Myanmar

I

INTRODUCTION

Myanmar, officially Union of Myanmar, republic in Southeast Asia, bounded on the west by Bangladesh, on the northwest by India’s Assam State, on the northeast by China’s Yunnan Province, on the east by Laos and Thailand, and
on the southwest by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The longest land border is shared with China. Myanmar was known as Burma until 1989; the country’s name was officially changed by the military government that took over in 1988. Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) is the commercial capital and largest city. The administrative capital is Naypyidaw.

II					PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

Population	47,758,181 (2008 estimate)
Population density	73 persons per sq km 188 persons per sq mi (2008 estimate)
Urban population distribution	31 percent (2005 estimate)
Rural population distribution	69 percent (2005 estimate)
Largest cities, with population	Yangon, 3,874,000 (2003 estimate) Mandalay, 801,707 (2000 estimate) Moulmein, 219,961 (1983)
Official language	Burmese
Chief religious affiliations	Buddhist, 73 percent Indigenous beliefs, 12 percent Protestant, 6 percent
Life expectancy	62.9 years (2008 estimate)
Infant mortality rate	49 deaths per 1,000 live births (2008 estimate)
Literacy rate	86.2 percent (2005 estimate)

The population of Myanmar (2008 estimate) is 47,758,181. The overall population density is 73 persons per sq km (188 per sq mi), one of the lowest in East Asia. The population is 69 percent rural, with almost half the urban population found in the three largest cities: Yangon, Mandalay, and Moulmein.

A

Language

Most of the linguistic groups of Myanmar are monosyllabic and polytonal, similar to those of Tibet and China. The official language of Myanmar is classified by linguists as Burmese, although government officials often call it the Myanmar language. It is spoken by the great majority of the population, including many of the non-Burman ethnic minorities. About 15 percent of the population speaks Shan and Karen. English is spoken among the educated, and the country contains a sizable number of speakers of Chinese.

B

Religion

The great majority of all the people of Myanmar are Buddhists. Most adhere to the Theravada school of Buddhism, as do Buddhists in neighboring Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Theravada (the Way of the Elders) Buddhism is sometimes called Hinayana (the Lesser Vehicle) by contrast with Mahayana (the Great Vehicle) Buddhism, a later and more elaborate form that is practiced largely in China, Korea, and Japan. Theravada Buddhism is also quite different from the Tantric Buddhism that is found in Japan and Himalayan regions such as Tibet. Underlying the everyday practice of Buddhism is a well-developed culture of animism, the worship of spirits known as nat. This culture provides a basis for many nat festivals and for much of traditional medical practice. Muslims have also long formed a part of the population and there are a significant number of Christians (mostly Baptists) as well, particularly in the hill areas.

C

Education

Education is free and compulsory for children from the age of 5 to 9. Secondary education consists of four years of middle or vocational school and an additional two years for high school. Middle and vocational schools are also free, but fees are charged for high school. Secondary schools enroll 39 percent of the secondary school-age population. Instruction in primary and secondary schools is in Burmese; English is the second language taught in many secondary schools. The literacy rate of the adult population is reported to be 86 percent. However, the Myanmar government claimed that less than one-fifth of the population was truly literate when it was seeking United Nations (UN) status as a “least developed country” in the late 1980s.

Yangon and Mandalay have a variety of long-established universities and postsecondary educational institutes. In order to disperse the political protests by students in these two cities, regional colleges were set up in the late 1960s in a number of principal towns. Yangon University (founded in 1920) and Mandalay University (1925) are the premier institutions in arts and sciences. A bachelor’s degree is also granted by the Defense Services Academy (1955) in Maymyo. An emphasis on science and technology since the 1960s led to the expansion of the Yangon Institute of Technology (1964) and the establishment of the Mandalay Institute of Technology (1991) and an Institute of Economics (1964) in Yangon. Medical doctors are trained at two institutes of medicine in Yangon and one in Mandalay. There are numerous teacher-training institutes throughout the country. As a result of periodic political disturbances, universities have been mostly closed since 1988.

