Myanmar
Tr o p i c a l B l a b
MYANMAR: HAS THE TIME
!"#$$%&COME? As every news outlet screams about Myanmar’s achingly fast transition to becoming a regional tourism player, CHRIS WOTTON asks what the future holds for the until now isolated nation-and whether it really is now right to visit.
M
yanmar is hands down the biggest regional travel story of the moment, no questions asked. Since the release of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi in November 2010, and the subsequent turnaround in her National League for Democracy party’s position on tourism to the country, Myanmar has become the talking point of travellers to and commentators across Southeast Asia and beyond.
0U 1HU\HY` H JLHZLÄYL ^HZ ZPNULK between the Myanmar government and the Her opposition political party, which until Karen National Union, which represents May 2011 had pursued a formal boycott of the Karen ethnic minority group whose the country’s tourism industry on the basis insurgency struggles are the longest-running [OH[ P[ TVYHSS` HUK ÄUHUJPHSS` Z\WWVY[LK of those that have gripped the country in the ruling junta’s track record of human civil war since it achieved independence rights violations, has since said it welcomes from British rule in 1948. According to responsible tourism that does not cause rights groups, state counter-insurgency human rights abuses and environmental c a m p a i g n s h ave s e e n m i n o r i t y g r o u p civilians deliberately targeted and driven degradation. from their homes and forced to work for the army, their villages destroyed. Many have ÅLK HJYVZZ [OL IVYKLY PU[V ULPNOIV\YPUN Thailand. The release of Suu Kyi, who holds great respect and popularity amongst Myanmar’s All of these developments come after population, is one of a number of recent [OL JV\U[Y`»Z ÄYZ[ [OV\NO UV[ JVUZPKLYLK developments which seem to point to the entirely free, general election in twenty nation’s fast moves towards being more years led to the replacement of the previous democratic and more palatable to the military junta with a military-backed consciences of western visitors. Since her civilian government. Just as silence from release from house arrest, under which the travel media about tourism to Myanmar ZOL ^HZ KL[HPULK MVY ÄM[LLU VM [OL [^LU[` over the past years was an obliging response VUL `LHYZ MYVT M\Y[OLY OPNOWYVÄSL to Suu Kyi’s request for help in encouraging dissidents have also been released, which the boycott, so now the splash of front was one of the main conditions set for the page features on Myanmar’s rich wealth of easing of western sanctions. historical and natural sights are the result of the turnaround in the National League for Democracy’s view.
PROGRESS
84
Those released included students involved in protests in 1988, monks who protested in 2007 and activists from Myanmar’s many ethnic minorities. The United States and Myanmar have also begun the process of L_JOHUNPUN HTIHZZHKVYZ MVY [OL ÄYZ[ [PTL since 1990, andSuu Kyi plans to stand in a parliamentary by-election for the Kawhmu constituency in April.
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM
This new standpoint of course has its own caveats; Suu Kyi has been keen to stress that tourists should ensure that their visit is one [OH[ILULÄ[ZYH[OLY[OHUOHYTZSVJHSWLVWSL For the most part this means travelling independently rather than as part of an organised tour group, and doing what we can to ensure that our money goes to locals rather than into government and military coffers, which can come in convincing disguise. ‘The NLD would welcotme visitors who are keen to promote the welfare of the common people and the conservation of the environment and to acquire an insight into the cultural, political and social life of the country while enjoying a happy and M\SÄSSPUNOVSPKH`PU)\YTH»ZHPK[OLWHY[`PU its statement. The group pointed out that through irresponsible past tourist policy, ‘local populations have been displaced, often without compensations or satisfactory relocation, to make way for construction of hotels and other tourist facilities.’ ‘To make matters worse, forced labor is used for some construction projects. The net result is its economic hardship exacerbated by the abrupt breakdown of a traditional way of life and gross violation of basic human rights.’ It also drew attention to the sex industry that infamously plagues neighbouring Thailand, pointing out that while that was the most apparent possible negative outcome, other more subtle dangers also existed. It said: ‘While the callous exploitation of sex tourists presents an obvious evil, thoughtless practices such as the indiscriminate distribution of money or gifts that have made habitual beggars of children in some communities do not receive enough attention.’ So is now really the time to be visiting Myanmar, or is it still too soon? Clearly it is still early days in the country’s moves towards democratisation and the development of the rights of its population, but changes have nonetheless been dramatic and fast-moving. Many in the Southeast Asia travel community believe that 2012 will prove to be a big year for Myanmar’s tourist industry- though the 816,319 tourist visits to the country in 2011 remains dwarfed by the region’s big players, like Thailand with its fast approaching twenty TPSSPVUHUU\HS]PZP[ZHUKHSTVZ[[^LU[`Ä]L million in Malaysia. Nonetheless, already in [OLÄYZ[[^VTVU[OZVM4`HUTHYOHZ seen some 400,000 arrivals. 86
