Thursday 27 September 2007

Myanmar: time for int'l (economic) policy

How things will evolve in Myanmar is a mystery, but it seems that the near future, as it was in the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations, will be written with blood. Recent demonstrations in the country began because the military junta decided, in mid August, to rise fuel prices.

Despite this decision, the growing discontent among Myanmar's people lies in the lack of advancements in terms of political and civil rights as well as in the lack of improvements in the social conditions in a country blessed with nowadays highly profitable natural resources such as oil, gas and precious metals but also with rampant corruption, as stated by a recent report on this issue written by the NGO Transparency International. Moreover, at the beginning of September, a constitutional commission appointed fourteen years ago by the Myanmar's military junta to outline the principles of a new constitution finished its works. The result was really disappointed given the proven anxiety of freedom revealed by the population.

Last day, George Bush said, at the UN General Assembly, that the US would tighten existing economic sanctions on the country. Bla, bla, bla. Unfortunately, the solution seems to lie far away from the UN, and even further from the US or the West. Solution lies within Myanmar's borders. Contrary to Arab countries, this seems to be a bottom-up revolution but international pressure can help.

However, recent years of isolation imposed from this side of the world have been used by other countries from the region to obtain profitable contracts to extract those so-demanded energy primary sources. The principal trade partners of Myanmar: Russia, India, Thailand and other country members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - ASEAN but especially China, should play a major role in this issue. Only a coordinated action from the world can avoid bloodshed

On our side, and given the lack of capacity that we normal dwellers have to impact on these kind of issues in the international arena, we, consumers in developed countries, should investigate and check whether any of our companies is operating there and force them to quit countries with the political characteristics of Myanmar.

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