V					ECONOMY

Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$)	Not available
GDP per capita (U.S.$)	Not available
Monetary unit	1 kyat (K), consisting of 100 pyas
Number of workers	27,327,554 (2006)
Unemployment rate	6 percent (1990)

Myanmar is primarily an agricultural country. Some 63 percent of the working population is engaged in growing or processing crops, while another 12 percent works in industry. Before World War II began in 1939, Myanmar was the world’s major rice exporter. After the war ended in 1945, the area of land devoted to agriculture slowly recovered, but as the population grew the surplus available for export never reached the earlier level.

From 1962 to 1988 the government attempted to develop the economy following a “Burmese Way to Socialism,” with nationalization of most industries. The policy was a failure, however, and in the 1990s the government opened the economy to market forces, particularly inviting foreign investment. Still, many state economic enterprises continue to lose money, the black market flourishes, and the heavy government spending for the growing military budget feeds inflation. By the mid-1990s, after several years of significant growth, the levels of gross domestic product (GDP), agricultural output, consumption, and investment in Myanmar were about one-tenth higher than they had been in 1985-1986, the best year before the military coup d’état and political unrest of 1988. Since the population had grown in the interim, this means that the average person remained worse off than a decade before. In 1997 the United States imposed strong economic sanctions on Myanmar to express disapproval of the military government’s human rights record. That same year Asia suffered a regional economic downturn. These developments affected Myanmar’s economy, slowing foreign investment and raising inflation.

A

Agriculture

Some 15 percent of the total land surface of Myanmar is suitable for farming, and only 2.8 percent is irrigated. Farmers own their own land but must sell part of their production to the government at a very low fixed price. Myanmar remains an important rice producer, based on the annually flooded paddy lands of the Irrawaddy delta and the irrigated areas in Upper Myanmar. An estimated 25 million metric tons of rice were harvested in 2006. While the greatest land area is devoted to rice, significant amounts of land are also planted with sesame, peanuts, and a variety of beans, as well as sunflower, sugar cane, corn, cotton, and wheat. Although the amount of land cultivated for most crops was increased in the late 1980s and early 1990s, productivity fell, in part because less fertilizer was used. By the beginning of the 21st century, use of fertilizers had rebounded somewhat, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN) reported food production was growing quickly. Generally, the terms of trade for Myanmar’s agricultural exports (their world price compared to the prices of manufactured goods that Myanmar imports) have been declining.

B

Mining

Myanmar has a rich and varied supply of minerals. Most of the mines are located in the mountainous areas in the west and along the Tenasserim coast. Such precious stones as jade, rubies, and sapphires are mined, as are copper, nickel, silver, lead, and zinc. Since some of the resources were located in rebel-controlled areas, the political stabilization of the early 1990s has increased foreign investor interest in mining these natural resources.

In the early 1900s the Burma Oil Company was a major world producer of petroleum. Because petroleum production fell during the 1980s, the government invited foreign companies to prospect for oil both on land and in the sea. Signing bonuses paid by oil companies were one of the main sources of foreign exchange for the government after the collapse of the economy following the political turmoil of 1988. So far searching on land has produced no great finds and several of the companies, along with the principal company, Amoco Corporation, have withdrawn. In 2004 some 5.5 million barrels of crude petroleum were produced. Also, after extensive natural gas resources were discovered in the Bay of Bengal, French and American companies joined in a venture to construct a pipeline from the Andaman Sea to Thailand across Myanmar’s Tenasserim region.

C

Manufacturing

Rice milling and the processing of agricultural products are the chief manufacturing enterprises. In order to spur the industrial sector of the economy, the government has started a steel reprocessing mill, a jute mill, a brick and tile factory, and other plants. Lumber mills, petroleum refineries, sugar refineries, plants for extracting vegetable oils, flour mills, cotton mills, and textile and tobacco factories are also in operation. Labor costs for export goods are estimated by foreign investors at about one-tenth those of Thailand and one-half those of Vietnam. However, in production for local consumers, Myanmar factories cannot compete in price with Chinese goods streaming across the now open northern border. Private investment under the open market system has gone more into resource extraction rather than local industry.

