April 4, 2016
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
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ROYAL VISIT. Villagers welcome Britain’s Prince Harry during his visit in Lamjung District in Nepal. The Brit-
ish royal extended his five-day trip last month by an additional six days to help rebuild a school damaged by last
year’s devastating earthquake. (Pradeep Raj Onta/National News Agency of Nepal via AP)
Prince Harry smears red
powder on Nepal villagers
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Britain’s
Prince Harry smeared red powder on
villagers in Nepal celebrating the Holi
festival marking the beginning of spring.
Harry visited Okhari village to observe
the reconstruction of a secondary school
damaged by a devastating earthquake last
year.
Local media showed Harry smearing
colored power on villagers, who did the
same to the prince, who was wearing a
white shirt. His face and cheeks were
covered with the red powder.
Nepal recently abolished its centuries-
old monarchy. It is hard for Nepalese to
imagine celebrating the Holi festival with
the Himalayan nation’s royals when they
were in power.
During his trip to the school, Harry
spent time talking to students and
villagers and played a volleyball match.
He later flew to the resort town of
Pokhara where he visited the British
Gurkha Camp. Nepalese Gurkha soldiers
have served with the British army for 200
years, taking part in nearly all wars the
British have fought.
Harry has close relations with the
Gurkhas and served with a Gurkha
battalion in Afghanistan.
Harry was on a five-day trip to Nepal
during which he met with the president
and prime minister and marked 200 years
of friendship between the two countries.
A highlight of the trip was visiting
earthquake-damaged
areas
and
spotlighting reconstruction efforts. He
visited families living in tents at a camp for
people made homeless by the quake and
toured damaged palaces and temples.
The earthquake last April killed nearly
9,000 people and destroyed about 1
million homes. There has been little aid for
the victims even a year after the
earthquake.
The prince extended his trip to Nepal by
six days to help rebuild a school damaged
by the earthquake.
The earthquake also damaged Nepal’s
tourism industry, which drew foreign
tourists to visit Hindu temples and old
palaces, as well as trek mountain trails.
Harry said he had wanted to pay his
respects to the many who died, and also
show that the country is “open for business
and has so much to offer.”
“I hope that everyone back home who
took an interest in the tour can see that
Nepal is a country that you really have to
come and visit,” he said.
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NO W AC C EPTING APPLIC ATIO NS
Htin Kyaw sworn in as Myanmar’s president
By Esther Htusan
The Associated Press
N
AYPYITAW, Myanmar — Htin
Kyaw, a trusted friend of Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, took
over as Myanmar’s president March 30,
taking a momentous step in the country’s
long-drawn transition toward democracy
after more than a half-century of direct
and indirect military rule.
But democracy in the impoverished
Southeast Asian nation still feels incom-
plete. The military retains a considerable
amount of power in the government and
parliament, and the president himself will
play second fiddle to Suu Kyi, who has
repeatedly said she will run the country
from behind the scenes because the
military has ensured — through a
constitutional manipulation — that she
can’t be the president.
For now, the country was celebrating the
installation of the 70-year-old Htin Kyaw,
as he took the oath of office in a joint
session of Myanmar’s newly elected parlia-
ment, as Suu Kyi sat watching in the front
row.
“I, Htin Kyaw, do solemnly and sincerely
promise and declare that I will be loyal to
the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and
its citizens,” he said, reading from a
written pledge, while repeating after the
house speaker, Mann Win Khaing Than. “I
will uphold and abide by the constitution
and its laws ... I will dedicate myself to the
service of the Republic of the Union of
Myanmar.”
The same pledge was simultaneously
read by First Vice President Myint Swe
and Second Vice President Henry Van Tio.
After a 20-minute tea break, all 18 mem-
bers of Htin Kyaw’s cabinet, including Suu
Kyi, took a joint oath of office read out by
the speaker.
Rightfully, the job belonged to Suu Kyi,
who has been the face of the pro-democracy
movement and who endured decades of
house arrest and harassment by military
rulers without ever giving up on her
non-violent campaign to unseat them. But
a constitutional provision barred Suu Kyi
from becoming president, and she made it
clear that whoever sits in that chair will be
her proxy.
Still, Htin Kyaw will be remembered by
history as the first civilian president for
Myanmar and the head of its first
government to be elected in free and fair
polls. Suu Kyi’s party, the National
League for Democracy, won a landslide
victory in elections last November, in a
reflection of Suu Kyi’s widespread public
support.
The constitutional clause that denied
her the presidency excludes anyone from
the position who has a foreign spouse or
children. Suu Kyi’s two sons are British, as
was her late husband. The clause is widely
seen as having been written by the
military with Suu Kyi in mind.
Continued on page 13
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