As Scrutiny Grows, Burma Moves Its Capital

The information minister, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, said in an interview that the shift to Pyinmana would not interfere with government operations. "The movement to Pyinmana will be made step by step to ensure no difficulties for service personnel and to ensure continued function of the departments," he said.

But civil servants have told their families that few buildings are ready in the new capital, located about 20 miles west of the existing town of Pyinmana in a region with one of the country's highest rates of malaria. Government housing remains unfinished, with electricity and water supplies running short. In one ministry building, about 90 people slept on the floor. Higher-ranking officials camped out atop desks and tables. There were few signs of the schools, hospitals, shopping mall and luxury hotels the government has promised.

"You know there's no psychiatric hospital in Pyinmana," a government official quipped. "They'll need one because everyone is going to go crazy."

The move has divided extended families, and parents are to be separated even from their children, at least until schools are built in Pyinmana. For civil servants, who often moonlight or sell their government gasoline allowances on the black market to supplement monthly pay of $20 or less, it also means they may lose their main sources of income. There is no ready market in Pyinmana.

Kyaw Hsan said shifting the capital to the center of the country was designed to help develop Burma's outlying regions, where the government has been trying to ensure peace after years of insurgency by minority ethnic groups.

"It's good for the future as regards management and administration of the country," the information minister said.

Some foreign diplomats and Burmese exiles attribute the move more to the regal presumptions of Than Shwe, 74, who has ruled for 13 years and may be seeking to build a legacy like Burmese kings of old. They noted he had already established a new military district to include Pyinmana and dubbed it Naypyidaw, or Royal City.

Diplomats and exiles said the new location could also prove more defensible, with a vast military complex being built nearby, nestled against the mountains and, some say, housed partly in underground tunnels. The new location could also insulate the government from potential unrest generated by students and others suffering mounting hardships in the rest of the country, especially Rangoon.

Two months ago, without advance notice or explanation, the government slashed fuel subsidies, hiking gasoline prices by nine times, and then boosted bus fares by as much as five times, forcing many day laborers to stay home rather than look for work.

"We can't understand the reasons," said a man named Aung, who works for a foreign company. "Who suffers? Only the ordinary people, the office workers, government workers, gardeners. Inflation is tremendous. Our money is worthless."

The escalating fuel prices have stoked inflation, now running as high as 40 percent annually, up from about 10 percent a year ago, according to statistics compiled for a Western embassy. U.N. agencies report that malnutrition, rural landlessness and school dropout rates are all on the rise.

"People are suffering. But they can't complain. Good or bad, people have no right to say anything," said a Burmese businessman.