Idealistic goals out of reach in Myanmar

By Ding Gang Source:Global Times Published: 2013-2-6 21:58:01

A friend of mine who had just visited Myanmar cried to me, "How could Myanmar become a developed country overnight!" But what he was ironically marveling at was the local hotel prices. The price of the hotel he stays in was less than $100 per night a year ago, but has now soared to $250.

The Myanmar government's hopes toward its country's future development seem to have soared as high as the hotel prices. President Thein Sein has stated that he expects Myanmar will become "a modern, industrialized country" by 2030.

However, the rising price of hotels is one thing, and realizing a country's industrialization is quite another. Due to Myanmar's opening-up, restrictions on many things have been lifted. Investors, tourists and explorers are all swarming into this virgin territory, pushing up the prices for hotels catering to the standards of the well-off.

Myanmar needs ambition as well as earnestness. It needs more investment. At the same time, it needs well-implemented laws and policies geared to international standards.

If Myanmar wants to be like China, which has sustained its stable development for over 30 years, there should be social consensus that development is a priority. Myanmar should not have any illusions but seek its own development path that suits its development level and reality.

It is not possible for Myanmar to suddenly exceed its ASEAN neighbors such as Thailand and Malaysia. It cannot become a developed country that keeps abreast with Singapore by skipping the necessary stages on its development path and avoiding the costs that come with its development.

Therefore, the biggest challenge of Myanmar's infant modernization process is not the speed but whether Myanmar can resist any enticement. The enticement includes the democracy advocated by Westerners and the environmental protection stressed by non-governmental organizations.

Myanmar's reform and opening-up not only bring opportunity for development, but also make it aim beyond its grasp. Many require the country to look to the West on issues of human rights and environmental protection regardless of Myanmar's realities.

Everyone would like to live in a country as pleasant in Switzerland. And all developing countries wish for a business foundation like the Silicon Valley in the US. But it's nothing but a fantasy to make the two places into one.

The Silicon Valley will never move to Myanmar. And investment from Thailand will hardly put the environment as a priority. Workers in Myanmar will not earn as much as their Chinese counterparts any time soon.

The foreign investment programs in Myanmar cannot ensure that they are 100 percent environmentally friendly. According to reports from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the main reason for the economic growth in Myanmar is that foreign countries have increased investment in energy and minerals.

Taking Myanmar's current development level into consideration, demanding Myanmar overnight reach the goals that Western developed countries took centuries to achieve will only lead to the stagnation or even retreat.

No country in the world can achieve modernization without paying the costs in human rights or environment protection. Western developed countries couldn't make it, nor has there been any precedent in the East.

The difficulty for Myanmar is that it needs to find a development path suitable for the development of human rights and environment protection, based on the premise that development is prioritized to help the public get rid of poverty.

Myanmar doesn't lack the potential for development. But as for how to find a development path that is best for itself, Myanmar may need to learn from its neighbors such as China, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia rather than the West.

The realization of dreams is based on an earnest attitude, but dreams that break away from reality can only stay dreams.

The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily. He's now stationed in Bangkok. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn



Posted in: Columnists, Viewpoint

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