Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar
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Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar This book examines security in Myanmar, focusing in particular on Myanmar’s response to the international policies which have impacted on its development since 1988. It analyses the nexus between political poverty and economic poverty, arguing that Myanmar’s endemic poverty is not merely a collection of unenviable socio-economic indices, but it is also a function of ‘political’ poverty and of the lack of ‘capabilities’ for the general population to participate fully in the nation’s governance, resources and future. It demonstrates that freedom from want and freedom from fear (of the regime) are intimately related, and that economic insecurity is a product of the political insecurity that arises from a lack of secure property rights, a modern legal system, an independent judiciary and the opportunity for most citizens to participate fully in the political governance of their country. Helen James is a Visiting Fellow with the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. She researches Thai and Myanmar history, politics and international relations with particular attention to civil society, human security, governance and sustainable development. Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series 1 Land Tenure, Conservation and 7 Violent Conflicts in Indonesia Development in Southeast Asia Analysis, representation, Peter Eaton resolution Edited by Charles A. Coppel 2 The Politics of Indonesia– Malaysia Relations 8 Revolution, Reform and One kin, two nations Regionalism in Joseph Chinyong Liow Southeast Asia Cambodia, Laos and 3 Governance and Civil Society in Vietnam Myanmar Ronald Bruce St John Education, health and environment Helen James 9 The Politics of Tyranny in Singapore and Burma 4 Regionalism in Post-Suharto Aristotle and the rhetoric of Indonesia benevolent despotism Edited by Maribeth Erb, Stephen McCarthy Priyambudi Sulistiyanto and Carole Faucher 10 Ageing in Singapore Service needs and the State 5 Living with Transition in Laos Peggy Teo, Kalyani Mehta, Market integration in Thang Leng Leng and Southeast Asia Angelique Chan Jonathan Rigg 11 Security and Sustainable 6 Christianity, Islam and Development in Nationalism in Indonesia Myanmar Charles E. Farhadian Helen James Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar Helen James I~ ~?io~f~;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2006 by Routledge Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2006 Helen James Typeset in Times New Roman by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd, Chennai, India The Open Access version of this book, available at www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data James, Helen, 1947– Security and sustainable development in Myanmar / Helen James. p.cm. – (Routledge contemporary Southeast Asia series; 11) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Human rights – Burma. 2. Social rights – Burma. 3. Internal security – Burma. 4. Sustainable development – Political aspects – Burma. 5. Civil society – Burma. 6. Burma – Politics and government – 1988– 7. Burma – Social policy. 8. Burma – Economic policy – 1988– 9. Burma – Foreign relations. I. Title. II. Series. JC599.B87 J36 2006 338.9591Ј07–dc22 2006010008 ISBN13: 978–0–415–35559–9 (hbk) This book is dedicated to The Tuesday Club and absent friends Contents List of plates viii Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii List of abbreviations xv Map of Myanmar xvii Prologue 1 1 Introduction: holistic and human security – concepts and contexts 8 2 The security discourse in Myanmar: regime, state and people 35 3 The seven horsemen of the apocalypse: strategies for effective poverty alleviation amongst the peoples of the poppy cultures 58 4 Myanmar’s external relations in regional context: security enhancement 103 5 Myanmar and the West: sanctions, engagement and security 125 6 Civil society and the political ecology of sustainable development: empowerment, opportunity and participation 141 7 Conclusion: towards a more civil society? 165 Notes 177 Bibliography 207 Index 221 Plates 3.1 Mong Pauk hospital on Myanmar–China border 62 3.2 Yong Kha hospital and market gardens 63 3.3 Front view of Yong Kha hospital 63 3.4 Helen James with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) 64 3.5 Lunch outside Kengtung 64 3.6 Ethnic minority (Shan) women, Kengtung market 65 3.7 Helen James, Kengtung hill 66 3.8 The tallest tree, 500 metres in height, Kengtung hill – used during civil war as target practice 66 3.9 Villagers Mong Pyan (1) 69 3.10 Villagers Mong Pyan (2) 69 3.11 Mong Pyan welcome band, villagers and helicopter 70 3.12 Mong Pyan truck and welcome (1) 71 3.13 Mong Pyan truck and welcome (2) 71 3.14 Welcome by children, Wan Hong poppy replacement project 72 3.15 Yong Kha village project 75 3.16 Yong Kha school