myanmar and thailand changes in fortune

[ultimate weapon]

if you guys read the history of these 2 countries they have always been at war and myanmar or burma had the advantage but then fast forward to modern times it seems thailand is right on top. The citizens are much richer than burma they were never colonized by a foreigner power and so on.

Now an average burmese citizen needs to travel to thailand to make more money but not vice versa you won't see thai ppl sneaking into burma to try to make money cos that's obviously stupid. It would be like an american sneaking into the congo to make money which is seriously dumb cos there would be no money to make.

How did burma just fall off so badly?

[bigbamboo]

Burma is a resource rich country and there will be plenty of people 'sneaking in' to make money. Some already have.

I seem to remember a well known Thai telecoms magnate did very nicely there and that was back in the days when Burma was supposedly off limits.

[ultimate weapon]

Sure burma might be resource rich but let's just be honest. We all know which country right now is better off. I mean how did thailand's worst enemy just screw itself so badly today?

[SeaVisionBurma]

myanmar or burma had the advantage but then fast forward to modern times it seems thailand is right on top. The citizens are much richer than burma they were never colonized by a foreigner power and so on.

Colonial occupation of Burma had nothing to do with this. Burma's problems began when U Ne Win took over the country in 1962, and then screwed it in to the ground over several decades. Prior to this, following independence from Britain in 1948 - there was a time when Burma and Singapore were being compared to see who would be the powerhouse emerging economy in the 50's.

There are many factors which hindered Burma's economic development - aside from Ne Win's dictatorship & the military junta - it is a large country with a vast array of different ethnic groups who wanted independence or autonomy. The socialist policies of the junta also kept the country isolated for decades.

It is an interesting history in relation to the rest of SE Asia post world war II to modern times. Myanmar is SE Asia's largest contiguous country. Worth researching if you have an interest.

Hope this helps.

SVB

[phuketrichard]

Thais have been going in and making tons of $$ in Burma for decades

Gems, Teak, jade,casinos

[simon43]

and that was back in the days when Burma was supposedly off limits.

Burma was never off-limits. AFAIK, the sanctions only applied to western countries and many companies found ways to get round the regulations.

Most of Asia has been trading/investing in Myanmar for yonks!

[Lobstered]

and that was back in the days when Burma was supposedly off limits.

Burma was never off-limits. AFAIK, the sanctions only applied to western countries and many companies found ways to get round the regulations.

Most of Asia has been trading/investing in Myanmar for yonks!

Absolutely in 2010 the last year of full sanctions by the EU, Aus and US Myanmar received USD22 Billion in direct foreign investment. Most of it from China and Thailand but also Japan, S Korea and vietnam.

The real issue was that most of this investment just made a very few people very rich and provided no benefit to the local population. In fact most of the benefit and money never actually left the investing country. If you look at the Chinese investment in Hydro-electric dams. China provided all the materials and all the skilled labour. Myanmar just provided the land (kicking thousands of people off their land with no or very limited compensation) and the unskilled very low cost labour. Then nearly all of the electricity generated by these dams go to China,

[humqdpf]

How did Burma fall off so badly?

Colonialism which impoverishes countries and often sets up the conditions for civil war, subsequent lack of the education among the greater population that prevents the evolution of a real democracy, lack of strong institutions for governance and other conditions that ultimately empower the military to take over. Once that happens, it is anyone's guess what will happen next but corruption, repression and lack of development frequently result from the fallout.

What is truly unusual is not the Burma case - we see the same in so many former colonies in Africa, Asia and South/Central America. And Burma is now turning around although still in a very fragile state.

The truly unusual case is the Thai situation, where the so-called educated urban elite appear to want to get rid of democracy after years of democracy, where coups or an end to democracy now appear to be welcome to that group and where that group appears to be happy to see the country lose out economically as long as they get to achieve their political goals, even if one of of those goals is to get rid of the corruption, at least that led by Thaksin and his family.

Coups have occurred in other countries because of corruption and economic mismanagement but they sometimes end and there are no more coups after that - the last coup in Thailand is an example, as is Ghana. But with no colonial history, a good development record and, at least compared with some other countries, a system of governance that is inclusive and not the most corrupt in the world (compared to countries like Nigeria), the question has to be asked, how did Thailand fall off so badly?

