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Myanmar: A chance too good to miss,



Subject: Myanmar: A chance too good to miss, Japan Times July 3, 1996

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JAPAN TIMES 
July 3, 1996

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MYANMAR: A CHANCE TOO GOOD TO MISS
By M.S. Dobbs -  Higginson  (The Strait Times)

Myanmar represents a unique opportunity for
Japan.  

One may well ask -- why?  

The answer is multifaceted yet simple. Myanmar
(then known as Burma) turned to Japan in the
late 1930s for assistance in getting rid of
the British. But during World War II, the
Japanese occupied the country.  

Despite this development, the Myanmar people
have had, and continue to have, an admiration
for and an interest in Japan and the Japanese. 
 Today, Myanmar sees Japan as one of the
region's leaders -- as one of the major
players in the global arena, and as a country
with the technology and investment capital to
deploy in the region.  

It also sees Japan as being an important
counterbalance to China, and to the West's
continuing demands that the rest of the world
adopt its political system and, as a
consequence, its cultural values.  

>From Japan's perspective, Myanmar, with its
strong Buddhist base, its English language
proficiency, its defined English law - based
legal system, its abundant natural resources
and its demonstrated willingness to honor
promises and contracts once they are made, has
great appeal.  

It also has literacy rates equivalent to
Malaysia and Indonesia and higher than those
of China and India.  

All of these characteristics are already much
appreciated by the Japanese who have visited
Myanmar and particularly those who have also
had dealings with the Chinese and Vietnamese.  

What is most interesting is that, of all the
Asian countries' relationships, there are only
two sets of Asian countries that could develop
a special relationship which would be mutually
very beneficial -- Singapore and China, and
Japan and Myanmar.  

There is no question that Japan and Myanmar
could enjoy a special relationship. Myanmar
was the first Asian country to sign a
reparation and peace agreement with Japan.  

Myanmar was also the first to allow the
Japanese government access to the country to
search for, and retrieve, the remains of their
soldiers killed in action. Other Asian
countries provided access only much later,
with greater reluctance and much less
assistance.  

More importantly, despite the atrocities
committed by the Japanese Imperial Army in
Myanmar during World War II, retreating
Japanese troops were assisted toward the end
of the war, and some of those too ill to
travel were hidden and looked after by the
Myanmar people. When the war ended, Japanese
prisoners of war were treated well by the
local people, despite protests and even
punishment by the Allied powers.  

For these reasons, the Myanmar people are
disappointed in Japan for siding with the U.S.
policy and now not wholeheartedly offering aid
and other assistance to Myanmar.  

Myanmar is puzzled by the fact that Japan
seems incapable of developing a policy
position toward Myanmar independent of the
U.S.  

The rest of the Asian countries are
disappointed that Japan has not shown a more
genuine and proactive leadership toward
Myanmar, and toward Asia in general.  

They wonder why Japan has to look over its
shoulder nervously to see what the U.S.
government's reactions are to any of its Asian
initiatives.  

The West and Japan have been obsessed with
treating Aung Sang Suu Kyi as the elected
savior of the Myanmar people from the evil
military government. What nonsense!  

The Japanese media makes little effort to get
the facts, but instead portrays her as a
modern Joan of Arc.  

They fail to appreciate that she was the
daughter of Gen. Aung Sang, the original
leader of Burma's independence movement in
1947. She has spent 28 years out of Myanmar,
is married to an English academic, and had
returned to Rangoon only because her mother
was gravely ill  

Although a remarkable woman in many aspects,
she has no relevant qualifications to lead her
country. Many of her supporters allegedly
complain that she is arrogant, stubborn,
opinionated and often irrational because she
is ignorant of the facts relating to issues
being discussed.  

One such example is her recent comment
published in the April 23 edition of the
International Herald Tribune. She accused
Japanese investors of exploiting Myanmar
workers.  

She said: "Men, women and children toil away
without financial compensation under hard
(Japanese) taskmasters in scenes reminiscent
of the infamous railway of death," referring
to Japan's use of prisoners of war to build
the "Death Railway" from Burma to Thailand
during World War II.  

This statement raises all the ghosts of
Japan's past behavior. It is also untrue and
absurd.  

It is time, therefore, that the Japanese media
(and government) took a more objective look at
Suu Kyi.  

In Rangoon, she has held meetings with her NLD
party members and supporters recently to
prepare an alternative constitution under the
auspices of celebrating the sixth anniversary
of the NLD victory in the elections.  

Support in the international press for her
actions was oversimplified and somewhat
hysterical, considering the fact that the
current government did not employ any brutal
measures but merely detained some 250 members
of the NLD party, most of whom have already
been released.  

Although there is a law against public
gatherings without prior permission, the
government allowed Suu Kyi and her followers
to hold the meeting at her house They also
allowed foreign governments to observe the
meeting without any restrains -- something few
other emerging countries' governments would
have allowed.  

If, as the international press claims the
government was harsh and brutal why would they
have allowed this even to happen at all?  

In a city with a population of between and 5
million people, if the majority believes in
the NLD's position, namely the there should be
no aid, no foreign investment and no tourism
to Myanmar until democratic government has
been established, why was it that the NLD was
only able to attract a paltry crowd numbering
only 5,000 to 8,000?  

It is utter nonsense for Suu Kyi to say that
the current foreign aid, investment and
tourism benefit only the generals ir Myanmar
and do not in any way benefit the man in the
street.  In short, the whole international
media's view of Suu Ky and the NLD has led to
unbalanced reporting and misinformation on a
massive scale.  
Is the same international media giving the
same space and time to the fact that since the
NLD's meeting, there have been numerous
demonstrations in favor of the government's
policies and against the NLD?  

The international press and Japanese press
should read the extremely balanced article
entitled "Angels fear to tread" in The Asia
Times (June 5).  

While the article recognizes the contribution
that Suu Kyi and her NLD party has made, it
argues against their recommendations for
economic sanctions to be imposed and for a
constructive engagement of the current
government so as to allow the development of
an independent middle class and a more
democratic system of government.  

To sum it up, why should Japan follow the U.S.
government's foreign policy signals, which are
based on U.S. self interest?  

Surely, it is time for Japan to grow up for it
to take an adult, multidimensional view and
show some independent leadership toward
Myanmar and the Asian region.  

Asia would like to see it, the world would
respect Japan for it and Myanmar needs it.  

Japan could gain a unique and special
relationship with Myanmar, which could serve
both parties -- and Asia -- constructively in
the years ahead.  

M.S. Dobbs - Higginson,  author of "Asia
Pacific: Its Role in the New World Disorder, "
is a former chairman of Merrill - Lynch, Asia-Pacific region.  

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