(Picture from Ko Htike’s blog)
I’m still enraged by how most governments are reacting (or not reacting) on the brutal massacre that’s going on in Myanmar (and I think the half-hearted sanctions like denying visas to the junta are just as bad as silence – I can imagine the junta leaders chuckle and say “alrighty then, I’ll just change my travel destination to Singapore.”) But I’m trying to post a bit more calmly and list some reasons why I don’t think Myanmar’s neighbors in ASEAN will do anything to stop this atrocity (other than issuing empty statements like “we strongly urge Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint” that are totally useless because they aren’t backed by any real action).
Right now, I think the world’s best hope of stopping this atrocity, short of massive defection of soldiers (although there is some encouraging news), is China, who not only has billions of investments in Myanmar, but also supplies arms to the Burmese junta. Many people including Thai newspaper The Nation are calling for China’s intervention. But given China’s own horrendous record of treating pro-democracy protests (let’s not forget Tienanmen Square and the 1959 invasion of Tibet), I remain doubtful on whether the Chinese government will do anything.
What I think CAN put a real pressure on the murderous junta is for all countries who are now paying the junta for natural resources like natural gas to suspend operations and payments immediately. That includes ASEAN members like Thailand, Indonesia, and many other countries. This will be more effective than blanket economic sanctions because it will hurt the junta’s own coffers without hurting the general public (blanket economic sanctions such as total import & export bans, on the other hand, will make necessities like foodstuffs even harder to come by for the Burmese people, thereby making them suffer much more than the real culprits).
So why won’t the heads of ASEAN governments do more than empty talk?
(Picture from Ko Htike’s blog)
I’m still enraged by how most governments are reacting (or not reacting) on the brutal massacre that’s going on in Myanmar (and I think the half-hearted sanctions like denying visas to the junta are just as bad as silence – I can imagine the junta leaders chuckle and say “alrighty then, I’ll just change my travel destination to Singapore.”) But I’m trying to post a bit more calmly and list some reasons why I don’t think Myanmar’s neighbors in ASEAN will do anything to stop this atrocity (other than issuing empty statements like “we strongly urge Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint” that are totally useless because they aren’t backed by any real action).
Right now, I think the world’s best hope of stopping this atrocity, short of massive defection of soldiers (although there is some encouraging news), is China, who not only has billions of investments in Myanmar, but also supplies arms to the Burmese junta. Many people including Thai newspaper The Nation are calling for China’s intervention. But given China’s own horrendous record of treating pro-democracy protests (let’s not forget Tienanmen Square and the 1959 invasion of Tibet), I remain doubtful on whether the Chinese government will do anything.
What I think CAN put a real pressure on the murderous junta is for all countries who are now paying the junta for natural resources like natural gas to suspend operations and payments immediately. That includes ASEAN members like Thailand, Indonesia, and many other countries. This will be more effective than blanket economic sanctions because it will hurt the junta’s own coffers without hurting the general public (blanket economic sanctions such as total import & export bans, on the other hand, will make necessities like foodstuffs even harder to come by for the Burmese people, thereby making them suffer much more than the real culprits).
So why won’t the heads of ASEAN governments do more than empty talk?
I think the answer is quite simple: money. Or to be more precise: natural gas, which is among the many natural resources that Myanmar has in abundance, thanks to an oppressive military regime that enriches the privileged few while keeping 40+ million people (75% of the whole country) below poverty line for decades. Countries who dare act against the Burmese junta risk losing precious rights over Myanmar’s natural gas, which currently is the largest single source of income for the Burmese junta. While unspeakable acts of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and extortion, are carried out by the Yadana pipeline security forces, big oil companies including UNOCAL (now Chevron) from the USA, Total from France, PTT from Thailand, and Petronas from Malaysia have happily struck deals with the Burmese junta. The newer and larger Shwe Project (meaning “gold” in Burmese), which is the largest natural gas deposit in Southeast Asia, looks set to repeat the junta’s deplorable records all over again (and I’m ashamed to say that PTT, Thailand’s largest and state-owned oil & gas company, is one of the bidders to construct and develop this project despite repeated calls from NGOs to reconsider, the fact that Thailand uses natural gas far too heavily (80%) to produce electricity, and the fact that the Thai middle class uses energy far too wastefully anyway – from driving too many cars too often, to turning up their air-conditioners to near-arctic temperatures needlessly).
