Reworking Bandung internationalism: decolonization and postcolonial futurism in Burma/Myanmar

ABSTRACT

This commentary examines how futurity has been imagined across politics and political economy in Burma/Myanmar. Three areas are discussed: the revolutionary horizons of anti-colonialists, who combined Buddhist and Marxist ideas of historical progress; the developmental socialism of the early independence area, with its industrial telos and modernist commitments; and a contemporary development project in southern Myanmar, where processes of dispossession are troubling earlier temporal imaginaries. I suggest that a vision of postcolonial transformation coheres across anti-colonial and early independence claims to futurity. This temporal imaginary, which I call postcolonial futurism, promises transitions from farm to factory, peasant to the proletariat, and precapital to capital. This imaginary resonated widely. Today, however, scholars of South and Southeast Asia argue that modernist promises of transition now lack empirical and political purchase amid ongoing dispossession and trends towards low-wage, informal labour. Yet in the wake of postcolonial futurism, responses to dispossession are creating novel political possibilities. Responding to Kuan-Hsing Chen’s call to rework Bandung internationalism in the present, I consider how struggles over dispossession today indicate both openings and limits for the making of new political futures. Integrating Glen Coulthard’s work on colonialism and dispossession, I argue that decolonizing subjectivity is central to this process.     

Burma's Insein Prison: punishment and oppression

Dissent in Burma has been brutally suppressed, and imprisonment in Insein Prison, located near the capital, Rangoon, has been the fate for many activists. There, a system of mistreatment and corruption brutalizes criminal and political detainees alike.     

Capacity building of sea level and climate monitoring in the Pacific region： Fiji case study

In order to enhance capacity building in the Pacific region, and to raise awareness on climate change and sea level issues, teaching and training modules were made available to the Pacific community through the ＂South pacific sea level and climate monitoring project＂ funded by AusAID. Numerous training workshops have been conducted through the project since its inception in 1991 and the project is now in its fourth and final phase. It was hoped that the goals of capacity building for the stakeholders on correct information of climate change and sea level have been understood and taken heed of. In addition, ＂The scientific educational resources and experience associated with the deployment of Argo＂ （SEREAD） project was also set up especially for ocean science in the Pacific island schools in 2001. However, it has been realized that the data from this project is more relevant to tertiary level rather than to secondary level students. Consequently, a survey was carried out to gauge the students＇ outlook towards the physical side of marine science. The survey revealed that more than 80% of both tertiary level and high school non-physical science students decided not to take the physical aspect of marine science sighting reasons that it is either a difficult subject, boring, too hard to understand or difficult to pass in the examination. Even amongst students taking physical science, only about 50% believe that the physical aspect of marine science is enjoyable. A minority of students at USP and high school take science as a subject and a small proportion from them take the physical science. From this scenario, it can be predicted that there will be a shortage of physical science graduates in the future. The confidence of the Pacific community in the work of scientists is built on faith. They appreciate the effect of science on their lives and support it but are unaware of the scientific methods involved. Therefore, for the sustainability of physical aspect of marine science in the future for the Pacific region, public awareness of climate change and sea level is vitally important and it should be widely promoted in the community as a matter of urgency.     

Signs of life in Myanmar’s nationwide ceasefire agreement? Finding a way forward

This article focuses on peace-building efforts in Myanmar implemented under the Nation Wide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2013. It assesses the ways in which the recently elected government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) has dealt with the NCA, and highlights opportunities and challenges. I argue that while the NLD government and Myanmar military remain crucial to the success of peace efforts, implementation of the NCA is impossible without the support of the eight current NCA signatories, in particularly the Karen National Union (KNU). Neglecting the importance of these actors not only provides an incomplete picture of ongoing peace-building efforts, but could also undermine efforts to promote national reconciliation that have thus far focused exclusively on the Myanmar government and the military. These signs of life emanating from the NCA signatories, however, have increasingly been undermined by an official failure to implement the agreement and to adhere to the agreed process and by ongoing hostilities between the military and four of the country’s ethnic armed groups.     

Do consultancies compromise academic research and ethics? A case study of Burma/Myanmar*

This paper contributes to ongoing debates about interactions between the political science discipline and policymaking communities by analysing the role played by scholars who work as consultants for governments, non-governmental organizations, and international aid agencies in conflict-affected and post-conflict societies. It argues that although consultancies permit scholars to engage with policy communities and provide convenient access for data collection, they also present methodological constraints and can complicate and compromise research ethics due to the inherent tensions linking the two different realms with their differing norms, agendas, and goals. The findings are based on the author’s decades of field experience in Myanmar, a country which has recently received much attention from the international community, on interviews with nine PhD candidates or PhD holders who have been employed as consultants for aid agencies in Myanmar and Southeast Asia, and analysis of secondary sources on countries with similar situations.     

Measuring Hope: A Quantitative Approach with Validation in Rural Myanmar

Development economists are increasingly considering the role of hope in behaviours relating to investment, production, and consumption decisions of the poor. Although several studies have examined how the concepts of hope and aspirations may fit into economic theories, empirical studies have yet to validate a reliable measurement of hope. We adapt a quantitative approach to measure hope in the context of rural Myanmar. We present three tests of measurement validity. This study finds that hope measurements are correlated with covariates in a way supported by theory, are distinct from other psychological concepts, and are positively correlated with welfare perceptions.     

Book reviews

Clay G. Westcott (ed.), Key Governance Issues in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam (Manila: Asian Development Bank, 2001), 71 pages.

Michael Jacobsen and Ole Bruun (eds.), Human Rights and Asian Values: Contesting National Identities and Cultural Representations in Asia (Surrey, Great Britain: Curzon Press, 2000), 330 pages.

Robert H. Taylor (ed.), Burma: Political Economy Under Military Rules (London: Hurst & Company, 2001).

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi (eds.), Institutions, Incentives and Economic Reforms in India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000).

Kyung‐Ae Park and Dalchoong Kim (eds.), Korean Security Dynamics and Transition (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 209 pages.     

Facts versus fiction: Socio‐political and economic development of Burma under military management since 1988

The Burmese military under the command of General Saw Maung staged a coup in the name of saving the country by killing thousands of unarmed demonstrators on 18 September 1988. After forming a nineteen‐man military junta which was named the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Burmese generals vowed to manage the country to accomplish three tasks: the restoration of law and order, the provision of safe and secure transportation, the fulfilment of the socio‐economic needs of the people. The article examines and evaluates the accomplishment of SLORC in attending to these three tasks based upon the reports given by the military regimes and its lobbyists and by the people and outside observers of Burma. The basic conclusion of the article is that there is a tremendous gap between the fictional official reports and the factual reports given by the people on the improvements in the socio‐political and economic conditions in Burma under the military management since 1988.     

First Movers,Democratization and Unilateral Concessions: Overcoming Commitment Problems and Negotiating a “Nationwide Cease-Fire” in Myanmar

ABSTRACT

The article argues that “first movers” and the bandwagoning effect they trigger can undermine the dynamics that perpetuate civil war and enable a multiparty cease-fire agreement. It looks at the unprecedented “nationwide” cease-fire in Myanmar reached between the government and several ethnic armed organizations in 2015. It shows that democratization and unilateral concessions by the Myanmar government were instrumental in overcoming the commitment problem and provided the necessary incentives for “first movers” to set the stage for a broad cease-fire agreement.