This is actually a serious question that everyone who is thinking about travelling to or in Burma has to answer himself and it’s actually not so easy to answer this question. I try to explain.
Why is this a question and how is Burma/Myanmar like?
Burma/Myanmar is a country of 47 million people that is ruled by a brutal military dictatorship since 1962, the longest still lasting military dictatorship on the planet. 500.000 soldiers (as many as 70,000 child soldiers – more than any other country in the world) back the whole system that is famous for inprisoning political “dissidents”, cracking down peaceful demonstrations, seizing foreign aid donations and cutting off the burmese people from the rest of the world. Nearly half of the government budget is spent on the military and just 0,15€ per person per year on health. Organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other groups have repeatedly detailed long lists of human rights violations with cases of abuses, including murder, torture, rape, detention without trial, massive forced relocations, and forced labor in the country. There are not a lot countries who still have such a hardline government with so less freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of movement like Myanmar. Beside this country you can maybe mention North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and Cuba. Burmese people are not allowed to leave the country, a mobile phone sim-card costs about 1000US$ (not affordable for 99,9% of the people in Myanmar), internet connections are limited to 256kbs, to limit the number of users (only 0,1% of the population has internet access) and all media is controlled and dictated by the military. In situations like 2007, when peaceful demonstrations try to express the dissatisfection in the country, the government tends to cut off all internet access of the country for several days (just two governments in the world ever did that – Myanmar and Nepal) to ensure that as less as possible informations leave from and arrive in the country. Also the government refused foreign aid after Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 which caused 85.000 deaths in the Iddarwady Delta.
So, Burma is mostly governed by fear and no outsider is happy about the situation as it appears in this forgotten country today, that is clear, but the real question about it is how to handle this situation and how to support the people in the country?
The opinions vary…
Boycott Myanmar!
Most of the people who support the “Boycott Burma”-campaign see visitors as a symbolic stamp of approval for the Myanmar government and ask people to stay away from the country. Definitely, it’s true. You can’t visit Myanmar giving an approval to the military dictatorship. Already the visa you obtain will fill the pockets of the generals and will help them to ensure their dictatorship. The government used forced labour to build tourist infrastructure and services as well as the forced relocation of thousands of families to build hotels etc. Without any tourists, the government wouldn’t do that, that’s for sure. Some activist groups like the “Burma Campaign UK” claims that “almost all money goes to the regime’s pocket in one way or another” and they come out in favour of a total embargo (economically) of Myanmar to dry out the military dictatorship and their financial power. Another reason to stay away from Burma is maybe that Aung San Suu Kyi, the house arrested voice of the National League for Democracy, asked tourists not to come.
“Nowhere else in the world have human rights abuses and tourism been so closely linked.” Burma Campaign UK
Visit Burma!
The most people in Burma want you to come, inclusive veterans of the 1988 prodemocracy protests and argue that, if you spent your money carefully, 80% of your money will stay in the peoples hand and won’t go to the government. And this, the spreading of tourist money, is almost the only way to get money into the country without supporting the government. Bank transactions to Burma are not possible and all investments western companies do will go through the government and will support the government directly. The UK-based “Voices Of Burma”-campaign for example draws a clear line between tourism, that will have a positive effect and tourism, that will have a negative effect. “By accepting the standard boycott view we miss an important opportunity to help the Burmese people.” They promote staying at private guesthouses, travelling off-the-beaten track and ensuring that for every Dollar that goes to the government you should make sure to spent two in the private sector. But the protourism campaigns don’t only see a positive effect in tourism by bringing some money into the country, they see the very important point, that burmese people will have the possibility to talk to people from outside Myanmar. Locals see, that they are not forgotten and visitors take away images and stories that will be shared outside of Burma. Human rights violations also are less likely to occur in areas where international visitors are present.
But of course, the main question is, whether the money you bring is what keeps the junta in power. In days ago the government hoped that tourism will bring a huge source of hard currency into the country. It’s clear now that they’ve depended little on it. The absolute biggest part of their income is from the trade of gems, timber, textiles and, most notably, oil and gas (Myanmar receives, at most, 0,7% of their GDP from tourism, calculated by CIA statistics). And that’s something the European Union, the USA or other countries and companies should take care about, people can’t change that by themselves.
“Isolation is the regime’s default condition. It is what fuels the present system. Burma might not become a democracy overnight, but it will certainly improve with more outside interaction. Would Indonesia be better off if no one had visited during its 30 years of military rule?”
Thant Myint-U, author of “River of Lost Foot Steps”, on the boycott of Burma/Myanmar
My decision:
Beside all that stuff above, of course, personal interests play a role in all the thoughts as well. My world travels are named “The No Planes Project” and I want to travel around the world without taking an airplane. I would have to take an airplane to get into Myanmar, as all roads from the border crossings into the country are closed for foreigners (as many other roads are as well). Flying from Bangkok to Rangoon and back will be the only option.
Another point is, that I’m really interested in the country and the military dictatorship. Not in a way of sensation tourism or something like that, but in general I’m very interested in politics and I think it will be a very educational and interesting visit for me.
I will go to Myanmar.
In my opinion, I think it’s good to visit the country. The best example of this I see every day in the country where I am at the moment: Vietnam. Off limit to visitors and isolated to the rest of the world 20 years ago, it’s an open-minded country with open people nowadays (ok, there is still a communist dictatorship here and no freedom of press, but people can leave the country and they have uncensored internet access, access to foreign media and books, can interact with foreign people etc., at all it feels relatively free here).
I hope to talk to people in Myanmar, to tell them about the world outside and to learn something I can take with me and tell other people around the world. I hope to create at least a little public (for example with this blog) and open some eyes for the situation and the people there.
P.S.: I don’t see the “No Planes Project” as over. The flights (just one hour in each direction) from Bangkok to Rangoon and back don’t bring me forward one single meter and it’s the only legal way to enter the country – overland travel is just not possible, and somehow my principle of taking no flights isn’t as important for me as the experience Burma, especially in this case.
further information:
Burma Campaign UK
Free Burma Coalition
i read a report just now, maybe burma is not as occlusive as you saw. but still there are internet bars on chinatown and indian street, just slower. and the websites dont be blocked, the information freedom even better than China.just not”convenience”. but still, it’s a shade below the bright sunshine.