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Burma: a far off land in which glittering golden pagodas rise over sprawling cities and the sight of a monk walking the streets does not merit a second glance. A land in which the locals are always ready with a smile, where the magic and mystique of history is woven into the fabric of daily life.
Myanmar: a nominal democracy ruled by the fragments of a military junta disbanded merely two years ago in which ethnic violence runs rampant and political dissidents are still forced to perform anti-government plays in back alleys.
This is the country to which the newly re-elected President Obama traveled in a historic visit on Monday, Nov. 19, as part of his larger tour of Southeast Asia. Called Burma by those opposed to its rulers and Myanmar by its government, it is the nation in which the world-renowned Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was infamously placed under house arrest in 1989. After she was released in 2010 as part of wider reforms, her opposition party, the National League for Democracy, is now allowed to run in what the Burmese government labels a democratic election process.
Obama met with both Aung Suu Kyi and the current Burmese president U Thein Sein, stating in a speech at the University of Yangon that, “Over the last year and a half, a dramatic transition has begun as a dictatorship of five decades has loosened its grip. Under President Thein Sein, the desire for change has been met by an agenda for reform.”
As promising as this may sound, the president whom Obama speaks of so glowingly is the same man who, as the head of Burma’s Disaster Preparedness Committee under the former junta, failed to help the thousands of victims of the 2008 Cyclone Nargis, refused international aid and closed off devastated sections of the country to protect them from the prying eyes of tourists. This is the same man who, under the thin veil of nominal democracy, allows ethnic violence to rage on in Western Burma’s Rakhine state.
Formerly allied with North Korea and still maintaining deep economic ties with its neighbor China, Burma is the perfect strategic ally. Any sign of democratic tendencies in the country has therefore been encouraged, a move that gives the United States one more link to a region of the world that is growing increasingly important.
This is, of course, part of an increasing trend in American foreign policy. Burma could not be a more clear-cut example of the conundrum faced by the government — is it acceptable to overlook a nation’s numerous flaws for the sake of U.S. national gain in one area? Much like their recent praise for Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi — a man proving to be just as dictatorial as his predecessor — in brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the United States seems just as willing to look the other way in Burma, as long as full democracy continues to remain on the country’s agenda. While Thein Sein may prove to be Burma’s own Gorbachev, for now, the United States would be well advised to watch its back. Remaining silent in the face of a nation riddled with human rights abuses comes with a cost. Sometimes there is just no converting a dictator.
A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Nov. 27 print edition. Emma Dolhai is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].
