Reforms on all fronts go hand in hand

Myanmar these days is a brilliant beacon for foreign investment. All kinds of businesses are streaming to Myanmar to make money. Hotels are fully booked and the business function business is booming. Investors are uniformly sold on the economic potential of this newly opened country.

Thein Sein and his government have demonstrated that they are working hard to reform and democratise the country. He said last week that he would tackle chronic poverty and lift his 60 million people out of the list of least developed countries. Some structural reforms of the economy were jump started nearly two years ago.

The good news is that many reports paint a rosy picture for the Myanmar economy. This country is blessed with a wealth of natural resources. Its economy is expected to expand at least fourfold, raising the country into the middle-income league, by 2030.

The bad news is that this country lacks sufficient infrastructure, energy, power and skilled labour, while there is an abundance of corruption, cronyism, unclear regulations and inefficient bureaucrats.

Political reform and good governance have not yet left the starting block, even though the reform process was kicked off when Thein Sein took the helm in 2011. 

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of her life engrossed in political struggle, now has a role in parliament as an elected MP, but for now she can do little to directly achieve democratisation.

It could be said that the military has not directly ruled the country since the general election in 2010, but it is hard to say that it has withdrawn from politics. The Tatmadaw, the local name for the Myanmar military, shows no intention of allowing civilian supremacy to take hold in the country.

The 2008 constitution guarantees the strong status of the military with a veto right in the political structure. Many people might want to amend the military-sponsored charter but that would be an uphill task.

The authorities have released some political prisoners but many remain behind bars. There is no clear timeline for them to regain their freedom, not to mention political participation. The public might enjoy a certain degree of freedom but many restrictions remain. 

The current government was able to clinch peace pacts with many ethnic minorities who have taken up arms against the authorities for a long time, but peace is still far from becoming permanent. Gunfire can still be heard in many areas that are supposed to be at peace following the calling of truces.

Many major armed ethnic groups entered into ceasefire negotiations with the government more than a year ago, but none of them has achieved genuine political dialogue with the authorities. Many ethnic groups still have no clear idea about their political fate. Most ethnic groups have fought for autonomy or at least some degree of self-rule, if not full independence, but none of them can see the ultimate goal of the peace process. 

Ethnic conflicts are already complex. Nowadays a religious element has infiltrated the social dispute as the Buddhist majority clashes with the Muslim minority in many towns. Sectarian violence in recent months has left hundreds of people dead, caused widespread damage to property and displaced thousands of people.

The current government under Thein Sein has no clear strategy to deal properly with the ethno-religious issue. Anti-Muslim sentiment has spread over the country while the authorities have shown no signs of trying to stop it. Extremist religious groups exploit and abuse their new freedom of expression to fan hate among the various religions.

Economics and politics cannot be separated. Economic reform cannot yield the good results that many people want to see unless developments are also achieved on the political front.