" Five Thousand Kyat note" with Aung San Suu Kyi's image. Copyright Burmese Dissidents.http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=4709612&m=4709613
I really don't see how Aung San Suu Kyi could have "worked for economic development in Burma" when she was under house arrest most of the time. She was never economics minister in Burma! She has not been part of a government in power yet. She never was in a position to make decisions on a national scale that could effect the economy. For instance, she did not nationalize all industries in 1962, she does not set the purchase price of rice (paddy), decide how much and what to export, set the exchange rate of the kyat, decide how much the military government will spend, etc etc. It is the military government which does these things.
I really don't see how Aung San Suu Kyi could have "worked for economic development in Burma" when she was under house arrest most of the time. She was never economics minister in Burma! She has not been part of a government in power yet. She never was in a position to make decisions on a national scale that could effect the economy. For instance, she did not nationalize all industries in 1962, she does not set the purchase price of rice (paddy), decide how much and what to export, set the exchange rate of the kyat, decide how much the military government will spend, etc etc. It is the military government which does these things.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the beleagured leader of an opposition party that has been sorely oppressed, for goodness sakes. Quit trying to blame everything on the poor woman who has already given enough already.
I did not realize till now how poor the economic understanding of some individuals is, and that includes some people in the media.
To the charge that anti-sanctions does not mean pro-junta, I say --
1. Who initiates moves continuously that sanctions be lifted? We have reason to believe it is the junta.
To my mind, the economic argument and political debate regarding sanctions is already cut and dried.
2. Who will benefit most if they are lifted? The junta.
As recently as six days ago, U.N. Special Envoy Ibrihim Gambari was subjected to a tongue lashing by the Burmese information minister Kyaw Hsan that he had not been able to help lift sanctions after his first visit after the Sept 26-27th -- clampdown, but instead sanctions had been amped up. The junta does not seem to realize that the U.N. and the national governments who impose sanctions are different entities.
The junta did not produce real economic development and they are the government in charge of a command economy that they themselves put in place and "operate" on a daily basis with cock eyed commands and decisions.
The best response is a "visual aid" produced by Burmese dissidents showing a "new currency" with Aung San Suu Kyi's portrait on it.
Text commentary copyright Kyi May Kaung
