Hater Depot
Mar 24th, 2007, 01:04 AM
http://www.himalmag.com/2007/february/cover3.htm
Even as Southasia’s energy-strapped, fast-growing economies have led many to wonder whether antagonistic neighbours may be pushed together into forced cooperation, on the eastern edge of the region a less optimistic dynamic is playing out. Indeed, the huge natural-gas reserves of Burma have caused many Asian governments to turn a blind eye to Rangoon’s continued oppressive and non-democratic tactics.
...
Burma remains one of the most repressive countries in Asia, despite promises for political reform and national reconciliation by its government, which continues to spend 40 percent of the country’s national budget on defence, and just five to ten percent on health and education. Burma’s military, the Tatmadaw, is Southeast Asia’s second largest conventional force, estimated at over 400,000 troops. The junta stands to profit by up to USD 17 billion dollars from the Shwe Gas Project over its lifespan, which could become the government’s single largest source of revenue – up to USD 825 million per year.
Aside from not being able to capitalise on this additional revenue, the construction of the Shwe gasline itself could have a dramatic and direct impact on many Burmese communities. Severe human-rights abuses and environmental negligence associated with the construction of pipelines has already been experienced in Burma. In the early 1990s, the Rangoon government partnered with the US company Unocal and France’s Total to construct the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines through southern Burma. This massive project had disastrous effects on local communities, leading to increased militarisation and systematic human-rights abuses by the Burmese military – including widespread forced labour, confiscated lands, forced relocation, and instances of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings in the pipeline area. As per information available at the time of writing, the Burmese military has already begun conscripting forced labourers to build military camps and roads near the proposed pipeline routes to India and China.
Even as Southasia’s energy-strapped, fast-growing economies have led many to wonder whether antagonistic neighbours may be pushed together into forced cooperation, on the eastern edge of the region a less optimistic dynamic is playing out. Indeed, the huge natural-gas reserves of Burma have caused many Asian governments to turn a blind eye to Rangoon’s continued oppressive and non-democratic tactics.
...
Burma remains one of the most repressive countries in Asia, despite promises for political reform and national reconciliation by its government, which continues to spend 40 percent of the country’s national budget on defence, and just five to ten percent on health and education. Burma’s military, the Tatmadaw, is Southeast Asia’s second largest conventional force, estimated at over 400,000 troops. The junta stands to profit by up to USD 17 billion dollars from the Shwe Gas Project over its lifespan, which could become the government’s single largest source of revenue – up to USD 825 million per year.
Aside from not being able to capitalise on this additional revenue, the construction of the Shwe gasline itself could have a dramatic and direct impact on many Burmese communities. Severe human-rights abuses and environmental negligence associated with the construction of pipelines has already been experienced in Burma. In the early 1990s, the Rangoon government partnered with the US company Unocal and France’s Total to construct the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines through southern Burma. This massive project had disastrous effects on local communities, leading to increased militarisation and systematic human-rights abuses by the Burmese military – including widespread forced labour, confiscated lands, forced relocation, and instances of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings in the pipeline area. As per information available at the time of writing, the Burmese military has already begun conscripting forced labourers to build military camps and roads near the proposed pipeline routes to India and China.