Yung-Ty Chin
EDGE Final Paper
Myanmar: A Nation in Crisis
The nation of Myanmar, also known as Burma, is currently under the rule of a ruthless totalitarian regime, guilty of numerous human rights violations and target of intense international criticism. Located in Southeast Asia, on the western border of Thailand and Laos, it has been under military rule since World War II. Burma is mired in socioeconomic crisis stemming from the rule of the military junta, and the citizens are suffering. The environment of Burma is being destroyed, the people are treated inhumanely, and the country is notorious for its contribution to global narcotics. The paragraphs below detail the current situations facing the country, why they came about, and the parties that are to blame for sending the country on a dangerous downward spiral. First, however, it is important to understand Burma’s political history.
A History of Burma
The ancestors of the people of Myanmar migrated down along the Irrawaddy River from Tibet and China, and they brought with them cultural traditions stemming from India. The Mon, at around 3000 B.C., were the first people to come. They established centers of settlement in central Myanmar, in the Irrawaddy delta, and farther down the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. They developed farming and irrigation systems, and they kept ties with India as well as other Mon settlements. The Burmese entered the Irrawaddy River valley in the mid-9th century, eventually absorbing the nearby Pyu and Mon communities. The Shan, Kachin, and Karen arrived later and are currently the major ethnic minority groups in the country. In 1044, King Anawrahta united the nation in the city of Pagan where he built Buddhist temples and pagodas. In the following years Burma experienced a golden age that was a relatively peaceful era. After 250 prosperous years, control of the nation switched between invading Mongols and the country’s various ethnic groups. Eventually the Toungoo dynasty emerged in the 16th century, and the country was unified under a single Burmese state. The dynasty fell in 1752 after years of invasion, clashes with the Portuguese, and ultimately a Mon rebellion.
The rebellion gave way to the Kongbaung dynasty, which did restore Burmese control over the country. There was a great deal of friction and eventually full-fledged fighting between the Kongbaung dynasty and the British, particularly over the coastal province of Arakan. This tension gave way to the First Anglo-Burmese war in the early 19th century, after which the British gained control of Arakan as well as the province of Tenasserim. The Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 gave the British near complete control of Burma, and it was annexed as a British Colony in 1885. Although it required the suppression of various uprisings and widespread dissent, British rule actually helped modernize the country, create a more stable social structure, and increase the productivity of its industries. The British made Burma a leading exporter of rice, and the city of Yangon became a major shipping port as a result. However, this economic expansion came at the expense of traditional Burmese customs and culture. British control eventually began to wear upon the residents of Burma, and a new independence movement was driven by university student movements as well as religious movements by Buddhist monks. The Saya San Rebellion, which opposed the British modernization of the country, was suppressed in the early 1930s.
During the 1930’s, Rangoon University would be the birthplace of the national independence movement. A law student named Aung San, an executive officer in the university’s student union, became a leader for the new independence movement. He garnered nationwide support after years of student strikes. When World War II broke out, Aung San and his followers saw an opportunity to liberate Burma. He and 29 of his colleagues, who called themselves the “30 Comrades”, left Burma to train with the Japanese military in 1941. With this military expertise, they were able to assemble a Burma Independence Army (BIA) upon their return to the country. Allied with the Japanese in exchange for a guarantee of independence, the BIA accompanied the Japanese invasion of Myanmar and subsequent ousting of the British in 1942, but it was truly a political rather than military entity. Aung San created the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) to resist the occupation by Japan after he and the BIA realized that Japan would not relinquish control of the country. The AFPFL had nearly complete control of political power in Burma towards the end of the war because of the weakening Japanese regime. By the time the war ended, the British, upon their return, were forced to broker a deal with the ruling AFPFL guaranteeing Burmese independence.
The AFPFL won Burma’s 1947 elections in a landslide, and they began construction of a new constitution. However, in July of that year, Aung San and six of his colleagues were tragically assassinated by U Saw, one of Aung’s political enemies. U Nu, one of his Aung’s surviving cabinet members, was forced to take charge of the AFPFL. The Karens revolted against the AFPFL government in the 1950s, and Communist insurgents from the north revolted as well. Both of these were turned down, as were most of the other ethnic and political insurrections during this ten year period. These groups felt that the 1948 constitution was unfair to their minority factions.