(While I’m complaining about the hypocrisy of ASEAN governments, I might as well also mention the Singaporean government hangs drug couriers but at the same time invests with their suppliers (or “used to” invest, anyway – the government’s “Myanmar Fund” folded in 1997. But Singapore is still making a lot of money in Myanmar while enriching the junta). Meanwhile, Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ostentatiously cracking down on drug trafficking between Thailand and Myanmar, but secretly flew to have secret meetings with the Burmese junta for who-knows-what (although most of us in Thailand’s business circles are convinced those talks were for his personal gain – or more precisely, to win satellite and other telecom deals for Shin Corporation, Thailand’s largest telecom giant that belongs to Thaksin’s family).
I feel sad for the Burmese people that governments and businessmen from their ASEAN neighbors are only interested in investing in resource-exploitation businesses such as oil & gas, timber, and minerals – all of which only make the Burmese junta richer while keeping the vast majority of people in dire poverty (it’s no small irony that the current atrocity we’re witnessing was catalyzed by public furor over the government’s decision to raise the prices of fuel by 200-500%. This astronomical hike in a country that owns vast amounts of fuel should be enough to tell us about who actually “benefits” from those resources).
I think the day that foreign investors start investing in fundamental things (like infrastructure, business processes, logistics, education, consumer, and industrial goods) will mark the first day that Burmese people should welcome foreign investment with open arms. But that kind of long-term investment that takes many years to pay off certainly isn’t in anyone’s best interest except the Burmese people. And we all know what little power the people have under ruthless military dictatorships.
So now, as I haplessly watch the atrocities happen in Myanmar, I have a couple of things to be ashamed about.
As a Thai, I’m ashamed to be citizen of the first country that practically condones the Burmese junta, judging from inexcusable remarks made by the head of Thailand’s military junta that overthrew the government last September. The coup leader flatly says that this ongoing brutality is Myanmar’s “internal affairs” that Thailand shouldn’t get involved in – as if this is like a fight between a wife and a husband and not cruelty perpetrated by armed officials against innocent civilians who are only protesting peacefully.
(I suppose one could say that we shouldn’t expect Thailand’s junta to do anything, because after all, it’s no less of a “dictatorship” than Myanmar. But the recent rise of Thai junta actually has some legitimacy behind it (and a public goodwill that they are quickly eroding). In fact, I was one of those people who were relieved with the coup happened, and I explained why in this post. As of today, I have no remorse or regret over my initial welcoming sentiments, but I did expect the military rulers and the puppet government they installed to be more competent, courageous, and “democratic.” Now I’m sorry that I was wrong.)
As a Buddhist, I am ashamed that my fellow Buddhists here remain largely ignorant or indifferent over the plight of Burmese monks and people. Since the Sangha (monkhood institution) in Burma is Theravada Buddhist, the same sect as the prevalent Buddhist sect in Thailand, you would expect that a lot of Thai Buddhists should be enraged and publicly demand our Sangha and government to take some action. But no, the response is total silence. But then again, I’m not surprised as Buddha’s dhamma has left this country a long time ago. Now, we’re just a superficial country that claims to be Buddhist but has no Buddhist soul, with a largely materialistic Sangha who are willing to demand that the rhetorical line “Buddhism is official religion” be inserted into the recent constitution (hundreds of monks even marched to the parliament to demand this in June 2007; their demands were turned down), but remain deadly silent on the atrocities in Myanmar, even as many monks have been shot dead by the soldiers and hundreds taken away to who-knows-where.
I’m not sure what to do except sign another on-line petition. But if there’s any justice remaining in this world, the people of Myanmar will prevail.