Tiny New Zealand contract in Burma
sparks opposition's ire
By Jon Fernquest |
This morning's Bangkok Post's breaking news had a story on a controversial project that a New Zealand state owned telecommunications firm is doing in Burma. It is a very small contract:
...the small contract that the state-owned Kordia had in a joint venture with a Thai firm, ALT Inter Corporation, was worth about 80,000 New Zealand dollars (about 62,400 US dollars)....the firm had installed mobile base-station equipment for Myanmar Post and Telecommunications.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark defended the contract:
She rejected opposition claims that New Zealand was helping the Burmese military dictatorship..."Quite frankly, I think that's probably an aid to democracy in (Burma), not a step backwards, because one of the ways of getting news out to the world and photos and images out to the world is precisely through that technology," Clark told Television New Zealand's breakfast news programme.
She said there were no economic sanctions on Burma..."
The Burmese oppression has chosen to press the government on the issue:
"Naing Ko Ko, a spokesman for Burma Campaign New Zealand, told Radio New Zealand that the cellphone towers would help the military government continue its oppression of the population."
"Pariah state" has long been a good way of describing Burma.
For at least the last 20 years, if not the last 45 years, Burma has hardly really existed at all as far as western governments and companies have been concerned.
The west has had no real economic or cultural relations with the country for a long long time.
Without any long-term relations and shared interests, the pattern has developed of the west demanding something, like democracy, and not getting it, and then acting so as to isolate Burma even further diplomatically and economically with economic sanctions or some other punishment or strategy of isolation and avoidance.
China on Burma's northern border has provided the country with an alternative ally.
The situation has only become worse and worse over time, and though many see the only solution as completely uprooting the current government ("regime change") and replacing it with a regime more compliant with western democratic and economic institutions, over 20 to 40 years a whole generation of Burmese have grown up in the midst of this environment and have a vested interest in its continued operation and survival.
For further reading on this topic, read Mary Callahan's paper on the Burmese military: Of kyay-zu and kyet-su: the military in 2006, of a larger book discussing the current state of Burma's politics and economy that is available for free downloading at Australian National University (ANU).
(Source: Bangkok Post, breaking news, 04-01-08, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
sparks opposition's ire - makes the opposition angry
controversial - subject to intense public disagreement and argument
joint venture - a business done by two or more companies working together
mobile base-station equipment - equipment used to transmit mobile phone signals
quite frankly,... - to be honest,...; to speak the truth, even if it hurts,...
a step backwards - things get worse, rather than get better
economic sanctions - punishing a country economically, usually by restricting trade and financial flows
press the government on the issue - try to force the government to act in a certain way on this issue
oppression - cruel and unfair treatment of a group of people
a pariah - an outcast
uprooting - removing completely forever (like pulling up the roots of a tree, so that it does not grow anymore)
a regime - the goverment running a country (usually implies tough or severe action)
compliant - following rules created by an authority
institutions - customs, organisations, or ways of doing things shared by the members of a group or society
a generation - the period of time that it takes for children to grow up and become adults, around 20 to 30 years
X have a vested interest in Y - X will gain or lose depending on what happens to Y
