The two ills of Myanmar

EDITORIAL, Published: 6/11/2012 at 12:00 AM    

Bangkokpost - Myanmar is showing the face of reform to the world. But our western neighbour is also displaying what a long, tough road still lies ahead. President Thein Sein and the elected parliament are rightly celebrating a new foreign investment law. At the same time, the country is at the centre of controversies over its failure to deal with drug trafficking, and is being rightly condemned around the world for its treatment of Rohingya people.
Myanmar will soon celebrate the second anniversary of the release of democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi. There will be little celebrating in the north or the west of the country, however. In those areas, life is tougher than ever, despite the efforts of the president and parliament. In Rakhine state in the west, and in the northern areas where Shan and Kachin people live, "reform" is just another word, and life remains cheap.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported last week that confident drug gangs have once again increased the size of the country's opium fields. Myanmar is already the world's second-largest producer of poppies and heroin. The gangs and cartels that make 60-plus tonnes of heroin stepped up opium production this year from 43,600 hectares to 51,000 hectares _ 319,000 rai. By comparison, Thai villages produced opium this year on 1,300 rai, with virtually no heroin production.

This does not count the ever-growing output of the methamphetamine ya ba and crystal meth ya ice factories. The drug production is a legacy of the long and close, profitable cooperation between drug gangs and the military dictators of Myanmar. Like Thai farmers of 40 years ago, Myanmar farmers are isolated from markets, and must produce opium for the gangs or perish. President Thein Sein must get more help to the opium fields, to help the farmers and his people.

The treatment of the Muslim minority in Rakhine state is an international disgrace. Thein Sein and his parliament actually seem not to be especially upset about serial, communal riots which have killed hundreds and uprooted tens of thousands. In their view, the Rohingya are interlopers, non-citizens and the root cause of the problem.

Such heartless and wrong-headed thinking is difficult to comprehend. The idea that the Rohingya, born in Myanmar, are somehow inferior human beings is _ as the UN and others state _ not just heartless but legally wrong. The prevailing view in official Myanmar circles appears to be that the Muslim minority is somehow getting what it deserves by being burnt and slaughtered out of its villages.

This attitude appears to pervade the parliament as well as Myanmar society. As Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan pointed out, the Rohingya could become radicalised. The Rohingya compare in some ways to the Muslims of the Thai deep South. But the differences are stark. The people of the deep South are full Thai citizens, with all the rights of citizenship.

Drugs and human rights are perhaps the two biggest problems that Myanmar faces. The world community and Myanmar citizens understand that some reform questions like foreign investment must be taken a step at a time. But encouraging drug traffickers and murderous human rights abuses must be dealt with quickly.

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