MYANMAR TODAY Scope For Expanding Trade With India
The Statesman (India)10/04/2001
HOW is it to live in Myanmar today? Not too bad if one is not dabbling in politics. The law and order situation is very good and a recent visit showed that one can drive far out of Yangon on the newly built highways without fear. The cost of living is very low. Myanmar is a country of 51 million in a landmass one-sixth the size of India with very fertile plains, rich and wide navigable rivers and a natural wealth of gold and precious stones.
Hunger and abject poverty are absent. The people are polite, the work force in industrial zones is disciplined, and the cities are clean with big plush hotels. There are posh restaurants where a good dinner or lunch costs only two or three US dollars. A five-star hotel room is surprisingly cheap. Tourists are welcome but so far there is only a slow trickle. The old archaeological sites in Bagan and Mandalay have been beautifully restored. The new airport at Mandalay can rival any in India.
BACKGROUND On the debit side, the local population can get a midnight knock on the door from the police, as they are not allowed to keep a guest or even a relative overnight without informing the local police. There are also allegations of corruption. Art and culture are controlled by the military. Universities remain open for a minimum period and college courses are short. People allege that the drug trade is still on. But life for the outsider is peaceful if they keep the right contacts, which a business community usually does.
Indian businessmen and professionals and are doing well. But they have a competitor now. The Chinese are entering in large numbers. North Burma has a direct road link to China. A road link with India is under construction. Border trade with India was large until barter trade was stopped. There is no definite banking route as yet.
The balance of trade with India is in favour of Myanmar - exporting pulses and cereals to India in exchange for pharmaceuticals and engineering goods. The possibilities of expansion are enormous. There is proposal for a gas pipeline to India since Myanmar has large gas reserves. The pipeline may benefit the eastern states. Similarly, help and cooperation in medical facilities will benefit both countries.
Communication is easy as English is spoken freely. Political difficulties with India are negligible and a greater initiative will help both sides. During British occupation Indians went to Burma in large numbers as labourers, civil servants, professionals, clerks and businessmen. Bengalis formed a large part of it in the last four categories. One of the prominent immigrants was the novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who has immortalised the Burma of those times in his writings. Revolutionaries from Bengal used Burma as refuge and transit. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was imprisoned in Mandalay jail for more than two years where his health broke down. Later he brought the INA through Burma to the borders of India. Chandra Bose is still a familiar name in Burma.
Indians had to evacuate Burma twice. The first time was during the Japanese invasion. There was no organised evacuation of the civilian population and they had to move on foot through hostile jungles and swamps leaving all their belongings. Large numbers died, survivors were robbed of everything including clothing and women were raped. The British Governor of Assam, unable to arrange relief during the war, requested the Ramakrishna Mission to help and the then head of the Shillong Math and Mission, Swami Bhuteshananda, moved to the borders of Burma, established camps and brought about a rapport between the local population on both sides of the border and the fleeing Indians.
NE WIN After the war, the Indians started trickling back to retrieve whatever they could. In the newly independent country they got a safe haven since the local population had insufficient talent. The number of Indians increased so much that in 1962 when the civilian government abdicated power to the military and General Ne Win established the Socialist Republic, almost 70 per cent of the population in Rangoon consisted of Indians. The government nationalised all business and industry. Overnight Indians became paupers.
The second evacuation started but was more organised than the first one. Nevertheless many had to travel over land as they had lost everything and had no money for a place on a ship. The second exodus was almost as complete as the first, leaving only labourers who had nowhere to go and survived by adjusting to the local conditions. These were people from Bihar and the south and they still live in Myanmar, stateless and numbering about four lakhs.
There are Bengalis too, between 50 to 60 families, clinging to their culture. They speak Bengali with a Burmese accent. Some of their children cannot even speak the language and some have inter-married with the local population. Yet they remain stateless and need special passes to go out of the country even for short visits. Their lives revolve around what used to be the Ramakrishna Mission, which was closed down by General Ne Win. The large hospital run by the Mission was handed over to the government but the Mission building and the small temple on the rooftop, which had escaped the Japanese bombing, remained in the hands of a local society of devotees. Till the mid-90s, a senior monk visited them when travel restrictions were lifted. People who have never seen their homeland took initiation from him in large numbers in Yangon and Mandalay.
The Socialist government of General Ne Win was isolated from the world and went bankrupt. Amid public unrest democratic elections were held and the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi won. CHANGE The new military government refused to hand over power and arrested her, an action that was followed by a student revolt and severe repression. Thousands of young people, mostly students, were killed. The government changed its name to Society for Peace and Solidarity with military officers looking after different departments as secretaries of the society. Socialism was rejected and replaced by an open market policy and the name of the country was changed to Union of Myanmar. Burma had always been a difficult country to rule with warring tribes and their private armies ruling in respective border regions though the majority are Burmans living in the plains.
There is a flourishing trade in opium and narcotics in the golden triangle at the joint border of Burma, China and Thailand. The government faced an internal revolt, international pressure and economic sanctions. But it has suppressed the student revolt and pacified the warring tribes by giving them virtual autonomy. It has taken army help to deal with opium growers and distillers. It is building roads and bridges so that opium growers can revert to cash crops and get ready markets. But it is also reeling under international economic pressure with devaluation of the currency, low foreign exchange reserves, adverse balance of payments and poor industrial growth. Even foreign companies find it difficult to send money out legally.
In spite of the so-called open market policy the country has very few banking connections and has banned access to internet and cellular phones. E-mail facilities are subject to surveillance. The government blames the international media which has referred to forced labour and child labour. But one keeps hearing of promises to lift the restrictions.