How Can Myanmar ethnic cleansing be stopped?

[kalu_miah]

The only way to stop the ethnic cleansing is to arm the Rohingya's so they can defend themselves.

 

[Bond]

& who is going to do that? Bangladesh?

The only way to stop the ethnic cleansing is to arm the Rohingya's so they can defend themselves.

 

[kalu_miah]

Kokang incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kokang incident was a violent conflict or series of skirmishes that broke out in August 2009 in the Kokang Special Region (also known as Special Region 1) in Burma's (also known as Myanmar) northern Shan State.[5] Several clashes between the Burmese military junta forces (including the Myanmar Armed Forces, also known as Tatmadaw, and the Myanmar Police Force) and ethnic minorities have taken place.[6] As a result of the conflict, as many as 30,000 refugees have fled to Yunnan province in neighboring China.
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Although China has in the past supported the military junta,[4] this time it has warned Burma to end the situation, saying Burma should "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Myanmar border region"[6][7] and urging Burma to protect "Chinese citizens in Myanmar".[4] Chinese officials were said to be "furious" and "extermely upset" over not being forewarned about the offensive on the border.[42] Chinese and other analysts expressed concern that this conflict could lead to a civil war in Burma.[1][4] The Burmese Foreign Ministry later apologised to China about the incident, but also ran a story on the Dalai Lama in the government newspaper the Myanmar Times, the first mention of him in the state controlled Burmese media for 20 years.[42]
The United Nations has also expressed concern about reports of fighting and thousands of refugees fleeing across the border.[43] The United States government also voiced its concern, and called on the junta to end its military campaign against the cease-fire groups.[44]

 

[TopCat]

Sectarian problems won't be an issue for much longer (IMO anyway). These things are easily resolved when the economy booms. I'm pretty confident that Myanmar is on its way towards a very strong bull rally.

Well good luck on that. A small political change in central govt not going to change the situation on the ground over night. It takes decades of hard work for economic transformation. Yes, there will be a lot of vulture from outside to exploit Myanmar and you will see some newly formed billionaire in the horizon.

 

[alaungphaya]

Well good luck on that. A small political change in central govt not going to change the situation on the ground over night. It takes decades of hard work for economic transformation. Yes, there will be a lot of vulture from outside to exploit Myanmar and you will see some newly formed billionaire in the horizon.

Not particularly. If the financial capital and political will are there, infrastructural changes happen very, very quickly. Remember that Myanmar has historically been a prosperous and literate land. One factor that tips in our favour is that our literacy rate is 92%. There are already billionaires and I never thought that it would lead to paradise overnight. What I am saying is that we'll have a time-delayed 'Tiger' boom over the next decade.

 

[livingdead]

Not particularly. If the financial capital and political will are there, infrastructural changes happen very, very quickly. Remember that Myanmar has historically been a prosperous and literate land. One factor that tips in our favour is that our literacy rate is 92%. There are already billionaires and I never thought that it would lead to paradise overnight. What I am saying is that we'll have a time-delayed 'Tiger' boom over the next decade.

Are foreigners allowed to buy property in myanmar? Invest in stock?

 

[alaungphaya]

Are foreigners allowed to buy property in myanmar? Invest in stock?

For property, same as Thailand. You can buy apartments but not land. There is no stockmarket at the moment. Investors can invest directly in Burmese companies, however. We have the standard tax breaks and tax holidays for new companies and will be building special economic zones.

 

[TopCat]

Not particularly. If the financial capital and political will are there, infrastructural changes happen very, very quickly. Remember that Myanmar has historically been a prosperous and literate land. One factor that tips in our favour is that our literacy rate is 92%. There are already billionaires and I never thought that it would lead to paradise overnight. What I am saying is that we'll have a time-delayed 'Tiger' boom over the next decade.

Where the financial capital going to come from? Out of thin air? And entrepreneurship and technology know how does not come overnight. Trust me, we been through this. You can follow a shortcut path like Thailand and make your country a open brothel for the world yet its not gonna take you that much (Thailand itself is an example).

 

[Zabaniyah]

Where the financial capital going to come from? Out of thin air? And entrepreneurship and technology know how does not come overnight. Trust me, we been through this. You can follow a shortcut path like Thailand and make your country a open brothel for the world yet its not gonna take you that much (Thailand itself is an example).

Actually, Thailand has developed its infrastructure pretty quickly. It all happened right in front of people's eyes. But there was a catch - the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

They never had the shenanigan levels as high as Burma. But then, Thailand doesn't have the same level of awesomeness as Malaysia or Singapore.

Investors always want to invest in a stable environment. And political reform in Burma will take time.

