July 09, 1999
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| July 09, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia Junta still battles for hearts and minds By Rosario Liquicia RANGOON - Burma's military regime, over a period ofjust a week, announced the completion of a handful of bridges, theinauguration of a dam and a hospital, the opening of a highway andthe renovation of its most famous pagoda. In billboards along Rangoon's wide, tree-lined avenues, the juntaproclaims the stability of the state and national reconsolidationas among its political goals. Daily, on the front page of its English newspaper, The New Lightof Myanmar, the state enumerates its political, economic andsocial objectives in such clarity so that the Burmese people willnot forget them. The military government, in power for more than 10 years aftercrushing a popular uprising in 1988, is still working to win thehearts and minds of its people. ''Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges,holding negative views,'' screams one slogan in one of the insidepages of the newspaper. 'Crush all internal and external destructive elements as thecommon enemy,'' and ''Oppose foreign nations interfering ininternal affairs of the state,'' say two other slogans. The junta, whilch calls itself the State Peace and Development Council(SPDC), urges the Burmese people to cooperate with the governmentand the tatmadaw, or military. At the same time, it exhortsthem to oppose the ''evil'' designs of foreign countries, theUnited States in particular. In a half-page article in one of the newspaper's Sunday editionslast month, an author slammed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyias a puppet of the United States and Britain, which ''are pushingthe world into chaos." The Burmese regime was given a semblance of legitimacy when theAssociation of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) admitted it asmember in 1997 despite some reservations by some members andstrong opposition from Western governments and human rights groupsand activists in Asia. But ASEAN's approach of non-interference and policy of''constructive engagement'' have failed to nudge the junta intoimproving the human rights situation and allowing greater freedomfor its people. The government has remained adamant in refusing to open adialogue with the opposition led by Suu Kyi to settle thepolitical stalemate in Burma. Observers say the junta has in fact become more repressive,harassing, arresting and jailing opposition leaders andsupporters. Still a pariah state as far as the international community isconcerned, Burma's SPDC has focused its efforts elsewhere. It has gone instead on a construction binge, inviting foreigninvestors to put up hotels, build roads and bridges and has evenspent a fortune to refurbish the Shwedagon pagoda, its most famoustourist attraction in the heart of the capital. Writing for the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, Burmesejournalist Aung Zaw said the junta has launched an intensiverestoration of ancient pagodas and temples across Burma. ''The generals pay daily visits to sacred shrines. But what isthe reason behind all this? Do the generals really believe theycan atone for their past in this way or are they simply trying towhitewash their sins,'' he asked. Visitors to Rangoon find that most of the new hotels are emptyand tourists are few and far between. Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate who is Burma's symbol of thestruggle for democracy, belittles the signs of ''progress.''''They say there are more roads but of what use is that when thereare more people who are poorer?'' she asked. 'Yes, there are more hotels, but they are empty. Yes, there are more cars and more people who are living in bigger and betterhouses but these are people who are connected to this regime,''she told a group of visiting women journalists and activists fromASEAN countries in June. ''The general public has not benefited from the advent of allthese,'' she said, citing the fact that ordinary people still haveto fight their way into overcrowded buses, while the poor havebecome poorer. She added that a lot of the infrastructure projects the militaryhas been bragging about were in fact built with forced labor. Like other Asian countries, Burma reeled from the economic crisisin the region. Inflation shot up and growth slowed down. Asexpected, the poor and the middle-class were hardesthit. ''Previously, the middle-class could afford two kinds of currywith their rice,'' said one elderly woman from the oppositionNational League for Democracy. ''But now, it's a battle even justto have one curry.'' Sending children to school has also become an expensive affair,she added. ''Bridges, apartment houses and even showy roads are notessential to true development and certainly not traffic jams,''said Suu Kyi. ''What is essential is there should be betterstandards of living, which means better education and betternutrition and better health care. . . . In fact we are less nourished, less educated and less healthythan we used to be. In fact we can say there has been a recession,that we have in fact gone backwards and not forward indevelopment,'' she said. (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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