[thailandbeachisland]

Nice post from someone who only knows what his fav TV channel tells him <3

[ericthai]

Dont worry, now that changes in the govt in Burma has come and with ASEAN Burma will come out of the dark and surpass Thailand. Give it 5 yrs or so and you will see big changes.

[iamariva1957]

You know... you should come here to Mae Sot here in Thailand. I have been here for the past 4 years now and one cannot help but see the huge amount of building going on. The 2 Tesco's we have. The Mega Store (like a Home Depot back in the States), the 15 condo buildings going up, the new hotels being built, a huge shopping mall has been planned, the police station has moved to new digs and is much larger, and the implementation of redoing the entire electrical supply grid going on right now all over the place. The plans for the new highway from YNG to 'Nam is being built and the city as a whole is gearing up for a flood of trade and transport between Burma and Thailand. Even the immigration office has had a facelift and now is being made larger along with the airport (bigger runway and there are plans to increase the size of the terminal. Nuk Air is already flying daily into YNG and cities in Thai which is new as it only started last year). The only thing that the authorities are not doing... yet... is increasing the size of the border crossing. But then of course the bridge that is here and open for business will need a bit of work as well to make it stronger to so be able to handle the extra traffic. But someone, somewhere here in Thai is planning for an increase between Burma and Thailand. This city will be totally different in 2 years I expect.

[timewilltell]

How did Burma fall off so badly?

Colonialism which impoverishes countries and often sets up the conditions for civil war, subsequent lack of the education among the greater population that prevents the evolution of a real democracy, lack of strong institutions for governance and other conditions that ultimately empower the military to take over. Once that happens, it is anyone's guess what will happen next but corruption, repression and lack of development frequently result from the fallout.

What is truly unusual is not the Burma case - we see the same in so many former colonies in Africa, Asia and South/Central America. And Burma is now turning around although still in a very fragile state.

The truly unusual case is the Thai situation, where the so-called educated urban elite appear to want to get rid of democracy after years of democracy, where coups or an end to democracy now appear to be welcome to that group and where that group appears to be happy to see the country lose out economically as long as they get to achieve their political goals, even if one of of those goals is to get rid of the corruption, at least that led by Thaksin and his family.

Coups have occurred in other countries because of corruption and economic mismanagement but they sometimes end and there are no more coups after that - the last coup in Thailand is an example, as is Ghana. But with no colonial history, a good development record and, at least compared with some other countries, a system of governance that is inclusive and not the most corrupt in the world (compared to countries like Nigeria), the question has to be asked, how did Thailand fall off so badly?

Colonialism did not seem to do much harm to Hong Kong or Singapore - I wonder where you were thinking of. It is the who and what happened after independence that shaped the various countries, they either built on the infrastructure as Singapore and Hong Kong have or they screwed it as they did in Burma.

[ericthai]

You know... you should come here to Mae Sot here in Thailand. I have been here for the past 4 years now and one cannot help but see the huge amount of building going on. The 2 Tesco's we have. The Mega Store (like a Home Depot back in the States), the 15 condo buildings going up, the new hotels being built, a huge shopping mall has been planned, the police station has moved to new digs and is much larger, and the implementation of redoing the entire electrical supply grid going on right now all over the place. The plans for the new highway from YNG to 'Nam is being built and the city as a whole is gearing up for a flood of trade and transport between Burma and Thailand. Even the immigration office has had a facelift and now is being made larger along with the airport (bigger runway and there are plans to increase the size of the terminal. Nuk Air is already flying daily into YNG and cities in Thai which is new as it only started last year). The only thing that the authorities are not doing... yet... is increasing the size of the border crossing. But then of course the bridge that is here and open for business will need a bit of work as well to make it stronger to so be able to handle the extra traffic. But someone, somewhere here in Thai is planning for an increase between Burma and Thailand. This city will be totally different in 2 years I expect.

All of that construction is not so much to do with Burma as it has to do with China. The new highway from China to Thailand has been completed and this is expected to bring in Chinese tourists. You will see a big increase with road traffic with trucks transporting products from China through Thailand to Leam Chabang for export.