In 1958, the Burmese economy was floundering; the AFPFL had a party split despite winning in two different national elections during the 1950s. A caretaker army government, led my General Ne Win, a former associate of Aung San, took control. Although U Nu won the national election in 1960 with ease, Ne Win staged a coup in 1962 and regained control of the country. He would proceed to build a totalitarian military regime that was intolerant of ethnic separatists as well as opponents of modernization. He tried to reshape the nation and began by abolishing all political opposition to his regime and consolidating the media into a single government-controlled newspaper. His policies also called for isolation from the outside world, which would lead Burma down a disastrous path. He attempted to apply his plan, the “Burmese Way to Socialism,” to the economy. The Rangoon University Student Union, where Aung San had begun his independence movement, was destroyed. The country suffered during the first few years of Ne Win’s rule, as the economy declined and people became hungry. In 1974, a new constitution was written, and new policies were adopted to improve the economy. Fewer restrictions were placed on trade, peasants were given more money for the crops they generated, and international aid helped keep the economy afloat. During this time, however, there was constant fighting with the Karen rebels to the north, creating a thorn in the side of Ne Win’s government. The economy declined in the late 1980’s, and in 1988 Ne Win unexpectedly retired.
Students saw another chance to liberate Burma from military rule, and again student-led demonstrations erupted across the country. However, with the government being controlled by the riot police, the demonstrations were dealt with swiftly and harshly. The police fired shots into demonstrations throughout the country, leaving thousands of students, women, and children dead. The ruling military formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which ruled with an iron fist. They did, however, pledge to hold a free election. It was at about this time that Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the slain Aung San, returned to Burma after studying abroad and helped form the National League for Democracy (NLD). After her party began to garner nationwide support for the upcoming national elections, she was put under house arrest by the SLORC. In the ensuing 1990 elections, Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party won in a landslide. When NLD members tried to establish their positions in government many of them were arrested, and some even fled to the Thai border to reorganize.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, bringing even more international scrutiny and pressure upon the SLORC and the deplorable state of affairs in Burma. Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 1995, but placed back under house arrest once again in 2002. In 1996 and 1997, the SLORC constantly thwarted the NLD’s efforts to organize delegates, hold meetings, or garner any support. In 1996, the SLORC was terminated, and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) took its place. Clearly it was a cosmetic change in response to UN pressure on Burma throughout the 1990’s, as the ruling members of the SPDC retained the exact same positions they held in the SLORC. After being released in 2002, Aung San Suu Kyi was captured again in 2003 while touring the country and remains under house arrest up to this day. The military junta remains in control up to this day as well, and its grip on the country is as strong as ever, despite various international sanctions placed on the country by the UN and EU.
Environment and Natural Resources
Burma is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries, but due to the negligence and ruthlessness of the ruling junta, its environment and natural resources are being destroyed. The ongoing destruction of Burma’s lush rainforests begins with the SPDC generating income at any expense to the environment. Burma’s rainforests contain extremely valuable teak trees, and foreign loggers, particularly Thai, pay the ruling junta in order to exploit this resource. Completely unregulated, these companies clear out acres upon acres of rainforest at a rate even faster than that of the Amazon rainforest.These forests are not only home to the various ethnic minorities that call Burma home, but also several endangered species, such as the clouded leopard, gaur, silvered leaf monkey, tapir, tiger, Asian rhinoceros, and Asian elephant. The clear-cutting of rainforest also exposes the land to erosion and landslides.
The Burmese government is just as negligent with its rich fishing resources in the Andaman Sea. The ruling junta made agreements in 1989 and 1993 that allowed Thai fishing companies to exploit these resources, and it has led to severe overfishing in the Andaman Sea. The fishing villages which normally rely on these resources to make a living have lost their source of income, and these villages are constantly shrinking and becoming impoverished. Once again, the junta has exploited the country’s rich natural resources at the expense of the environment as well as the locals of the area being exploited.
Fertile agricultural lowlands once made the country, once called the “Rice Bowl of Asia,” a leading rice exporter.The military junta’s new agricultural policies, unsurprisingly aimed at generating a revenue stream for the government, are leading the country on the path to agricultural disaster. Farmers are forced to double and often triple the amount of crops they and the land would normally produce. Then, for an extremely discounted fee, they sell most of their harvest to the government, which exports the rice at true market prices, giving the regime quite a handsome profit. These policies not only penalize farmers and distort the market economy, but they are also environmentally very dangerous. Growing additional rice crops and using harsh fertilizers will eventually destroy soil fertility, damage water supply, and open rice lands to pestilence traditionally avoided by crop rotation.