D

Foreign Trade

All foreign trade is controlled by the government, but since 1990 firms have been able to directly participate in trade. By making cross-border trade with China, Thailand, and India legal, the government has been able to collect more taxes and lessen black market trade with Thailand by rebel groups. Since the exchange rate for the official currency is high and a number of regulations remain, much illegal trade still takes place. In 2000 exports were valued at $1.39 billion. Exports typically consist of beans, rice, and teak and other hardwoods. The United States, India, China, Japan, Singapore, Germany, and France are the main purchasers.

Imports are mainly machinery, transportation equipment, chemicals, and food. In 2000 they totaled $2.4 billion. Singapore, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia are the primary suppliers. In 1991 the United States and the member nations of the European Union (EU) imposed trade sanctions against Myanmar in response to alleged human rights violations. Strong, additional trade sanctions were imposed by the United States in 1997, again in response to human rights abuses by Myanmar’s military government. The sanctions restricted new investment in Myanmar by U.S. companies. In 2000 the EU also increased sanctions against Myanmar. The United States again tightened sanctions following a brutal crackdown on antigovernment protesters in 2007. Meanwhile, Myanmar expanded trade with its Asian neighbors, especially member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

E

Currency and Banking

The unit of currency is the kyat (5.80 kyats equal U.S.$1; 2006 average), which is divided into 100 pya. The black market rate in 1995 was 100 to 120 kyats to the U.S. dollar. A dual currency system allows foreign exchange certificates to be used for some transactions. An increase in the printing of currency to pay for urban reconstruction and beautification has contributed to a high inflation rate. In addition to the Central Bank of Myanmar (founded in 1990), the government operates a number of specialized banks. Foreign banks also operate in Myanmar in a limited capacity.

IV				HISTORY
A			The Pagan Kingdom

The first unified Myanmar state was founded by King Anawrahta (reigned 1044-1077) at Pagan in Upper Myanmar and was brought to its height by his son, Kyanzittha (reigned 1084-1112). Their domain advanced from the dry zone to incorporate the delta Mon centers at Pegu and Thaton; they extended political and religious ties overseas to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and fought off a Chinese invasion from the north. The internal structure of the state was similar to that of a Hindu kingdom, with a court at the capital supported by direct household taxes or service obligations drawn from villages, which were under the guidance of hereditary myothugis (township headmen). In time an increasing proportion of the land was donated to Buddhist monasteries in the form of slave villages for the maintenance of the sangha (monkhood). Kingship was legitimated by both Hindu ideology and the king’s role as defender of the Buddhist faith. During 250 years of relative peace, the devout rulers built the many pagodas for which Pagan is known today.

In 1287 Pagan was conquered by the Mongols under Kublai Khan. This was the beginning of a turbulent period during which Upper Myanmar led an uncertain existence between Shan domination and tributary relations with China, while Lower Myanmar reverted to Mon rule based at Pegu.

B

The Modern Nation

After the war, the returning British discovered that the AFPFL, led by former BIA head Aung San, had nearly monopolized native political power. The AFPFL negotiated with Britain to gain Myanmar’s independence by 1948. It also compelled the inclusion into a “federal” republic of such peripheral groups as the Shan and Karen, thought to have had special British protection. In elections held in April 1947, Aung San’s AFPFL won an overwhelming majority of seats in the constitutional assembly. In July 1947, U Saw, a nationalist political rival of Aung San, had him and six ministers of the new government assassinated. U Nu, a former student leader and the foreign minister in the wartime government of Ba Maw, was asked to head the AFPFL and the government.

B1

Myanmar Under Military Rule

Following Ne Win’s retirement in July 1988, Myanmar endured three months of political turmoil. The head of the riot police took control of the government and the subsequent protesting, looting, and police response left an estimated 500 to 1,000 people dead in Yangon and several thousand dead elsewhere in the country. Leadership then shifted to a civilian associate of the military, Maung Maung, who tried to both appease and restrain the growing, but peaceful, opposition to military rule. The opposition found a wide base of support, from the Yangon Bar Council to nurses and dock workers. Some shape was given to this movement by an alliance of Brigadier Aung Gyi with General Tin U, a former defense minister, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, whose portrait was carried by protesters. When it appeared that parts of the armed forces might join in, the military staged a coup against the government that it had created. On September 18, 1988, Defense Minister General Saw Maung announced the formation of a State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) that pledged to restore law and order; repair transportation and communication; meet the food and shelter needs of the people; and hold free and fair multiparty elections. Meeting the first goal required several months and cost 560 lives according to government reports, although outside sources estimated the loss at more than 1,000 lives.

