes then that can be used as evidence but as it stands, it won't make it in time. He knows himself best. He has to show that he had worked with George Soros before if he is honest and I take that he is dishonest because he had withheld that information.
"George Soros is influential in the US and even if it's just for the National Security Adviser position, one day it will come to harm China-Myanmar relations. I am on good terms with Thaung Tun and it will be fine if I didn't say anything. But I have to say so for the nation because I know about these things the most. For now, evidence is hard to come-by. It's not like I didn't want him to land that position. I've said my message for the MPs and the people," said Soe Thane in reply to the media regarding his objection.
OSF is legally allowed to open offices in Myanmar despite the need to cut off some of the OSF's tendrils in over 100 organizations in Myanmar as George Soros's widespread accusations that he, through the OSF, is manipulating in the politics of nations. While the exact purpose of Alexander Soros's visit to Myanmar is yet to be made clear, his social media page had shown that he had met with the Union Minister for Education Dr Myo Thein Gyi.
YANGON — Myanmar President U Win Myint has appointed the country’s national security adviser U Thaung Tun as the head of a newly formed ministry that aims to boost local and international investment and to make that investment socially and environmentally responsible. Prior to the appointment, apart from the security adviser position, U Thaung Tun was also the government office minister.
The announcement, following the Union Parliament’s approval of the formation of the new ministry on Monday morning, said he has been transferred from government office minister to his new position of minister for the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations. President U Win Myint last week proposed the formation of the new Union-level ministry to Parliament for approval.
Myanmar Attorney General Tun Tun Oo told Parliament on Monday that the new ministry will be a merger between the Foreign Economic Relations Department and the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration– both of which are currently under the Ministry of Planning and Finance.
He assured that the formation of the new ministry would provide swifter investment-related information to local and international investors, real-time collaboration with relevant departments and dispute resolution among investors.
The plan comes at a time when Myanmar’s economy is slowing and many international investors are turning away because of the Rohingya crisis. Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since a military crackdown in northern Rakhine State late last year. The government, led by Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has come under heavy international criticism for remaining largely silent on the issue.
In his message to Parliament last week regarding the formation of the ministry, President U Win Myint said the government needed the new ministry “to make use of outside assistance from the United Nations and other international organizations in accordance with the country’s policies and to effectively collaborate with the UN and others international organizations.”
U Thaung Tun has served as ambassador to the Philippines, Belgium, the Netherlands and the EU and was director-general for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the former military regime.
During that time, he was widely criticized by the opposition for warning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – then under house arrest – that she “must not rock the boat” after she said she would boycott the military regime’s controversial constitutional convention at a 2006 press conference in Manila. In 2016, he worked as a government relations adviser for Shell Myanmar Energy PTE. He was appointed national security adviser in January 2017 and government office minister that November.
The appointments were criticized by former lawmaker U Soe Thane, who was the president’s office minister under former President U Thein Sein. U Soe Thane reportedly said that U Thaung Tun had failed to disclose his previous work for the George Soros Foundation as a consultant and said that making him national security adviser could hurt Myanmar’s relations with China.
The former lawmaker also reportedly said that George Soros approached him to secure a ministerial appointment for U Thaung Tun, but U Thein Sein rejected the idea because George Soros was American.
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