10 Biggest Lies about Myanmar politics and international policies

10 Biggest Lies about Myanmar politics and international policies

1) President Thein Sein is a reformer who needs international support lest his reform efforts are undermined by the ‘hardliners’.
2) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is “the Voice of Hope for the Voiceless”, who will be and do good, again, once elected President in 2015.

3) Western governments and international organizations are rewarding the Burmese generals for undertaking democratic reforms.
4) Foreign aid will benefit the people of Burma.

5)  Debt forgiveness is good for the country.

6) INGOs are there to build local ‘capacity’ and ‘civil society’.

7) Only the military can hold the Union together.
8) Myanmar is just about to enjoy peace for the first time since independence in 1948; once the Kachin resistance is brought down to its knees, it’s all smooth-sailing for ‘peace-builders and peace-brokers’.

9) Generals are ultra-nationalist patriots, who are undertaking ‘top-down’ reforms out of enlightened self-interest, not because of the grassroots pressure.

10) Local technocrats and international supporters, as well as business interests, are helping Naypyidaw in nation building.

You may try looking beyond the veneer of these truth statements.

For instance, instead of buying into this ‘generals-are-nationalists-and-patriots’, how about viewing generals and ex-generals as ‘resource pimps’  and self-interested bastards with too much blood on their hand, for a change.  This way of re-reading Burmese politics has an added advantage of it being verifiably correct.

 

Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Burmese language, Kachin State, Muslim, Myanmar, Naypyidaw, Thein Sein