Burma EXPO 2008

Myanmar Embassy
152, Amorsolo Street, Legaspi Village
Makati City, Manila
Philippines
April14th, 2008

Ambassador’s Letter:

Excellency,
We are privileged that you’re visiting Myanmar, ‘The Golden Land’ known for its golden color pagodas and monuments. As the Ambassador of Myanmar to the Philippines, I have the honor to convey the invitation for the participation in the ASEAN Summit. Though Myanmar has many similarities with the rest of South East Asian countries, its people, culture, and geography have some distinct features. The government has initiated many policy reforms to strengthen the economy including political reforms.

Myanmar became independent in January 1948. The British ruled for about sixty-years. Under the leadership of Gen. Ne Win, our savior, and the BSSP (Burma’s socialist party Programme Party), the government initiated ‘the Burmese Way’ to socialism to attain economic self-sufficiency. The government structure comprise of the executive, legislative and judiciary branch. The chairman of SPDC (State Peace and Development Council), and chief of state is Sr. Gen. Than Shwe. Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein is the head of government. The legislative branch consists of a unicameral Peoples Assembly, which is presently suspended. The current government is in the process of drafting of a new constitution.

There are 135 different ethnic groups in the country and each has dialects. The country has majority and minority groups that have their own unique cultures and traditions. The Burmese natural dress or clothes is consist of costumes are usually sarong, blouse, shirt and trouser for men. Bamar women wears sarong with textures. The textures of sarong, also known as longyi, are usually wavy or crisscrossed. The Karen group is known as the “long neck women” or “giraffe women.” It is because the women have rings around their neck to extend the length. When the girls reach 12 or 13, they would be given few rings to put on their neck. Each year they would add one ring until they marry. Another interesting thing is Thanaka make up which is for all age and gender. Acts as sun cream and skin cream which keeps the person cool. Thanaka make up is made from the bark of a tree and water. The bark gets grounded into powder and is mixed with water. Almost every ethnic group applies this cream. Festivals are also included as a big part of Myanmar traditions. Myanmar’s New Year’s Day is on April 17th. There is another festival called Thingyan(water) festival which is held for three days. People go on stages dancing and singing. They throw Thingyan water with joy. Burmese believe that being soaked with Thingyan water washes away the sin and bad luck. During the New Year, people believe that their God Thagyamin will come down and spend the last two or three days and when he starts his way up, that’s when the New Year starts. Our New Year starts with clean souls and minds.

Our country has an estimated population of 50 million people (43,373,958). We have a very low growth rate (0.815%) so we are not over-crowded. According to the Burmese constitution, the official religion of the Burmese people is Buddhism. So this means that about 90% of the people who live in Burma are Buddhist. 26% of the people who live in Burma are 0-14 years old, 69% are 15-64 years old, and 5% are 65 years and over.

Burma has an area of more than 240,000 square miles, equivalent to an area roughly the size of France and Belgium. Since there were few roads or railways and tended to be dominated by the main waterways, the communications were generally poor. One of the examples that made Burma better is the country’s slow economic growth contributing to the preservation of much of its environment and ecosystems. Burma is covered by 49% of forests, including dense tropical growth and valuable teak in lower Burma. There are some typical jungle animals, such as tigers and leopards. There are rhinoceros, wild buffaloes, wild boars, deer antelopes and elephants in upper Burma, which are tamed or bred in captivity for use as work animals.

Excellency, I sure, your visit to ‘The Golden Land’ will be a memorable experience. I take this opportunity to extend the warm greetings from the people of Myanmar.

Yours Sincerely,

Ambassador of Myanmar to the Philippines
Tsaulu Maung-Gyi Minhkaung II

Timeline:
The Early Empire:
3000-5000 BC- The rise of the Anyathalian culture in Northern Burma.

The Burman Empire:
1057AD- The first Burmese Empire established by Anawrahta.

Colonial Period to World War II:
1824-26: The first Anglo-Burmese War. British come to colonize Burma, conquering a few regions at first.

1937- British colonial power, decides to separate Burma from India.

1942-45: Japanese occupy Burma during the WWII. The British re-conquers Burma. Independence (National Army) or Anti-Japanese; resist the Japanese occupation. Burma Independence Army is now known as the AFPL (Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League) led by Aung San.

1947- Constituent assembly adopts a new constitution. Aung San, national hero and six other members of the interim government are assassinated. Political rival, U Saw behind assassination.

Independence:
1948- Burma becomes independent as Union of Burma from the British rule. U Nu chosen as prime minister. Ethnic violence erupts, leading to civil war.

1962-A military coup led by Gen. Ne Win, replaces the government with a revolutionary Council (RC). BSSP (Burma Socialist Programme Party) introduces “Burmese Way of Socialism”. All large businesses are nationalized.

1974- New constitution comes into place; power is given to the People’s Assembly led by Gen. Ne Win and other military leaders.

1988- Major student demonstrations, thousand civilians killed; martial law declared. Gen. Saw Maung is the new head of state/chairman of the new military council, SLORC (the State Law and Order Restoration Council). NLD (National League of Democracy) formed, with the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi.

1990- Opposition party NLD, wins the general election. They receive more than 80 seats in the assembly.

1991- Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1998- Burma becomes a member of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations)

2004-SPDC reconvenes a NC (National Convention) to draft a new constitution. The opposition, NLD members boycott as Aung Suu Kyi is under house arrest.

2007- Thousands of Buddhists lead anti-government protests. The military Junta cracks down on protest’s, number of civilians are killed.

Issues:
Human Rights-
There has been devastating incidents happening in Burma (Myanmar). However, there is one incident that has lead to eternal deaths through Burma. Human rights have been occurring in Burma for a long period of time, in a form of violence and independence. This has come to one of Burma’s controversial problem.

A coincidence happened while Myanmar was starting their democracy from scratch. They faced a civil war and smaller insurgencies. This was meant to help ensure a more supportive regime. This fell under military dictatorship during the 60s, supported by USA, UK and Australia. On wards, human rights have been oppressed and a lot of innocent people have been killed. Near the end of 1989s, when many democratic protests were happening, over ten thousand students, Buddhist monks, and other civilians were killed because of massacres and protest clampdowns. Because of the rich resources such as oil, timber and natural gas, countries such as China, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, have turned a blind eye to the human rights violation.

During September 2007, the juntas killed Buddhist monks with violent treatments and harsh killing. Another violence incident that happened in Burma is that the Yangon forced the DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) that the military authority forced them to burn all bodies of innocent injured people or arrested people. Every single body that have had gone to the cemetery, dead or alive, had to be burned to death. The DVB expected no excuses or whatever the conditions were. Therefore, they had to burn the dead or alive bodies because of the order from above. It had to be the most devastating moment for arrested people. I think this problem can be solved if the government changed or the military government exerted themselves into solving this problem into a fascinating cause.

Population:
Population; problem of refugees-

The population is affected by ethnic conflicts and political unrest. It is an important issue in the case of Myanmar. There are around 135 ethnic groups in the nation. The majority is Burman. Although some ethnic groups have agreed to ceasefire with the military Junta, there are a few who still continue the armed conflict. They want autonomy for ethnic minority areas and end of human rights violations. The conflict has led to around 140,000 ethnic minority refugees in camps outside the country. About 270,000 have taken refuge in the jungle. Burmese refugees live in harsh and poor conditions. The suppressive military regime and stagnant economy are the main cause of conflict and consequent displacement of people.

Bibliography:
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