ONGOING UNREST IN BORDER AREAS
Yet there remain concerns. The government TH`OH]LZPNULKHJLHZLÄYL^P[O[OL2HYLU rebels, but ongoing civil strife in border areas has not entirely gone away. Particularly volatile is the Golden Triangle, an essentially lawless stretch along the economically vital Mekong river, where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet. The legendary fugitive ‘freshwater pirate’ Naw Kham haunts the area, thought to have earned its name from the golden once used to barter for opium here. Myanmar is beaten only by Afghanistan in worldwide opium production, and secret factories in the ethnic minority, war-torn Shan state mean that methamphetamines – the top drug in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei, highly addictive and also going by the names ‘ice’, ‘shabu’ and in Thai ‘yaba’ (‘crazy medicine’) – is another dominant illicit trading force here. 920,000 meth pills, with a combined estimated street value in Thailand of $6 million, were found on board two Chinese ships meant to be transporting oil, apples and garlic to Thailand when their thirteen-strong crew were slaughtered by THJOPULN\UÄYLPU6J[VILY Kham, whose rise has accelerated alongside that of meth consumption, was the immediate suspect. Kham takes a cut on trade passing through ‘his’ territory, and it is believed he ordered the killings to deter others from running ‘undeclared’ drugs along the route. Chiang Mai based Shan Herald Agency for News, providing information from this drug producing Myanmar state from where Kham is also believed to hail, claims that the boats’ crews did not pay the expected protection money to Kham, mistakenly assuming that heightened Chinese government patrols, recently instigated following similar but lower key incidents, would alone guarantee their safety.
6[OLYZ [OV\NO ILSPL]L [OH[ `LHYVSK Kham is genuinely more of a legendary tale than anything else – or that, at the least, there are actually several pirates operating in the area but that crimes and atrocities are conveniently attributed to the singular Naw Kham. He started out in the old ethnic minority Mong Tai Army, whose leader Khun Sa was the Golden Triangle’s previ ous opium ba ron, sough t by the United States by way of a hefty reward until dying in Yangon in 2007. Certainly the Thai military’s sequence of L]LU[Z PU [OL 6J[VILY PUJPKLU[ OHZ ILLU strongly questioned, and many both in China and within Thailand itself believe that members of the elite Pha Muang Thai military anti-narcotics taskforce were actually responsible for the killings. Nine soldiers have been questioned in relation to alleged murder and evidence tampering. The military claims that the soldiers were executed in Myanmar waters before their boats drifted down-water to be discovered by Thai soldiers, but others have questioned how the boats could come to be safely moored near Thailand’s Chiang Saen, where the Thai military boarded, without a living captain or engineer on board. Witnesses are also said to have seen the two ships escorted into Thai waters by four ZTHSSLY IVH[Z [V [OL ZV\UK VM N\UÄYL HUK docked, the smaller boats then returning to Myanmar after seven men jumped onto them from the Chinese ships. Despite no charges having been laid against any member of the Thai military for the incident, many in China are said to believe that the soldiers involved have confessed. Whatever really happened, the ongoing illicit trade of endangered species, weapons and immigrants bound for Thai construction and sex industry work, and escaped North Koreans seeking eventual deportation back to South Korea, make this a dangerous part of the country to be in, and a seemingly unbleachable stain on whatever efforts the Myanmar state may be making to bolster its appeal to foreign tourists.
What is more, some fear that the increasing Chinese patrol presence and the sheer scale and strategic positioning of the enormous Chinese tourist targeted casino complex in a Special Economic Zone on the opposite side of the Mekong and within Laotian borders, will develop in the longer term into a Chinese outpost determined to protect its trade routes by way of extra-territorial law enforcement and ‘gunboat diplomacy’. Some predict this will ultimately produce potentially tense confrontation between frustrated Mekong states, China and the Thailand-allied United States. Whether this materialises or not, none of this will be good for regional traveller safety.
Electronic visas on the cards
On a practical note, Myanmar is upping the ante. It has announced the introduction of applications from March 2012, which ‘would allow international visitors to apply for a visa from anywhere via the internet before visiting’. Such a system would put Myanmar on a par with Cambodia, which already uses an e-visa scheme. It is thought that this kind of liberalisation of visa procedures could further help increase [OL JV\U[Y`»Z [V\YPZ[ ÄN\YLZ *LY[HPUS` P[ would put Myanmar leaps ahead of the likes of Thailand and Malaysia, otherwise seen as regional heavyweights, neither of which currently offers an online application service. Both offer thirty to ninety-day visafree stays to visitors of many nationalities, but those wishing to stay longer are forced into lengthy and bureaucratic, paper-based application procedures. But the Union of Myanmar Travel Association has pointed to a lack of infrastructure, which means that, particularly when large groups of business delegates arrive and book out luxury hotels, ‘other tourists are sent elsewhere or left with no accommodation’. 88
Competition fears for Thailand
Indeed, the worst news in the development of Myanmar’s tourist industry is probably for the likes of Thailand, set to lose out in competition. Tourism bosses have already claimed that Thailand needs to refresh its offering if it is to stay ahead of regional rivals, rather than resting on its laurels by selling ‘the same old products’ of beaches HUKPZSHUKZº6[OLYJV\U[YPLZPU[OLYLNPVU are promoting [an] identical experience’, said President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn. Regional commentators see a developing Bur ma as t he big gest compet it or t o Thailand’s tourist industry. Stuart Mc Donald, co-founder of online Southeast (ZPH [YH]LS N\PKL ;YH]LSÄZOVYN [^LL[LK in response to a news story about Mr Sisdivachr’s comments: ‘Burma really [is] opening, stable etc, [it is the] #1 threat to Thai tourism, especially in the Gulf.’ But, in an echo of Suu Kyi’s concerns about the risk of environmental degradation as the nation’s tourism develops, McDonald hinted that he believed it was ‘highly
unlikely’ that Myanmar would be able to avoid similar development mistakes to those that have occurred in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Now or never?
In all truth, though the travel glossies may be waxing lyrical about this being Myanmar’s time, the jury is still out as to whether it is now the right time to make that visit you have been holding off for moral reasons. Change is happening, but more still needs to come. What is clear beyond doubt is that any tourism needs to be responsible and ensure [OH[UV[Q\Z[]PZP[VYZI\[HSZVSVJHSZILULÄ[ -VYTHU`[OLKPMÄJ\S[`VMLUZ\YPUNTVUL` goes to the right people will remain a barrier to their trip. Yet for others, like members of the Lonely Planet web site, if the boycott continues and the Myanmar military uses a lack of tourist arrivals as an argument that reforms have failed and need to be reversed, then ‘later may be too late.’
MYANMAR: HAS THE TIME
!"#$$%&COME? As every news outlet screams about Myanmar’s achingly fast transition to becoming a regional tourism player, CHRIS WOTTON asks what the future holds for the until now isolated nation-and whether it really is now right to visit.
M
yanmar is hands down the biggest regional travel story of the moment, no questions asked. Since the release of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi in November 2010, and the subsequent turnaround in her National League for Democracy party’s position on tourism to the country, Myanmar has become the talking point of travellers to and commentators across Southeast Asia and beyond.
0U 1HU\HY` H JLHZLÄYL ^HZ ZPNULK between the Myanmar government and the Her opposition political party, which until Karen National Union, which represents May 2011 had pursued a formal boycott of the Karen ethnic minority group whose the country’s tourism industry on the basis insurgency struggles are the longest-running [OH[ P[ TVYHSS` HUK ÄUHUJPHSS` Z\WWVY[LK of those that have gripped the country in the ruling junta’s track record of human civil war since it achieved independence rights violations, has since said it welcomes from British rule in 1948. According to responsible tourism that does not cause rights groups, state counter-insurgency human rights abuses and environmental c a m p a i g n s h ave s e e n m i n o r i t y g r o u p civilians deliberately targeted and driven degradation. from their homes and forced to work for the army, their villages destroyed. Many have ÅLK HJYVZZ [OL IVYKLY PU[V ULPNOIV\YPUN Thailand. The release of Suu Kyi, who holds great respect and popularity amongst Myanmar’s All of these developments come after population, is one of a number of recent [OL JV\U[Y`»Z ÄYZ[ [OV\NO UV[ JVUZPKLYLK developments which seem to point to the entirely free, general election in twenty nation’s fast moves towards being more years led to the replacement of the previous democratic and more palatable to the military junta with a military-backed consciences of western visitors. Since her civilian government. Just as silence from release from house arrest, under which the travel media about tourism to Myanmar ZOL ^HZ KL[HPULK MVY ÄM[LLU VM [OL [^LU[` over the past years was an obliging response VUL `LHYZ MYVT M\Y[OLY OPNOWYVÄSL to Suu Kyi’s request for help in encouraging dissidents have also been released, which the boycott, so now the splash of front was one of the main conditions set for the page features on Myanmar’s rich wealth of easing of western sanctions. historical and natural sights are the result of the turnaround in the National League for Democracy’s view.
PROGRESS
84
Those released included students involved in protests in 1988, monks who protested in 2007 and activists from Myanmar’s many ethnic minorities. The United States and Myanmar have also begun the process of L_JOHUNPUN HTIHZZHKVYZ MVY [OL ÄYZ[ [PTL since 1990, andSuu Kyi plans to stand in a parliamentary by-election for the Kawhmu constituency in April.
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM
This new standpoint of course has its own caveats; Suu Kyi has been keen to stress that tourists should ensure that their visit is one [OH[ILULÄ[ZYH[OLY[OHUOHYTZSVJHSWLVWSL For the most part this means travelling independently rather than as part of an organised tour group, and doing what we can to ensure that our money goes to locals rather than into government and military coffers, which can come in convincing disguise. ‘The NLD would welcotme visitors who are keen to promote the welfare of the common people and the conservation of the environment and to acquire an insight into the cultural, political and social life of the country while enjoying a happy and M\SÄSSPUNOVSPKH`PU)\YTH»ZHPK[OLWHY[`PU its statement. The group pointed out that through irresponsible past tourist policy, ‘local populations have been displaced, often without compensations or satisfactory relocation, to make way for construction of hotels and other tourist facilities.’ ‘To make matters worse, forced labor is used for some construction projects. The net result is its economic hardship exacerbated by the abrupt breakdown of a traditional way of life and gross violation of basic human rights.’ It also drew attention to the sex industry that infamously plagues neighbouring Thailand, pointing out that while that was the most apparent possible negative outcome, other more subtle dangers also existed. It said: ‘While the callous exploitation of sex tourists presents an obvious evil, thoughtless practices such as the indiscriminate distribution of money or gifts that have made habitual beggars of children in some communities do not receive enough attention.’ So is now really the time to be visiting Myanmar, or is it still too soon? Clearly it is still early days in the country’s moves towards democratisation and the development of the rights of its population, but changes have nonetheless been dramatic and fast-moving. Many in the Southeast Asia travel community believe that 2012 will prove to be a big year for Myanmar’s tourist industry- though the 816,319 tourist visits to the country in 2011 remains dwarfed by the region’s big players, like Thailand with its fast approaching twenty TPSSPVUHUU\HS]PZP[ZHUKHSTVZ[[^LU[`Ä]L million in Malaysia. Nonetheless, already in [OLÄYZ[[^VTVU[OZVM4`HUTHYOHZ seen some 400,000 arrivals. 86
ONGOING UNREST IN BORDER AREAS
Yet there remain concerns. The government TH`OH]LZPNULKHJLHZLÄYL^P[O[OL2HYLU rebels, but ongoing civil strife in border areas has not entirely gone away. Particularly volatile is the Golden Triangle, an essentially lawless stretch along the economically vital Mekong river, where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet. The legendary fugitive ‘freshwater pirate’ Naw Kham haunts the area, thought to have earned its name from the golden once used to barter for opium here. Myanmar is beaten only by Afghanistan in worldwide opium production, and secret factories in the ethnic minority, war-torn Shan state mean that methamphetamines – the top drug in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei, highly addictive and also going by the names ‘ice’, ‘shabu’ and in Thai ‘yaba’ (‘crazy medicine’) – is another dominant illicit trading force here. 920,000 meth pills, with a combined estimated street value in Thailand of $6 million, were found on board two Chinese ships meant to be transporting oil, apples and garlic to Thailand when their thirteen-strong crew were slaughtered by THJOPULN\UÄYLPU6J[VILY Kham, whose rise has accelerated alongside that of meth consumption, was the immediate suspect. Kham takes a cut on trade passing through ‘his’ territory, and it is believed he ordered the killings to deter others from running ‘undeclared’ drugs along the route. Chiang Mai based Shan Herald Agency for News, providing information from this drug producing Myanmar state from where Kham is also believed to hail, claims that the boats’ crews did not pay the expected protection money to Kham, mistakenly assuming that heightened Chinese government patrols, recently instigated following similar but lower key incidents, would alone guarantee their safety.
6[OLYZ [OV\NO ILSPL]L [OH[ `LHYVSK Kham is genuinely more of a legendary tale than anything else – or that, at the least, there are actually several pirates operating in the area but that crimes and atrocities are conveniently attributed to the singular Naw Kham. He started out in the old ethnic minority Mong Tai Army, whose leader Khun Sa was the Golden Triangle’s previ ous opium ba ron, sough t by the United States by way of a hefty reward until dying in Yangon in 2007. Certainly the Thai military’s sequence of L]LU[Z PU [OL 6J[VILY PUJPKLU[ OHZ ILLU strongly questioned, and many both in China and within Thailand itself believe that members of the elite Pha Muang Thai military anti-narcotics taskforce were actually responsible for the killings. Nine soldiers have been questioned in relation to alleged murder and evidence tampering. The military claims that the soldiers were executed in Myanmar waters before their boats drifted down-water to be discovered by Thai soldiers, but others have questioned how the boats could come to be safely moored near Thailand’s Chiang Saen, where the Thai military boarded, without a living captain or engineer on board. Witnesses are also said to have seen the two ships escorted into Thai waters by four ZTHSSLY IVH[Z [V [OL ZV\UK VM N\UÄYL HUK docked, the smaller boats then returning to Myanmar after seven men jumped onto them from the Chinese ships. Despite no charges having been laid against any member of the Thai military for the incident, many in China are said to believe that the soldiers involved have confessed. Whatever really happened, the ongoing illicit trade of endangered species, weapons and immigrants bound for Thai construction and sex industry work, and escaped North Koreans seeking eventual deportation back to South Korea, make this a dangerous part of the country to be in, and a seemingly unbleachable stain on whatever efforts the Myanmar state may be making to bolster its appeal to foreign tourists.
What is more, some fear that the increasing Chinese patrol presence and the sheer scale and strategic positioning of the enormous Chinese tourist targeted casino complex in a Special Economic Zone on the opposite side of the Mekong and within Laotian borders, will develop in the longer term into a Chinese outpost determined to protect its trade routes by way of extra-territorial law enforcement and ‘gunboat diplomacy’. Some predict this will ultimately produce potentially tense confrontation between frustrated Mekong states, China and the Thailand-allied United States. Whether this materialises or not, none of this will be good for regional traveller safety.
Electronic visas on the cards
On a practical note, Myanmar is upping the ante. It has announced the introduction of applications from March 2012, which ‘would allow international visitors to apply for a visa from anywhere via the internet before visiting’. Such a system would put Myanmar on a par with Cambodia, which already uses an e-visa scheme. It is thought that this kind of liberalisation of visa procedures could further help increase [OL JV\U[Y`»Z [V\YPZ[ ÄN\YLZ *LY[HPUS` P[ would put Myanmar leaps ahead of the likes of Thailand and Malaysia, otherwise seen as regional heavyweights, neither of which currently offers an online application service. Both offer thirty to ninety-day visafree stays to visitors of many nationalities, but those wishing to stay longer are forced into lengthy and bureaucratic, paper-based application procedures. But the Union of Myanmar Travel Association has pointed to a lack of infrastructure, which means that, particularly when large groups of business delegates arrive and book out luxury hotels, ‘other tourists are sent elsewhere or left with no accommodation’. 88
Competition fears for Thailand
Indeed, the worst news in the development of Myanmar’s tourist industry is probably for the likes of Thailand, set to lose out in competition. Tourism bosses have already claimed that Thailand needs to refresh its offering if it is to stay ahead of regional rivals, rather than resting on its laurels by selling ‘the same old products’ of beaches HUKPZSHUKZº6[OLYJV\U[YPLZPU[OLYLNPVU are promoting [an] identical experience’, said President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn. Regional commentators see a developing Bur ma as t he big gest compet it or t o Thailand’s tourist industry. Stuart Mc Donald, co-founder of online Southeast (ZPH [YH]LS N\PKL ;YH]LSÄZOVYN [^LL[LK in response to a news story about Mr Sisdivachr’s comments: ‘Burma really [is] opening, stable etc, [it is the] #1 threat to Thai tourism, especially in the Gulf.’ But, in an echo of Suu Kyi’s concerns about the risk of environmental degradation as the nation’s tourism develops, McDonald hinted that he believed it was ‘highly
unlikely’ that Myanmar would be able to avoid similar development mistakes to those that have occurred in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Now or never?
In all truth, though the travel glossies may be waxing lyrical about this being Myanmar’s time, the jury is still out as to whether it is now the right time to make that visit you have been holding off for moral reasons. Change is happening, but more still needs to come. What is clear beyond doubt is that any tourism needs to be responsible and ensure [OH[UV[Q\Z[]PZP[VYZI\[HSZVSVJHSZILULÄ[ -VYTHU`[OLKPMÄJ\S[`VMLUZ\YPUNTVUL` goes to the right people will remain a barrier to their trip. Yet for others, like members of the Lonely Planet web site, if the boycott continues and the Myanmar military uses a lack of tourist arrivals as an argument that reforms have failed and need to be reversed, then ‘later may be too late.’
