Business overwhelms democracy when it comes to Burma

by Dr. Tint Swe
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 18:28

Mizzima News - The world is politics and politics is money. This is what majority of ignorant Burmese people have had to discover lately. The Burmese people have had to be patient while foreign governments and organizations come to better understand more about the true disposition of the military junta. Burmese dissidents are categorized as immature folks just yelling about how bad the generals are. So America imposed the first sanctions in 2003 after an American diplomat was allowed to examine where Aung San Suu Kyi was deliberately attacked. The EU took another year to adopt the Common Position on Burma. Australia took 3 years to terminate controversial human rights training for military officers. Canada waited until 2007 to impose some sanctions after monks were cruelly crushed. But other governments seem to be waiting forever.

The Burmese pro-democracy movement was not equipped with useful tools to prove the world there were 3,000 deaths during 1988 uprising. That is because major news organizations like the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera were not able to cover the uprising. In fact, visas were not granted to any journalists. But the tools of the digital revolution, including mobile phone cameras and the internet became useful in the monk-led movement in 2007. However, media is still ineffective as a tool to influence most of the world governments. Unfortunately, some media organizations work in line with the grand strategy and are paid-off by the rich and the powerful.

At the highest international forum, the UN Security Council, this was visible when Russia and China exercised veto power on the Burma resolution. However, there are many other hidden powers pulling the strings, such as business interests, energy companies, security firms, arms sales and the drug trade are much superior to moral issues, such as democracy and human rights.

The occasional visitors, who will spend less than two weeks at tourist spots like Pagan, Inlay and beaches of Burma, come back and report how sweet the smiling people of Burma are and how nice the picturesque views are. Average listeners and readers quickly interpret business as usual in Burma. Those commentators have had no access to dining tables of the people living in satellite towns and the hardships of long rangers who are traveling from home towns to the remotest jails where their beloved ones are being held for the cause of democracy. No question about a glimpse of the most helpless ethnic peripheral areas.

Burma was once the rice bowl of Asia and still has an abundance of god-given natural resources. But, it is unable to rise above its status as one of the least developed countries (LDC) after two decades of a so-called open market economy which generated billions in foreign direct investment (FDI), millions in soft loans and millions in Official Development Assistance (ODA).

In effect a high share of overall FDIs went into capital-intensive sectors. There was little investment in the productive and labor-intensive sectors that can generate a positive spillover into the economy. Investment-led growth potential is thus lacking. Moreover, the Oil and Gas sector got massive 33.55% while Agriculture got tiny 0.44% of FDI. But Burma is a country of almost 65% of employment in Agriculture, 5% in construction and 1% in mining sector. So what is an open market economy under this regime is all about? Evaluating that state of Economy, 59% of Burmese population will say no thanks to foreign companies and investments.

Please watch the “Diamond Wedding” video of the first daughter (2006), look at the unnecessary 5-star constructions around Naypyiday, and listen to Burmese language radios, BBC, VOA, RFA and DVB. The true story of Burma is that the country is desperately poor and the regime is extremely rich. The military junta spends 40 cents per citizen each year on health care. Its health budget (3%) is the minimum and defense allotment (40%) is the maximum. Those who really need the valid first-hand news should have facility to translate the RSS feeds of Burmese language radios. Maybe your newspapers will naturally defend the policy and the approach of your government and you can be half-blind.

Ten years ago, Chinese and Indian security officials might have drawn an imaginary line over the map of small Burma that will divide the country for respective influence. Now two pipe lines made of steel will be running across Burma - one from Yadana field of the Gulf of Martaban to western Thailand and one from Shwe field off Arakan peninsula to Yunnan province of China.

In the battle for gas from Burma the three neighbors have been contending. As per the world natural gas proven reserves, the 15th China and the 39th Thailand are getting gas from the 40th Burma while the 24th India lost the bid. This also shows that rulers of Burma will not use gas reserves for domestic public utilization while the electricity consumption rate of Burma is only 5% of that of Thailand. In July this year, the state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE) announced that electrical power will be rationed to six hours a day in Rangoon. At the same time, every day is Diwali season in Naypyidaw, the new capital.

The Shwe Gas Project is a project of the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in partnership with Daewoo International of South Korea (60%), the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India (20%), the Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) (10%) and the Korean Gas Corporation (10%).

The Yadana Gas Project is operated by Total SA of France, Chevron Corporation of theUSA, PTT of Thailand and Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) of Burma. The gas projects made giant companies richer and moneyed Burmese generals to build secret projects. “Yadana”, apart from religious sense means jewels and “Shwe” means gold – jewels and gold for others but not for the people of Burma.

The lack of democracy is not a concern for the non-sanction governments because the generals are regarded as agreeable guys who can not only do business with but also can conceal the secret deals. The outcomes are drug money laundering, nuclear establishment, secret tunnel construction and concealment of billions of dollars.

The report recently released by the Earthrights International (ERI) about $US 4.8 billion generated for Burmese junta by Total and Chevron is a good case in point. Multinationals like Total where public campaigns can play a role has paid compensation for forced labor and violations of labor standards. But there are more companies from other countries where neither democracy nor public opinion can help. Banks in Singapore and companies from South Korea are a few examples.

Leave alone Chinese and Indian companies because both countries ignored epidemic of forced labor practice and readily voted for Burmese junta at the International Labor Organization (ILO). It will also be wrong if Burmese people expect any face saving payment for forced relocation, forced labor and malpractices of labor standards from them because public interest in these two democracies is too low.

Daewoo International projects net profits of US$86 million every year while the junta takes in up to US$3 billion annually. But in 2006 more than 20 South Korean NGOs and trade unions, have urged the Seoul government to investigate Daewoo International Corporation for allegedly sending weaponry technology to military of Burma.

In the US, there are coordinated attempts by politicians, media outlets and campaigners who are to make profits out of Burma for American companies. History tells us that the covert actions and invisible hands have being playing for business and security interests. After secrets are declassified the world comes to know that not all clandestine operations were profitable and or sensible. Forget about morality. Poor Burmese people have to wait for a couple of decades then.

(Dr. Tint Swe is an elected Member of Parliament and the information minister of the exile government National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma)