How Can Myanmar ethnic cleansing be stopped?

[TopCat]

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. 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:



"Burma

If other country can do it you can do it as well. You dont need to compare our per capita as we house more than 150 million people with 1/8th the size of your country. With all shortcomings we are doing great and most of our investment coming from domestic source not from foreign source. The strength lies within not outside.

Now, I am saying it from my own experience. Creating an entrepreneur class do not come easy. Getting hold of technology is even hard. Generating primary capital for investment even harder. Creating a market and a brand name for your country is a distant dream. These are the primary prerequisite for you to overcome to get yourself in the high growth tragactory.

Now you have high literacy race which is a plus but not the upmost necessity as long as you have enough skilled manpower for your growth driven industry. The biggest backdrop of your country, its not a inclusive society. You have insurgency running all over your country. You dont have electricity in Rakhaine yet selling all your gas and energy to foreign client to feed your huge government. I bet the same situation prevailed all other part of the country except ofcourse Yangoon. You need to first address those issue then think about becoming a Tiger.

 

[INDIC]

ASEAN is a huge market but your North East is not. What do you produce in NE?
Myanmar is tough subject that they did not know.

Are you familiar with the word investment.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Burma can become a tiger. No doubt about that

 

[TopCat]

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.

I dont know about Myanmar but Myanmar is a priority to Bangladesh. We need to source a lot of raw materials from outside and demands are increasing many fold in every passing year. We are in constant talk with Myanmar govt regarding energy import, we are in process of setting up Hydro Power plant in Myanmar, want gas, timber, rice and if you can produce cotton we will take them all. We also proposed to use Myanmar gas, then make them to Fertilizer and export back to Myanmar.

By the way, sure we can supply cheap labor too.. But you got to elevate yourself to the level of Singapore or Malaysia before affording such thing. But ofcourse we will be in lookout for that market too in Myanmar in the years to come.

 

[alaungphaya]

I am well versed with economics and finance both professionally and academically. I know full well the challenges developing economies face. This is about the most prescient thing I have seen you write:

Now, I am saying it from my own experience. Creating an entrepreneur class do not come easy. Getting hold of technology is even hard. Generating primary capital for investment even harder.

This on the other hand is caca:

most of our investment coming from domestic source not from foreign source. The strength lies within not outside

 

[INDIC]

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.

I was talking about the market opened for India using transit from Myanmar. We don't need Myanmar as a transit to trade with Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei or Indonesia.

 

[Sashan]

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:



"Burma

Trust me coming in from an outsider - Myanmar is the happening place. Atleast couple of the folks from India I know of are rushing with opening a distillery (they wanted my brother to run the unit in Myanmar two months back but he turned it down) and a pharmaceutical company.

 

[INDIC]

There is no hope for land link via Myanmar any time soon, for India or Bangladesh.

Our three nation highway will be completed by 2016 and we can directly ride to Bangkok from Imphal. Burmese government has signed peace deal or ceasefire with many insurgent groups, you should google about that too.

And here is the rail link map. Myanmar is expanding Rail lines towards Manipur Border(green lines are the newly opened rail lines). Imphal will be connected by Rail line by 2016 with completion of Jiribam-Imphal rail line. There is just a narrow distance remaining between Imphal in India and Kalay in Myanmar. Our rail link look quite realistic whereas Bangladesh's one like a day dream.

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.

Why I am sensing that you are getting jealous.

 

[kobiraaz]

Lol a burmese actually comparing Bangladesh with Myanmar! Bangladsi is one of Next eleven economy! What is myanmar??? Growing at 1%?? Khekz..

 

[TopCat]

Our three nation highway will be completed by 2016 and we can directly ride to Bangkok from Imphal. Burmese government has signed peace deal or ceasefire with many insurgent groups, you should google about that too.

And here is the rail link map. Myanmar is expanding Rail lines towards Manipur Border(green lines are the newly opened rail lines). Imphal will be connected by Rail line by 2016 with completion of Jiribam-Imphal rail line. There is just a narrow distance remaining between Imphal in India and Kalay in Myanmar. Our rail link look quite realistic whereas Bangladesh's one like a day dream.

Why I am sensing that you are getting jealous.

Myanmar President is coming next month in Dhaka. Lets see what he proposes. I think Myanmar is not interested in link with Bangladesh for sure.

Lol a burmese actually comparing Bangladesh with Myanmar! Bangladsi is one of Next eleven economy! What is myanmar??? Growing at 1%?? Khekz..

No they think some Tom Dick and Chenny from outside will come and turn their country around.

 

[alaungphaya]

No they think some Tom Dick and Chenny from outside will come and turn their country around.

Um, it's the only game in town. You yourselves are propped up with outside investment. Ask the Indians, Chinese and Brazilians how insular development models have gone. Infact, you can ask the Burmese as well for we used to have our autarkic 'Burmese Socialism'.

BTW I'm glad someone brought up the next 11. Have you seen some of the countries on there? Half of them are either failed states or kleptocracies. If you want to see the real players out there, check out the G-20.

 

[INDIC]

Um, it's the only game in town. You yourselves are propped up with outside investment. Ask the Indians, Chinese and Brazilians how insular development models have gone. Infact, you can ask the Burmese as well for we used to have our autarkic 'Burmese Socialism'.

BTW I'm glad someone brought up the next 11. Have you seen some of the countries on there? Half of them are either failed states or kleptocracies. If you want to see the real players out there, check out the G-20.

Myanmar has great potential because country is rich in resources and less population density. Prosperous economies like China, Thailand,India and Malaysia are Myanmar's neighbours and surely good economic policies will help Myanmar a lot.

 

[TopCat]

Um, it's the only game in town. You yourselves are propped up with outside investment. Ask the Indians, Chinese and Brazilians how insular development models have gone. Infact, you can ask the Burmese as well for we used to have our autarkic 'Burmese Socialism'.

BTW I'm glad someone brought up the next 11. Have you seen some of the countries on there? Half of them are either failed states or kleptocracies. If you want to see the real players out there, check out the G-20.

You better go back to your basic economic studies. Thailand is kicked out of the high potential economy due to slimmer share of domestic investment. Foreign investment just bring the mint on the table not the driving force.

Myanmar has great potential because country is rich in resources and less population density. Prosperous economies like China, Thailand,India and Malaysia are Myanmar's neighbours and surely good economic policies will help Myanmar a lot.

Laos, Combodia has the same resources as well as favorable political environment. I dont see Myanmar any different than those countries. Its the Vietnam which has the edge in that region.

 

[alaungphaya]

Myanmar has great potential because country is rich in resources and less population density. Prosperous economies like China, Thailand,India and Malaysia are Myanmar's neighbours and surely good economic policies will help Myanmar a lot.

Yes, all true. Personally, I look most intently at Indonesia. We have a lot of similarities in terms of military rule/democracy movement and the same problem with ethnic and sectarian conflict. Interesting sidenote also is that the Burmese, in better times before our country degenerated into a hellhole, lobbied hard in the UN for Indonesian independence from Holland and even sent arms and materiele to aid them.

BUT, I'm not counting entirely on our resources. We have to be aware of the 'resource curse' and make sure that we keep on developing our human capital as well and ensuring our incomes from natural resources are invested wisely (like the sovereign wealth funds of Scandanavia and the OPEC countries). All those countries you mentioned also provide good economic role models and show the importance of attracting foreign investment.

You better go back to your basic economic studies. Thailand is kicked out of the high potential economy due to slimmer share of domestic investment. Foreign investment just bring the mint on the table not the driving force.



Laos, Combodia has the same resources as well as favorable political environment. I dont see Myanmar any different than those countries. Its the Vietnam which has the edge in that region.

I think the biggest problem with Thailand is capital flight and that maybe a hangover from the '97 crisis and the ensuing mistrust in Thai banks. I would much rather be Thai than a Bangladeshi, though.

Cambodia is doing OK but remember that it is an AID economy. They will have problems in the future due to aid dependency. Myanmar fortunately (or unfortunately) doesn't have that problem as it was a global whipping boy for human rights and don't receive anything in aid.

Laos?

Agreed about Vietnam, though. They're actually a major investor in Myanmar at the moment. Those shrewd, commie bastards.

 

[TopCat]

I think the biggest problem with Thailand is capital flight and that maybe a hangover from the '97 crisis and the ensuing mistrust in Thai banks. I would much rather be Thai than a Bangladeshi, though.

Cambodia is doing OK but remember that it is an AID economy. They will have problems in the future due to aid dependency. Myanmar fortunately (or unfortunately) doesn't have that problem as it was a global whipping boy for human rights and don't receive anything in aid.

Laos?

Agreed about Vietnam, though. They're actually a major investor in Myanmar at the moment. Those shrewd, commie bastards.

1997 is almost 15 years back. Its heck of a hangover.
Sure beaches of Thais are far better than Bangladesh and girls are more attractive.
Bangladesh is a completely different type of economy. Not much space for small foreign player like you. Even if you want to invest in stock market, your stock will be locked for a year before you can sell it. We dont invite hedge funds. ;-)