Blackmail


As mentioned in the previous post, nothing will run smooth in this country... We are now officially blackmailed by the local authorities known as YCDC. After asking around all the business associates in Yangon, its apparent that this "fee" have to be paid no matter what. 

According to my personal studying of the law and the whole chunk of regulations here: http://www.ycdc.gov.mm/content.php?law=ycdclaw translated to english, there is no mentioning of paying any "fees" or applying of any "permits" unless we are to do changes to the building fundamentals. When we called, the person in charge replied that even if we were to remove a piece of glass, we will need to apply for a permit. Hence we requested for a piece of receipt or acknowledgment that what we are going to pay is to adhere to a certain law. The officer replied that they are unable to issue anything.

Well, that kind of tells you where this is going. So we asked what's the amount for coffee money. The lady replied USD1500... Without even doing anything, we are being blackmailed for USD1,500, which failing to comply, we are not supposed to carry on any work. 

Thinking back to the Foreigner Bias back in my opening post, I told my local employee to go negotiate the blackmail. From USD1,500, its being reduced to USD300. So this is how the government operates there. 

Source: http://www.ycdc.gov.mm

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