Oil, gas and mining operations are also being expanded at an alarming rate. Burma is home to a rich supply of petroleum, tin, antimony, zinc, gold, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, and limestone. Mining companies from all over the world are allowed to extract Burma’s mineral supply with essentially no regulations. Not only does this deplete their mineral resources quickly, but it also allows these corporations to destroy anything in their path to reach mining sites and expand them. As a result, the rainforests in the mountainous mining regions as well as its inhabitants are threatened and sometimes destroyed without hesitation. The lure of the money of foreign investors in exchange for unregulated access to Burma’s natural resources have put the environment in jeopardy. The Burmese government also has plans for hydroelectric dams for many of the country’s major rivers. Not only would this flood and destroy the lush rainforest ecosystems surrounding the rivers, it would also displace thousands of indigenous peoples who rely on these areas for their sustenance.
No foreign investment project provides a better example of the environmental and human rights negligence than the Yadana Pipeline. Stemming from natural gas reserves in the Andaman Sea, the pipeline crosses southeast Burma and then across the border to Thailand. The Burma State Oil Company, Myanmar Oil Gas Enterprises, sponsor the $1.2 billion project, along with two main foreign oil corporations: UNOCAL of the United States, and TOTAL of France. The effect of the gas pipeline construction is similar to that of the mining logging industries. To clear a path for the pipeline, rainforest ecosystems and wetland areas are demolished, ruining the habitat of endangered species. Acres upon acres of rainforest are clear-cut to make way for the pipeline. Since the government is directly involved in construction, the pipeline area becomes completely militarized. This allows logging companies to enter the area unhindered and under the protection of the Burmese military. Burmese soldiers are also allowed into the militarized pipeline area and its surrounding wilderness to poach endangered game such as elephants. Across the border in Thailand, the pipeline is having similar effects on the rainforest and its endangered species, much to the protest of Thai environmentalists.
Human Rights Violations
For all the disregard for the environment, an even more serious problem has arisen because of the construction of the Yadana pipeline: blatant and cruel human rights violations. The government, of course, did not allow local residents to approve of the construction of the pipeline in the first place. Instead, thousands of local residents along the pipeline’s route have been signed on as forced laborers to help construction of the pipeline as well as other infrastructure projects. These laborers have become slaves of the military, and they are routinely beaten and tortured.
Corporate Involvement
UNOCAL has faced various law suits in U.S. Federal Court in the Central District of California that charge the company with abetting human rights violations associated with the pipeline project. According to recent findings by a U.S. federal judge in Los Angeles, the Western companies working in conjunction with the Burmese government knowingly benefited from the forced labor of local residents. Although U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lewdismissed human-rights charges brought by Burmese plaintiffs against UNOCAL, the judge’s final report did use company records and consultants’ reports to prove that UNOCAL and TOTAL knew about the forced labor that accompanied construction of the Pipeline when construction began. As recently as September 2004, California judges have been dismissing cases brought against UNOCAL, attributing the blame for human rights violations solely on the Myanmar army.
Another American company involved in the construction of the pipeline was Vice President Dick Cheney’s very own Halliburton. Although the United States suspended aid to Burma in 1990 and in 1997 forbade American companies to invest in the country, Halliburton seems to have found a loophole in these international sanctions, as have most of the companies that still conduct business there. Halliburton, considered a service contractor, is not blocked from participating in Burma by the sanctions, and they do not violate the 1997 law since they invested in Burma several years before. Hence, Halliburton has escaped any legal wrong-doing.
According to some corporate reports, Halliburton began work in Burma in the early 1990s to do preliminary work on the Yadana pipeline. Other reports state that Dick Cheney himself oversaw a signing ceremony for Halliburton’s new agreement to supply gas from Burma to India in 1996. Houston-based research firm Offshore Data Services reports that later that year, Halliburton was officially awarded the Yadana pipeline contract only a few months after Cheney became CEO.
Crimes Against Humanity
International organizations led by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly detailed long list of human rights violations, including murder, torture, rape, imprisonment without trial, forced relocations, and forced labor. Even before 1988 when student demonstrators were massacred across the country, Burma’s army faced allegations of serious human rights abuses, especially in its campaigns against ethnic groups along the country’s borders. These violations still exist in the same areas today. In cities, citizens can be randomly apprehended in the middle of their everyday lives to go work for the military. Conditions are even worse for rural villages. Village leaders are required to provide either laborers or money for the military, or simply be exterminated.