Myanmar the missing link in ADB plans
September 2, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 2 September, 2010 – The thick forested Dawna mountain range in southeast Burma is a major obstacle blocking Asian Development Bank ambitions to link Burma’s road network with the East-West-Corridor highways that cross central Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
A detailed report in the online Irrawady states that “the still-to-be-built 40-km stretch across the mountain in military-ruled Burma is a key to making the Asian Development Bank’s East-West Corridor a reality.”
The Manila-based bank has been promoting the 1,450-km long highway claiming it will improve trade and tourism across mainland Southeast Asia. The East-West Corridor, as it is identified in ADB reports, starts in central Vietnam at the country’s coastal port of Danang and crosses Laos to Savanakhet on the banks of the Mekong River.
A bridge links the Lao town to Mukdahan in Thailand and a sophisticated highway network stretches across Thailand central plains to Mae Sot the border town with Myanmar. All the roads on this section are surfaced and in Thailand many of them are four to six lane highways.
However, ADB ambitious corridor stops dead in its tracks at Mae Sot a border town in Thailand where a bridge crosses the River Moei to the small trading town of Myawadi in Myanmar.
On that side of the border the East-West Corridor is supposed to follow an existing 18-km road into the mountains. On the other side of the mountain range a 200-km highway links to various roads that lead to Moulmein a major port on Myanmar’s Andaman Sea coast.
The 40-km section over the mountain is the sticky issue for ADB as any assistance the agency provides to complete it will make it a target for environmentalists, who view the road as a disaster for the mountain’s ecology, while political activists will accuse the bank of supporting the military junta.
According to the Irrawady report, quoting Naing Htoo, a Burma project coordinator for Earthrights International, a US-based green lobby, “the area they have chosen to build the road is a part of the mountain with forests and wildlife.”It will result in more logging of teak and the killing of wildlife.”
In addition, the ethnic Karen who live in the area claim the road would make it easier for Burmese troops to combat the Karen National Union, a rebel force that has been waging a separatist war for six decades.
The ADB is taking cover behind its non-involvement policy in providing direct funds to Myanmar to sidestep the questions that environmentalists and human rights activists are raising. The bank has stopped development funding in Burma for the past two decades due to the country’s financial and political troubles.
“ADB has not provided any direct assistance to Myanmar for over 20 years, and ADB has no plans to provide any new direct assistance to Myanmar,” the report quoted Pradeep Srivastava, a senior regional cooperation specialist.
“Since ADB does not operate in Mynamar, questions about the East-West Economic Corridor, or other matters within the country, should be best answered by officials in Myanmar.”
The bank’s GMS programme began in 1992 to promote economic growth in the six countries that share the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s longest river. Member countries are Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
By 2005, over US$10 billion worth of investments had poured in to the region to finance the building of roads, bridges, airports, seaports, power lines and hotels.
But as long as the military junta remains in power in Myanmar, the corridor dreams end at Mae Sot’s bridge and the recent border closure indicates finding a solution is not a priority for the military junta and is unlikely to be so for some time to come.
‘The ethnic Karen’ were our allies in the 1st and 2nd World War. The majority of ethnic groups in Burma (Myanmar) fought for the Japanese under Aung San. Aung San went over to Britain and the Allies side near the end of the 2nd World War when it became clear that the Japanese were losing. The Karen Levies helped and assisted Allied soldiers during the retreat in 1942, guiding them out over the mountains to India and fighting rear guard. During the Japanese occupation Karen men, woman and children were hunted, tortured and killed. The Japanese were aided by the fifth columnists headed by Aung San. Nonetheless, the valiant Karens continued to send out Intelligence to the Allied Armies in India, which aided the re-taking of Burma. During the re-taking of Burma, the Karens played a vital and dangerous role by going in between the Japanese and the incoming Allied Armies’ Lines, as they headed for Rangoon. Although the Karen were promised their own state and protection from the other ethnic groups who fought for the Japanese, Mountbatten and Prime Minister Atlee betrayed them. Indeed they were not represented at all ’democratic’ meetings and Britain handed over the new Independent country to those who fought for the Japanese.
Regarding the phrase, ‘a rebel force’, Karen Resistance would be more suitable. The word ‘rebel’ (adjective, verb and noun) is usually used when a person or group takes up arms to rebel against a lawfully elected country or institution. This is not the situation that faced the Karen. The Independent country immediately opened fire and killed unarmed Karen, men and women shortly after Independence. The Karen have had to resist this and following forms of government since the end of the 2nd World War. Many, many Karen men, women and children, of brave and loyal hearts, have been tortured and murdered ever since.
Karens in UK Team (KUK)