315Politics,
Economics &
,
Sanctions
Regardless of the many questions raised about the fairness of the pro-
cess, the 2010 elections have changed the political landscape in Myan-
mar. After decades of military dictatorship, there’s now a quasi-civilian
government and many new political parties, the most signifi cant of
which represent ethnic minorities. Declared illegal by the ruling pow-
ers, the National League for Democracy (NLD) continues to function,
in the eyes of both locals and the international community, as the main
opposition force and champion of democracy. It’s hard to know whether
the elections are a token attempt by the government to appease critics
or a substantive step along the path to an open and democratic society.
The political situation post-election is certainly more complex, and
the country’s economy is yet another can of worms. Having fi rst disas-
trously dabbled in socialist economics – and very nearly lost control of
the country in 1988 because of it – the military was saved at the eleventh
hour by trade deals for raw materials cut with neighbouring countries.
Enormous revenue has been gained from the export of natural gas, and
government fi gures now posit double-digit economic growth for Myan-
mar, which doesn’t exactly tally with the country’s status as one of the
poorest in the world.
In the meantime, the debate and policy diff erences continue in the
outside world over economic sanctions: their effi cacy in persuading
the government to become more democratic and stop violating human
rights, and whether they generally help or harm ordinary people in
Myanmar.
Politics
The Government/Military
Over the last 50 years, Myanmar’s rulers (aka the military) have adopted
a variety of guises. They started out as the Burma Socialist Programme
Party (BSPP) in 1962, which morphed into the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (Slorc) in 1988, which was then renamed the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997. In the run up to the
2010 election many in the upper echelons of the military resigned their
posts to become candidates for the military-backed Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP), which, to nobody’s surprise, was the victor
at the polls.
The names and some faces may have changed, but few people inside
or outside Myanmar believe that the military have relinquished control.
The Burma Campaign UK points out that ‘More than 80% of MPs come
David Steinberg’s
Burma/Myanmar:
What Everyone
Needs to Know
sheds light on
many aspects
of the country’s
complex situa-
tion via a series
of concise and
understandable
Q&As on history
and culture.Guy Delisle’s
Burma Chronicles
is a graphic ac-
count of the year
that the Canadian
cartoonist spent
in Myanmar
with his wife, an
administrator for
Medecins Sans
Frontières (MSF).
It’s both amusing
and horrifying,
covering topics
ranging from
electricity out-
ages to the heroin
shooting galleries
in Chinese-owned
jade-mine towns.