Understanding Myanmar

The September 2007 protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar have put a spotlight on the little-known Southeast Asian country for the first time in nearly twenty years. Protests in 1988 led to a crackdown by the ruling military junta that left an estimated three thousand people dead and intensified the country's isolation and poverty. Still known as Burma by some states, the country faces new scrutiny by the international community and competing calls for sanctions and greater engagement with the regime.

Background to the Protests

Myanmar, a country of 56 million people, has abundant natural resources such as oil, natural gas, timber, and minerals. Once known as the rice bowl of the world, it was the richest country in the region at the time it gained independence from colonial rule in 1948. But decades of military rule have ravaged the country. In 2005, according to the United Nations Statistics Division, Myanmar's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was only $217, making it one of the twenty-poorest countries in the world.

A government decision to make cuts to national fuel subsidies in mid-August increased diesel prices by a reported 100 percent and caused a five-fold increase in the price of compressed natural gas, placing inflationary pressure (PINR) on an economy already facing estimated inflation levels of 21.4 percent in 2006. The surging fuel prices provoked public protests, joined by thousands of monks, attracting international attention.

Limited International Influence on Regime

The United States imposed sanctions on the country after the 1988 crackdown, including a ban on the export of financial services and a freeze on the assets of certain Burmese institutions. Washington announced new sanctions in September 2007 after the junta moved to crush dissent. Since 2000, the United Nations has sent special envoys several times to promote political dialogue with the government and the opposition towards democratic reform but has made little progress. Several European Union states have also imposed sanctions on the regime. But, according to analysts, real influence lies with Myanmar's neighbors, Thailand, China and India.

Myanmar is "essentially a client state of China," says Mathea Falco, president of the Washington-based research institution Drug Strategies and chair of a 2003 CFR Independent Task Force on Myanmar. Bilateral trade between China and Myanmar exceeds $1.5 billion and China is one of the major suppliers of arms to the junta. China, along with Russia, has consistently defended the government against efforts by mainly Western states to press UN sanctions; in January 2007 they vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for democratic reform in the country. India, competing with China for Myanmar's oil and natural gas resources, shares extensive bilateral relations with the junta that include supplying it arms and conducting joint security operations.

Analysts still believe that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)--which accepted Myanmar as a member in 1997--may be able to put pressure on the junta to change its ways. But all earlier efforts by the bloc to seek political reconciliation in Myanmar have fallen on deaf ears. The Asian Development Bank (PDF) says Myanmar's junta made exports worth $4.3 billion and imported goods worth $3.9 billion in 2006.

Political History

A colony of the British Empire for more than a century, Myanmar achieved independence in 1948. The Union of Burma, as the newly independent country was called, started as a parliamentary democracy like most of its neighbors in the subcontinent that had recently gained freedom from colonial rule. It was beset by ethnic strife from the start. British authorities had been able to bring the different ethnic groups under some central administration. Soon after independence, however, the different groups began to resist domination by the Burman, the majority ethnic group. Burmans formed around 60 percent to 70 percent of the population in Burma; the remaining 30 percent to 40 percent was comprised of 135 different ethnic groups, with Karen, Shan, Rakhine, Chinese, Mon, and Indian among the largest.

Despite constitutional disputes, representative democracy survived in Burma until the military coup of 1962 led by General Ne Win. His regime, known as the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), held power for the next twenty-six years. Throughout this period, there were no free elections, and freedom of expression and association were almost entirely denied. Ne Win abolished the consititution and framed a new one in 1974 based on an isolationist policy, "Burmese Way to Socialism," and the economy deteriorated significantly.

By mid-1988, food shortages and economic discontent led to mass protests, often spearheaded by monks and students. The army seized power in a coup, abolished the 1974 constitution and silenced the protests by opening fire on unarmed dissidents, leaving more than three thousand dead, according to official figures. A year later in 1989, this new military regime, the junta changed the country's name from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar and the capital Rangoon was renamed Yangon. While the change in names has been accepted by the United Nations, countries such as the United States and Britain still refer to it as Burma. The junta also relocated the capital from the largest city Yangon to a remote mountainous town, Nay Pyi Taw, citing security reasons.

During the 1988 protests, Aung San Suu Kyi rose to prominence as the leader of the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1990, the junta held elections in which Suu Kyi garnered 82 percent of the vote despite being under house arrest. The military government refused to acknowledge the results, imprisoned many politicians, forced others to flee, and continued to clamp down on dissent, closing the country to the outside world. The junta renamed itself the State Peace and Development Council in November 1997 and continues under this name to the present day.

The State and Society in Myanmar

Largely a Buddhist country (90 percent of the population are devout followers of Buddha), Myanmar has around four-hundred thousand monks (Slate) and as many army personnel. The army has doubled in size since the 1988 uprising and now consumes over 40 percent (PINR) of the government's annual budget. The military has extensive economic interests and its members occupy top positions in almost every government agency. Only military personnel are allowed to own shares in the military-run corporations that form a significant part of the economy.

Falco of Drug Strategies says, "Myanmar does not have a civil society." Thaung Htun, a pro-democracy activist in exile in United States, says that many self-help groups work clandestinely in communities to offer relief and humanitarian assistance. Htun says members of such groups are often arrested and beaten by the military.