 

[INDIC]

I thought the security issues in NE India are more or less resolved?

Anyway, I hope that the Rohingya issue is solved at some point in time.

ASEAN countries have GDP of more than $650 billion, transit through Myanmar opens up a huge market for India and more opportunies in North-East India. We can ignore Bangladesh but not Myanmar.

& who is going to do that? Bangladesh?

Kalu_miah and Kobiraaz are busy in proving that Myanmar is destined to fail and disintegate after their dream of having rail link to China got shattered.

 

[kalu_miah]

ASEAN countries have GDP of more than $650 billion, transit through Myanmar opens up a huge market for India and more opportunies in North-East India. We can ignore Bangladesh but not Myanmar.

Kalu_miah and Kobiraaz are busy in proving that Myanmar is destined to fail and disintegate after their dream of having rail link to China got shattered.

Rohingya issue will be resolved eventually, in the meantime we will connect by sea with other ASEAN nations. From what I have seen in these few days, Myanmar is like another Afghanistan, there is active insurgencies still ongoing, Kachin and Karen are the two main ones. There is no hope for land link via Myanmar any time soon, for India or Bangladesh. But when you do, it will bring India's doom, as NE states will increasingly look more towards Mekong Delta states to their richer and more developed ethnic kin and look away from Delhi, which may not be good for India's position in NE in the long term. So you better clean up your act in NE with more charm offensive, you are going to need them badly in the future.

ASEAN GDP is actually 2 trillion, with half India's population, so it is twice as wealthy, mainly due to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.

 

[TopCat]

ASEAN countries have GDP of more than $650 billion, transit through Myanmar opens up a huge market for India and more opportunies in North-East India. We can ignore Bangladesh but not Myanmar.

ASEAN is a huge market but your North East is not. What do you produce in NE?

Kalu_miah and Kobiraaz are busy in proving that Myanmar is destined to fail and disintegate after their dream of having rail link to China got shattered.

Myanmar is tough subject that they did not know.

 

[alaungphaya]

Where the financial capital going to come from? Out of thin air? And entrepreneurship and technology know how does not come overnight. Trust me, we been through this. You can follow a shortcut path like Thailand and make your country a open brothel for the world yet its not gonna take you that much (Thailand itself is an example).

Oh trust me. There are plenty of willing financiers out there. Remember that Myanmar is an infintely more resource rich country than yours and despite military rule and complete sanctions, out GDP per-capita still outperforms yours by a little bit (that's despite ours haven fallen for 50 years). It was not so long ago that our per-capita GDP was above India's and about equal to China (as recently as the 90's). Also remember that literacy rates are much higher than in South Asia and that our education system, despite neglect, is still punching above its weight (I myself went through an excellent education in Yangon before moving to the west).

Here's what Joseph Stiglitz has to say about it:

YANGON – Here in Myanmar (Burma), where political change has been numbingly slow for a half-century, a new leadership is trying to embrace rapid transition from within. The government has freed political prisoners, held elections (with more on the way), begun economic reform, and is intensively courting foreign investment.
This illustration is by Chris Van Es and comes from <a href="http://www.newsart.com">NewsArt.com</a>, and is the property of the NewsArt organization and of its artist. Reproducing this image is a violation of copyright law.Illustration by Chris Van Es

Understandably, the international community, which has long punished Myanmar&#8217;s authoritarian regime with sanctions, remains cautious. Reforms are being introduced so fast that even renowned experts on the country are uncertain about what to make of them.

But it is clear to me that this moment in Myanmar&#8217;s history represents a real opportunity for permanent change &#8211; an opportunity that the international community must not miss. It is time for the world to move the agenda for Myanmar forward, not just by offering assistance, but by removing the sanctions that have now become an impediment to the country&#8217;s transformation.

So far, that transformation, initiated following legislative elections in November 2010, has been breathtaking. With the military, which had held exclusive power from 1962, retaining some 25% of the seats, there were fears that the election would be a façade. But the government that emerged has turned out to reflect fundamental concerns of Myanmar&#8217;s citizens far better than was anticipated.

Under the leadership of the new president, Thein Sein, the authorities have responded to calls for a political and economic opening. Progress has been made on peace agreements with ethnic-minority insurgents &#8211; conflicts rooted in the divide-and-rule strategy of colonialism, which the country&#8217;s post-independence rulers maintained for more than six decades. The Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not only released from house arrest, but is now campaigning hard for a parliamentary seat in April&#8217;s by-elections.

