why is myanmar so far economically behind thailand?

[Tomtomtom69]

Why is it that even educated people back in the 1940's still kept their culture, and an educated Burmese would still act "Burmese," but now, in the present day, any educated Burmese or Thai will completely throw away their culture and act "Western." These days the only people who actually retain the culture are impoverished people.

It may be because the internet exists now, so educated people are linked in to the rest of the world and would rather have that than be "Burmese," or "Thai."

Maybe it's better than Myanmar stays impoverished forever, instead of becoming just another tourist shithole like Thailand.

Actually, Myanmar seems to be quite good at showcasing it's culture and history and preserving it much better than that of Thailand. However, unlike Thailand it doesn't have one singular identity created through the promotion of a single language and culture (Thai) at the expense of other ethnic languages and cultures. The Burmese junta did make an attempt to do so, but failed miserably as most of the population living in frontier areas can barely speak Burmese and are staunchly anti Burmese (Bamar). Hence the ongoing insurgency for over 60 years now.

Even so, I still feel that Myanmar can become a modern and developed society, hopefully in a federalized style, and thus still be able to keep it's history and culture alive. Whereas in Thailand, excess nationalism, corruption, political nepotism and cronyism has only created a society where citizens are forced to obey authority, but lack critical thinking skills and are very short-sighted, including in the way that tourism is managed, as you have pointed out.

I don't think that Myanmar will make the same mistakes when it comes to tourism - despite the relative ease in applying for a visa (it's actually easier than obtaining a Thai visa) and the increasing number of ways you can travel into the country (4 land borders with Thailand have been open since August 2013 and more will open soon), you can see from the demographics of the travellers who go there that Myanmar attracts a very different type of traveller than Thailand.

[Tai777]

Hopefully, as my mom's generation in my opinion, was the last Thai generation to "act Thai." I find it a bit sad.

i.e. They don't listen to crappy pop/korean music, they listen to traditional Thai music, aren't obsessed with social media..

But maybe being a liar and a cheater ARE Thai values and I'm just mistaken. Maybe the new Thais act more Thai than ever.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Tai777

[Tai777]

Also, I know it's the minority, but I met some upper class Burmese ladies at a private university in Northern Thailand, and their values were not Burmese at all.

They were moaning about how they disliked the collective Asian culture because of the lack of freedom, "I don't like Asian culture because it's not independent," and they were dating several guys, and even having lots of premarital sex, updating Facebook non-stop, and just doing everything a shitty Thai lady would do.

I fear as the country gets more wealthy we will encounter more of this.

[Tomtomtom69]

Also, I know it's the minority, but I met some upper class Burmese ladies at a private university in Northern Thailand, and their values were not Burmese at all.

They were moaning about how they disliked the collective Asian culture because of the lack of freedom, "I don't like Asian culture because it's not independent," and they were dating several guys, and even having lots of premarital sex, updating Facebook non-stop, and just doing everything a shitty Thai lady would do.

I fear as the country gets more wealthy we will encounter more of this.

That's interesting but first of all, there's no one Asian culture and as foreigners in Thailand, the only thing they need to be aware of is to act culturally appropriate for Thailand. If they still feel that Thailand is too restrictive, then they might want to consider going to university in the west.

[harrry]

Remember many of Myanmas leaders were educated abroad. In fact one famous female on spent almost all of her life abroad before returning to claim her crown.

[Tai777]

Course there isn't one "Asian" culture but I directly quoted what she had said. If she had enough money to study at a private university in Thailand then she obviously wasn't the typical Burmese. Most Thais can't even afford that.

[Freakin Musashi]

Wasn't Cambodia pretty brutal and backward for a damn long time. And now, would you rather be an ex-pat in Cambodia or in Myanmar?

[Tai777]

I think Myanmar and Cambodia both tend to be more strict about culture, as opposed to Laos and Thailand who are rather loose and never placed many restrictions on the behavior of women, at least not much compared to Myanmar and Cambodia. If you notice the trend, Cambodia and Myanmar are also more violent societies than Thailand and Laos, although I think I'm omitting Southern Thailand, which is predominantly Muslim, and very violent. My guess is that all the bar girls in Pattaya and the casual sex girls come from "Buddhist" backgrounds ( no disrespect to the religion as I'm Buddhist myself).

Myanmar practices a more strict form of Buddhism while in Thailand religion almost never interferes with daily life, I even see teens sucking on each others toes, something unthinkable in Thailand a decade or so ago.

As for the question above, I would rather be an expat in Myanmar than Cambodia, as Myanmar is a larger country, with more things to see, and still has a genuine culture for now. I also think Burmese women are much better looking than Cambodian women, but that's just my opinion. Burmese women tend to have large buttocks and prominent noses, while Cambodian women have very dark skin, flat noses, and no curves for the most part.

[matts49]

@Tomtomtom69

On 7/22/2015 at 4:56 PM, Tomtomtom69 said: Whereas in Thailand, excess nationalism, corruption, political nepotism and cronyism has only created a society where citizens are forced to obey authority, but lack critical thinking skills and are very short-sighted, including in the way that tourism is managed, as you have pointed out.

 

What nonsense fake news are you talking about? Thailand is the least nationalistic nation in southeast asia, thanks to its not having been colonized by any foreign power. Western colonization in the SEA created the legacy of extreme-nationalism everywhere in this region, except in Thailand. Look at the shithole Malaysian and its sham "bumiputera" ideology of malay supremacy (at the expense of other racial groups). Look at Cambodia and its massacre of muslim Cham and chinese populations in the 70s. Look at how Myanmar has been dealing with ethnic minority, including rohinya muslims. These are just some of the racial chauvinism/nationalism run amok as a reaction to the western colonial legacy. 

Thailand is the only society on the mainland southeast asia that escape both communism and ultra-racial supremacism. If you know any history about them, the Burmese and Khmer were extremely racist through out their history. The Burmese were jealous of their race and set out to destroy anyone they viewed as inferior. This is why huge Mon populations have fled to Siam/Thailand and became a constituent part of the Thai population today. The Thai society is the only "non-racial" society in Southeast Asia. That was why the Thai Chinese, Mon and Laos ethnic groups in the country assimilated so well. Thailand probably have more muslim populations than in Myanmar and the islamic separatist groups in the south continue to inflict violence to civilian populations. Yet there is no sign that any muslim community in Thailand would face the same fate as muslim in Myanmar. TBH, the French and American are much more islamophobic than the Thai.   

 

The change in Thai culture over the years happened because of the influx of "new people" into the country. The urban Thai-chinese, in particular, are less connected to, or engaged with, the indigenous Thai culture compared to the Thais who live in the countryside. But there have been no discrimination on the basis of culture, so far. It's the openness of the Thai society that is their most enduring strength. The Thai are not as obsessive in the idea of "race" and most other countries. Thailand is probably the only country in the world that completely absorbed such a large Chinese population. Their success in assimilating the Chinese even upset Chinese scholars in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong who have been trying to find out why their "people" disappeared only after one or two generations.   

 

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

Resurrecting a dead thread with a long-winded diatribe that doesn't come close to the subject matter post of the day award goes to...

[metisdead]

A more than 2 year old topic resurrected for no real apparent reason.