The look of Burmas new government By Asia Sentinel Apr 02, 2011 11:46AM UTC

Share:

Share Loading...

A slightly younger generation, but hardly a more enlightened or fair one writes Larry Jagan for Asia Sentinel.

As Burmas top general Than Shwe finally steps down as commander-in-chief of the countrys armed forces to hand over power to a younger generation of military men in a putatively elected government, the new ministers have their work cut out for them.

All of Burmas ministry coffers are dry, according to government officials with the possible exception of the Ministry of Defense. The outgoing ministers were encourage to spend everything last year, especially on election campaigning, so one of the new governments first actions is likely to be to introduce a system of taxation. Most of the new ministers, as expected, are former military men. Of the 58 ministers, all but four are generals or retired military officers. Most are well under 60 years of age.

In his first major address to the parliament, the new President Thein Sein, a former general himself, promised to increase spending on health care and education, which he says would also be brought up to international standards. Labor rights supposedly would be guaranteed. The government says it is also committed to fighting bribery and corruption Thein Sein stressed.

In this Wednesday, March 30, 2011 photo released by Myanmar News Agency (MNA), members of Myanmar's new government attend a session of Parliament in the remote capital of Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Pic: AP.

Setting out the governments agenda is a new turn for a regime which in the past was highly secretive and coercive. But few in Burma feel the new government was any difference from Than Shwes military dictatorship. It is the result of sham elections last year in which the military-sponsored party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party won a landslide victory that has been roundly condemned by the international community and the pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi as a farce.

Petrol prices are crazy and the cost of food is going through the roof, complained a taxi driver, Maung Maung. These are the things that really matter to the people, he added. We starve while they plunder the country.

Corruption is rampant in this country. If the president is serious about stamping it out he has to start with Than Shwes wife and the rest of the cronies, said a Burmese businessman who declined to be identified. She has bought up properties and land all over Rangoon after the existing residents were evicted.

The former fisheries minister is part of that mafia, he told Asia Sentinel, costing the country more than US$7 billion annually. The police and top generals know, but have done nothing so far, he complained. We really cannot expect them to change now they are all taking a piece of the cake.