On the economic front, unprecedented transparency has been introduced into the budgetary process. Expenditures on health care and education have been doubled, albeit from a low base. Licensing restrictions in a number of key areas have been loosened. The government has even committed itself to moving towards unifying its complicated exchange-rate system.

The spirit of hope in the country is palpable, though some older people, who saw earlier moments of apparent relaxation of authoritarian rule come and go, remain cautious. Perhaps that is why some in the international community are similarly hesitant about easing Myanmar&#8217;s isolation. But most Burmese sense that if changes are managed well, the country will have embarked on an irreversible course.

In February, I participated in seminars in Yangon (Rangoon) and the recently constructed capital, Naypyidaw, organized by one of the country&#8217;s leading economists, U Myint. The events were momentous, owing both to large and actively engaged audiences (more than a thousand in Yangon), and to the thoughtful and moving presentations by two world-famous Burmese economists who had left the country in the 1960&#8217;s and were back for their first visit in more than four decades.

My Columbia University colleague Ronald Findlay pointed out that one of them, 91-year-old Hla Myint, who had held a professorship at the London School of Economics, was the father of the most successful development strategy ever devised, that of an open economy and export-led growth. That blueprint has been used throughout Asia in recent decades, most notably in China. Now, perhaps, it has finally come home.

I delivered a lecture in Myanmar in December 2009. At that time, one had to be careful, given the government&#8217;s sensitivities, even about how one framed the country&#8217;s problems &#8211; its poverty, lack of rural productivity, and unskilled workforce. Now caution has been replaced by a sense of urgency in dealing with these and other challenges, and by awareness of the need for technical and other forms of assistance. (Relative to its population and income, Myanmar is one of the world&#8217;s smallest recipients of international assistance.)

There is much debate about what explains the rapidity of Myanmar&#8217;s current pace of change. Perhaps its leaders recognized that the country, once the world&#8217;s largest rice exporter, was falling far behind its neighbors. Perhaps they heard the message of the Arab Spring, or simply understood that, with more than three million Burmese living abroad, it was impossible to isolate the country from the rest of the world or prevent ideas from seeping in from its neighbors. Whatever the reason, change is occurring, and the opportunity that it represents is undeniable.

But many of the international sanctions, whatever their role in the past, now seem counterproductive. Financial sanctions, for instance, discourage the development of a modern and transparent financial system, integrated with the rest of the world. The resulting cash-based economy is an invitation to corruption.
Likewise, restrictions that prevent socially responsible companies based in advanced industrial countries from doing business in Myanmar have left the field open to less scrupulous firms. We should welcome Myanmar&#8217;s desire for guidance and advice from multilateral institutions and the United Nations Development Program; instead, we continue to limit the role that these institutions can play in the country&#8217;s transition.

Whenever we withhold assistance or impose sanctions, we need to think carefully about who bears the burden in bringing about the changes that we seek. Opening up trade in agriculture and textiles &#8211; and even providing preferences of the kind that are offered to other poor countries &#8211; would likely benefit directly the poor farmers who make up 70% of the population, as well as create new jobs. The wealthy and powerful can circumvent financial sanctions, though at a cost; ordinary citizens cannot so easily escape the impact of international-pariah status.

We have seen the Arab Spring blossom haltingly in a few countries; in others, it is still uncertain whether it will bear fruit. Myanmar&#8217;s transition is in some ways quieter, without the fanfare of Twitter and Facebook, but it is no less real &#8211; and no less deserving of support.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/burma-s-turn

 

[Zabaniyah]

ASEAN countries have GDP of more than $650 billion, transit through Myanmar opens up a huge market for India and more opportunies in North-East India. We can ignore Bangladesh but not Myanmar.

As I have said before, Myanmar will take time.

Bangladesh will benefit from linking with Myanmar. There's tremendous potential for BD-Myanmar trade in the future. And I'm sure the same applies to India-Myanmar trade.

Bangladesh linking with India? I'm not too sure since there's a lack of transparency on the issue. But then, the project isn't a financially feasible one either.

 

[alaungphaya]

As I have said before, Myanmar will take time.

Bangladesh will benefit from linking with Myanmar. There's tremendous potential for BD-Myanmar trade in the future. And I'm sure the same applies to India-Myanmar trade.

Bangladesh linking with India? I'm not too sure since there's a lack of transparency on the issue. But then, the project isn't a financially feasible one either.

Trust me when I say that Bangladesh is not a priority. This is not a biased assessment in anyway. Our priorities are to extend links with China, open links with India and solidify our position with Thailand. All BD can provide is a mass of cheap labour. This is not a priority for the Burmese. Do not be surprised if you get looked over in the coming decades. You're a higher priority that Laos, though. I'll give you that.