and market gardens 76 3.17 Yong Kha school and school bell made from wheel hub 76 3.18 Nurses Yong Kha hospital 77 3.19 Patient examination room Yong Kha hospital 77 3.20 Young soldiers in the UWSA – Wan Hong welcome band 78 3.21 Welcome at Wan Hong poppy replacement project, showing fruit (Mandarin) trees, in background 78 3.22 Provincial Headquarters, Wa Special Region No. 1, showing fruit orchards in background 79 3.23 UNODC funded water viaduct for rice fields – Mong Ka 80 3.24 Lahu dancers Kengtung hotel (1) 81 3.25 Lahu dancers Kengtung hotel (2) 81 3.26 Tachilek–Mae Sai Border Gate, Thai–Myanmar Border 84 Foreword Myanmar is a curious and sad example of a poor and weak state struggling with the ever-increasing changes and growing demands of the modern world. As Dr James points out, its history, its political and cultural sensitivity and its fissiporous character have made this struggle particularly difficult and demand- ing. The consequence has been a series of coups and repressive governments, followed by isolation by the West and yet further impoverishment of Myanmar’s people and still greater paranoia amongst the Myanmar military elite. It is this dilemma for powerful Western states, led by the United States, and for the leaders of the ASEAN and other states, which surround Myanmar, that Dr James sets out to place in its historical context and to illuminate. The author lived in Thailand for many years and has travelled extensively in Myanmar. She is one of the few Western experts on the country. Her reflections on all concerned, successive administrations in Washington, ASEAN governments and the Myanmar armed forces challenge much of the conventional wisdom and are all the more valuable as a consequence. Her conclusions about the short-term prospects are gloomy; change in the military leadership offers the best prospects for the establishment of a fairer, more open and thus more prosperous society in Myanmar. Unfortunately, since General Khin Nyunt’s dismissal, the situation has actually deteriorated, although the progress he made in quieting many of the groups fighting central control has not been reversed. Meanwhile Myanmar tries to balance its relationship between the growing power of China on one side and the growing power of India on the other. China has increased its investment in the country to fill the vacuum left by the with- drawal of United States’ aid and investment. India has also been helpful fearing that Sino-Myanmar rapprochement and Pakistani hostility could give it enemies on almost all sides. Thailand is supportive because it dreads instability in Myanmar leading to massive refugee flows. Japan has been Myanmar’s largest aid donor and it is salutary for a Western reader to note Dr James’ suggestion that Japanese friendship can be traced back to Tokyo’s invasion of the country in 1942 and the 100,000 Japanese who died there. British and Australian readers may have x Foreword rather different memories of Japanese actions and Dr James’ insights add to the richness and interest of her text. Anyone reading what she has to say and meditating her wide literary and political allusions will emerge challenged and enlightened. Philip Towle Centre of International Studies University of Cambridge November 2005 Preface This book is a companion to my earlier volume, Governance and Civil Society in Myanmar: Education, Health and Environment (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005). Whereas that book examined Myanmar’s domestic policies and the frame- work in which such policies were being implemented, the current volume, Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar, seeks to examine the country’s response to the international policies that have impacted on its development since 1988. The short-lived ‘reform’ program (1997–2004) has come to a halt. By walk- ing a tightrope between power groups that incline to no compromise with either the domestic opposition or the international community (which has been urging it to greater acceptance of democratic norms), the small band of internationally savvy technocrats who were conscious that the country could not remain frozen in the aspic of its socialist past, sought to transform the country from within; today, most are either in jail or purged from their posts. For all sides in the acrimonious debate that has ensued over the future governance of Myanmar, the concept of security has been central; whether security from external invasion and internal subversion, international pressure, cyber-attacks by the diaspora, or from the arbitrariness of the oppressive authoritarian state apparatus, which, for over 40 years, has made the lives of ordinary (and not so ordinary) Myanmar/Burmese citizens ‘insecure’. At the time of writing, the country is the object of a concerted effort by its antagonists in the international arena to activate measures that they hope could lead to UN Security Council sanctioned intervention.