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| The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon |
Me and my wife Neha took a 10-day holiday in Myanmar early this month. Here are our first impressions
Burma, now officially known as Myanmar, has an old worldly
charm that India’s north eastern states once had: green topography, laidback
atmosphere, poor but proud and ever smiling, courteous people.
But first impressions can also be misleading.
Beneath the surface, however there are stirrings of change
that are far reaching. The transition from military rule to democracy is of course
the obvious sign of change in Myanmar but more importantly, the economy is
gradually moving from a centralised, socialist system towards a more
competitive, and open system.
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| Airports are busy with domestic flights |
For close to five decades, Myanmar fitted the description ‘rich
poor land.’ Endowed with tremendous natural and mineral wealth, its 60 million
people have however largely languished in extreme poverty. A change in
direction by its rulers, especially under President U Thein Sein, has brought
Myanmar on the cusp of a paradigm shift much in the same way as India found
itself in 1991.
Since 201Myanmar has abolished its old currency exchange
regime, restructured its international debt, worked very hard to end decades
old economic sanctions and changed its investment laws and policies.
But traveling across some parts of the country, it is more
than apparent that Myanmar’s rulers have decided to put the welfare and uplift
of its common citizens at the centre of the change. Infrastructure development
in the form of roads, telecom, electricity supply and transport services is
improving rapidly. Even the civil aviation sector is growing rapidly with as many
as a dozen private low cost airliners now connecting the distant small towns in
remote provinces giving a boost to tourism like never before. |
| Bagan: the ancient capital |
The common people are upbeat. Whoever I met—hotel managers,
restaurant owners, taxi drivers, Indian origin businessmen, government
officials, tourist guides—think their country is poised for an unprecedented
change and growth. Economic development is on everyone’s mind. The living
standards, they all say in unison, are improving; purchasing power is bound to
go up. But many also had a word of caution: rapid changes should not destroy
the country’s long tradition.
CHINA FACTOR
I had been to the country’s north almost 10 years ago via
Moreh-Tamu and that too up to Kelemeyo. So this was virtually a first long trip.
And the affinity toward India was for there to see everywhere. The most
frequent starting point for conversation with us, once people ascertained we
were Indians, was: “Do you know Gaya? Have you been to Gaya? Buddha was an
Indian, no?”
Buddhism is ingrained in every walk of life. And the instant
connect to India comes from Buddhism. And Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Was
surprised to learn people still remember the Azad Hind Fauj and its exploits.
And yet, we don’t have any direct flights between Myanmar
and Gaya by any Indian airliner or even
a memorial for the INA in Myanmar.
China and Chinese on the other hand are often described as
exploiters, people only interested in business and making money. The sense one
gets from commoners and government middle level functionaries is China no longer
calls the shots in Myanmar. Enough reports are available in public domain how
the Myanmar government is distancing itself from many Chinese projects and even
dropping Chinese companies from key infrastructure projects, but the important
aspect to me was to see and hear even common people openly despising the
Chinese and criticising Chinese goods and their quality.
Most common people I could converse with, wanted Indian
goods—trucks, vehicles, clothes, hardware, and even Indian soap operas—to come
to Myanmar. Most complained about India and Indians not doing enough to
reconnect with their country. It is reflected in the way we Indians neglect
Myanmar as a tourist destination. The official figures tell their own story.
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| The famous Inlya Lake fisherman |
In the period between January and June this year, over
95,000 Thais visited Myanmar, followed by 60,000 Chinese and 31,000 North Americans.
Only 15,429 Indians deigned to tour the next door and beautiful neighbour in
this period. Tourists from distant countries such as Japan (38,000), UK
(20,000), France (21,000) and even Korea and Taiwan outnumbered Indians. It
says something about our priorities and world view perhaps.
India’s indifference is reflected in air connectivity or
lack of it too. There is only ONE weekly direct flight to Yangon from Kolkata. Otherwise
one has to fly via Bangkok or Singapore.
WHAT INDIA NEEDS TO DO
Two years
ago then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went to Myanmar and described India and
Myanmar as "natural partners."He suggested tapping the huge unrealised potential of the economic relationship between the two countries for mutual benefit. During that two-day trip, India and Myanmar signed a number of agreements and put in place a road map for the rapid development relations in the years ahead.
As diplomatic visits go, it was a great success. But it takes more than usual platitudes to translate a triumphant state visit into a long lasting relationship, coming as this one does after a relatively low profile engagement over the past decade.
In fact the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Myanmar came after leaders from Bangladesh, US, South Korea and Britain had already made their forays into Myanmar. New Delhi, ever so cautious -- or laggard, depending on the prism through which one sees its approach -- has only now tentatively taken the first steps to cash in on Myanmar's opening up. As the Prime Minister pointed out: "Myanmar, with its unique" geographic location, can be a bridge linking South and South East Asia to East Asia and there is much untapped potential in our economic relationship."
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| The Mahamuni pagoda in Mandalay |
After all, India has a major partnership with her neighbouring ASEAN countries in trade and investment.
Myanmar, now a member of ASEAN, has become a major link between India and ASEAN countries. And North East, particularly Manipur ought to become the center of thriving and integrated economic space linking two dynamic regions with a network of highways, railways, pipeline, and transmission lines crisscrossing the region.
And therefore development of the North East is thus integral to India's policy on Myanmar.
Indian private sector companies have a good track record of setting up greenfield airports and ports. These could be additional areas of our collaboration.
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| The beautiful Inlya Lake in Shan State |
Manipur, shares a 398-km border with Myanmar. But more importantly the border town of Moreh has been a traditional trading hub with Myanmar and therefore has vast potential to become a major export centre from India for the South-East Asian region. Here's why: According to available statistics, bilateral trade between India and Myanmar more than doubled between 2005 and 2010, expanding from $557 million to $1.2 billion, most of it through Moreh. Disappointingly though, it pales in comparison to the bilateral trade between China and Myanmar which in 2010 amounted to an estimated $3 billion.
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| A mother with her child outside a Pagoda: Happy people |
Thus, with the coming of the Asian Highway, Myanmar will become the point of convergence as well as the linking route between India and the other South-East Asian countries. That, in turn, will lead to the creation of more secure and safe living spaces for the populace residing on either side of the border.
But there are apprehensions too. Local people in the North East fear that the opening of the Asian Highway and absence of inadequate enforceable regulation on immigration, illegal migration into the region may increase manifold. Also past promises have not been translated into real progress.
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| Us at the Mandalay Palace |
Alas, that was not to be.
It is the failure of actualising intent that rankles in Manipur. That, combined with multiple frustrations emanating from prolonged bouts of economic blockades, a state administration in terminal atrophy and the continued and unchallenged writ of underground armed groups, has left the people despondent. It is this hopelessness that the Centre and state government must work hard to overcome. For that, a solution to long-standing ethnic insurgencies has to be found in double-quick time.
Now is the time to press for peace and security in Manipur since politics in Myanmar are undergoing a dramatic change. With the junta taking tentative steps towards genuine democracy and showing signs of warming towards India, New Delhi must seize this moment to establish lasting trade and cultural ties with its eastern neighbour. But before India can play a larger role in Maynmar, it needs to fix Manipur's broken socio-political landscape.
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| A superb holiday destination so far ignored by Indians |
