Long but interesting look into Burma Myanmar. |
After a conspiratorial glance over the shoulder to make sure he is not overheard, Hakim, a Myanmar Muslim, leans over his beer to deliver a whispered verdict on his country's military government. "Saddam Hussein -- he great big bastard. In my country, the same," he tells Reuters in the bowels of a grimy Yangon bar. However, unlike many in the former Burma, Hakim's gripe against the ruling generals is economic, not political. As a 37-year-old trying to support a family of four, he curses the junta's mismanagement of the economy more than its contempt for the results of 1990 elections it lost by a landslide, or its detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Hakim estimates that he and the thousands like him eking out a living as second-hand salesmen on the streets of the capital earn around $30 a month -- placing the once wealthy former British colony on a par with war-ravaged Cambodia. Decades of poor policies, U.S. and European sanctions and, more recently, the purge of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and his network of business interests, have left the economy way behind those of prospering neighbours such as Thailand, analysts say.
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One rare bright spot has been the discovery in recent years of sizeable oil and natural gas reserves off the Myanmar coast. | Cue seething, oppression, and the 7,343rd holiest site in Islam. |
South Korea and India in particular are pouring investment into the sector, which produced 350 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 7 million barrels of crude oil in the 2003-04 fiscal year, according to official figures. One Asian diplomat estimated that Myanmar needed a minimum of $6 billion in reconstruction aid and loans from the likes of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to drag its economy into the late 20th century. Getting it into the 21st century will take much longer. Automatic cash machines are still the stuff of dreams, as are credit cards and text-messaging on mobile phones. The Internet is making slow inroads for those patient enough to deal with the power cuts and 28k telephone lines. Just don't try accessing Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or anything to do with the words "Myanmar" or "Suu Kyi" -- they are all blocked.
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