Burma Crackdown -the burning reasons behind !

The five fold increase in fuel prices by the government, while exporting abundant natural gas cheaply, is devastating the lives of ordinary people in Burma. If the government fails to address the present economic crisis, it seems that the people will not be able to tolerate the junta's violent oppression much longer.

The income of ordinary people is between 20,000- 30,000 kyat per month and one gauge of the dire economic situation in Burma is the fact that the official exchange rate is 6 kyat to the U.S. greenback, while the unofficial rate is more like 1,350, whereas a package of 24 kilo rice cost more that 20,000 kyat, so practically it is difficult for the ordinary people to survive.

Ko Ko Gi, a student leader who was arrested recently, said that dissatisfaction over the present economic hardship is trivial in comparison to the smoldering political crisis, because, the military authoritarianism has been the root cause of bloody political unrests and widespread ethnic rebellion in Burma, since 1962.

The kyat has a story all it’s own: on an astrologer’s advice, former Burmese strongman U Ne Win decided the currency should be denominated in multiples of nine, because 9 was a much more auspicious number than 10. As a result 45- and 90-kyat notes still circulate in Burma alongside multiples of 5 and 10. Cash reserves were spent on an extensive military buildup—including jet fighters from Yugoslavia, tanks from China and helicopters from Poland. Money was also carelessly squandered on unnecessary infrastructure projects such as dams and reservoirs in a country with one of the highest annual rainfalls in the world. The dramatic collapse of the kyat finally came during the latter part of 1997, when Asia’s economic crisis hit Burma hardest. The free-fall stopped at around 300-400 kyat to the dollar.

Before the 1962 coup that installed a military regime in power, Burma had one of Southeast Asia’s highest standards of living. It boasted a well-educated intellectual class. It was one of the world biggest exporters of rice. But today, the country’s infrastructure is so decrepit that the regime cannot adequately exploit its own resources without outside help. Despite the country's lucrative oil and gas sectors, the domestic refining industry is a mess due to half a century of mismanagement, lack of investment and neglect. Local refineries aren’t suited to processing the high sulfur content in Burmese oil. As a result, the government has to import nearly all of its diesel, to the tune of nearly 20,000 barrels daily by 2004.

Combine that hunger with today’s high prices, and you can easily see how the need to import diesel could help prompt a price rise. This wasn’t the first time the regime imposed such a hike, either; two years ago fuel prices shot up nine fold. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, actually Burma’s junta supremo Than Shwe is a former postal clerk, to know people might be mad about the abrupt Aug. 15 doubling of diesel prices and fivefold increase in the cost of compressed natural gas, a hike passed on to passengers using public transport. Or, indeed, that it’s bad PR to throw a lavish wedding ceremony for your daughter, as Than Shwe did, showing how the gem-encrusted elite parties on, while one in three Burmese children is malnourished, according to the World Food Program.