The SLORC contended with other sources of opposition, as well. The military junta’s relations with the Buddhist sangha (monkhood) were strained at best, as monks had played a role in the 1988 uprising. Widely revered by the people of Myanmar, monks held an influential position and even helped administer the town of Mandalay. Monks in Mandalay protested military rule by refusing to accept alms from military households. The SLORC responded by pressing the sangha authorities to discipline the monks.

The SLORC also faced continuing ethnic insurgencies on Myanmar’s borders. General Khin Nyunt negotiated separate cease-fire agreements first with the smaller, largely Chinese, hill tribes and then with the Kachin, adopting their armed forces as an autonomous militia and offering economic development aid along with tolerance of their border trading activities (including commerce in opium). The Karen gradually lost the informal support that Thailand had given their independence movement (which had long acted as a buffer for the historic hostility between Myanmar and Thailand). As a result, the Myanmar Army was able to take the Karen’s main base at Mannerplaw in the spring of 1995. Thereafter the parties made several attempts at negotiating a peace settlement, but in early 1998 active fighting continued between the Karen rebels and the Myanmar military. The major opium warlord, Khun Sa, remained in control of a key section of the eastern Shan state until December 1995, when, faced with a U.S. drug indictment and reduced business connections through Thailand, he surrendered to Myanmar troops. Khun reportedly reached an agreement with the SLORC and retired to Yangon.

B2

Political Impasse

A national convention selected by the SLORC to draft a new constitution began meeting in January 1993. The convention received instructions from the SLORC to grant the military a dominant role in any future government, along the lines of the Indonesian constitution. The work of the convention was occasionally suspended. In late 1995 Suu Kyi’s NLD party walked out of the convention, asserting that it was not being conducted on democratic principles. The convention was adjourned in March 1996 without producing a constitution.

Tensions between the SLORC and the NLD heightened in May 1996 when the SLORC arrested more than 200 delegates headed toward an NLD party congress. A similar crackdown occurred in May 1997, when the SLORC again arrested NLD members to thwart a meeting intended to commemorate the 1990 elections. In November the SLORC was dissolved and immediately replaced by the newly formed State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), although the top leadership remained the same. In response to UN reports of human rights violations in Myanmar, issued annually since 1991, and boycotts against corporations doing business in the country, the United States increased sanctions against Myanmar in 1997. The member nations of the European Union (EU) also increased sanctions in April 2000.

Suu Kyi was again put under house arrest in September 2000. A UN envoy to Myanmar began brokering negotiations for national reconciliation between Suu Kyi’s democracy movement and the ruling junta. The closed-door talks between the two sides led to the release of about 250 of an estimated 1,500 political prisoners. Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in May 2002, with the understanding that no restrictions would be placed on her movements or political activities. Although her unconditional release was one of the main demands of Western nations that had imposed sanctions on the country, Western leaders stated that substantive political reforms would be necessary before sanctions could be lifted. Subsequent reconciliation talks between Suu Kyi, representing the pro-democracy aims of the NLD, and the Myanmar government resulted in a stalemate.

After her release, Suu Kyi worked to reinvigorate the NLD base of support, touring the country and drawing large crowds to pro-democracy rallies. During a road trip to northern Myanmar in May 2003, Suu Kyi’s motorcade was violently ambushed. The government took Suu Kyi into custody, arrested party activists, and closed most NLD offices. International demands were again made to the Myanmar government for the release of Suu Kyi, who was subsequently placed under house arrest. In November 2005 the government announced that it was extending Suu Kyi’s house arrest, despite international protests and condemnation.

Also in November 2005 the government began moving its offices to a new administrative capital in a relatively remote area of central Myanmar. The new capital was constructed as an entirely new planned city. It was officially named Naypyidaw (Burmese for “royal capital” or “abode of kings”) during ceremonies held there for Armed Forces Day in March 2006.