Myanmar can become Asian tiger— UN official
1:06 pm | Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
Vijay Nambiar gave an upbeat briefing to a group of reporters
Tuesday, ahead of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Myanmar this
weekend, saying that after more than 20 years of “almost self-inflicted
hibernation” the country has undergone rapid and dramatic political
changes.
“I think the pace as well as the nature of the change has been in
some ways extraordinary, and perhaps far in advance of what had been
envisaged” by the military, which ruled the country for 50 years, he
said.
Since last year, the new government headed by President Thein Sein
has overseen a wave of political reforms and won wide praise for
progress toward democratic rule.
The government has freed political prisoners, signed truces with
rebel groups, and organized April 1 by-elections deemed free and fair
that were overwhelmingly won by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s
party and earned the Nobel laureate a seat in parliament after years of
repression and house arrest.
“Today, after more than 20 years, Myanmar has a constitution,
elections and a parliament,” Nambiar said, which despite flaws never
happened before.
He said last year’s meeting between Thein Sein and Suu Kyi “has been a
major game changer,” and he praised the president’s statesmanship and
the opposition leader’s agreement to contest the April election despite
her opposition to the constitution which was drafted during an era of
military rule and gives inordinate power to the military.
Another “game-changer,” Nambiar said, was the decision of the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to choose Myanmar to
chair the organization in 2014.
The recent suspension of U.S. and European Union sanctions, which
were imposed in the late 1990s to punish Myanmar’s former iron-fisted
military rulers, has also been important, he said.
But Myanmar’s progress towards democracy suffered a hiccup Monday
when Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, refused to take
its 43 new seats in parliament because of a dispute over the lawmakers’
oath which says they must “safeguard the constitution.” It wants the
word “safeguard” replaced with “respect.” Party officials said they
expect the issue to be resolved soon.
“I think there is wisdom on both sides to get through this,” Nambiar
said. “I can’t see them going through elections and not solving this.”
He said one of the most important imperatives today is to develop
Myanmar, which he described as a country “twice the size of England or
France with a population much larger than Afghanistan and Iraq put
together which has had 60 years of conflict.” According to the
International Monetary Fund, Myanmar’s population in 2010 was 50.5
million and the country ranks 149th out of 185 on the U.N.’s Human
Development Index which measures the quality of life.
“There is a critical need for external investment, for easing of
financial restrictions, of currency reform,” Nambiar said. “All these
areas are extemely necessary — and quickly.”
He said in some ways the economic changes are “a little more
intimidating” than the political changes because with the transition now
taking place in the country “there is going to be this huge rush in
terms of investment and financial attention — even aid attention to
Myanmar — and the question of how to cope with it.”
It is going to require expanding the capacity of government
institutions and changing regulations, deciding what kind of internal
and foreign investments are needed, and planning to develop the
country’s private sector, he said.
Nambiar, who is Ban’s chief of staff, said the first thing the U.N.
plans to do is try and help the government prioritize its development
plan.
He noted that the government is bringing back some of its citizens
with expertise who have been living overseas, but “there is a huge lack
of human resources capability.”
Once these requirements are met, Nambiar said, “I think there is a strong possibility that Myanmar can emerge as a tiger.”
Looking ahead, he said there is also a generational change taking
place in Myanmar, including in the military, and younger leaders, even
in the army, are going to face the same kind of challenges as their
counterparts elsewhere in the world.
Posted by BCJP
on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Filed under
