Dead fish out of water a long time (actually a shad or nga tha lauk) ready to be cooked. Photo and plate, copyright Kyi May Kaung.
I tried to leave this on the Irrawaddy magazine site, but it was too long.
kmk
"Dr. Myint is a fine individual and economist, though in this case maybe, a tad naive.
Since at least the mid-90s, I have been advocating economic reforms in Burma. See my Ph.D. dissertation from the University of Pennsylvania at their Penn Commons on line site. In this work I argued that economic reforms need to be in conjunction with political reforms. (This is the only time "Myanmar patriot" and I agree.)My Chinese classmate in fact went home to a think tank created for her.
The junta may re-jigger the prices a bit, and have more pretend privatizations, but will it give farmers their land back? I doubt it. And look what happened when IMF and WB in 07 advised liberating fuel prices (only).
Nothing will happen even if God were advising them. In past, their PR took out "political remarks" of Nobel economist Joseph Stigltiz.
BTW, I met Dr Myint twice in 04 and 05 at undisclosed locations at international conferences. In 04 Khin Nyunt was purged even as they were still abroad.
Now I worry they will "shoot the messenger."
My doctorate is from Penn in Political Economy. I studied the economies of Burma, Zaire,the USSR,India and the PRC etc in detail and formulated my own theory that only if central control is relaxed, can there be Development.
A micro-economic, sectoral approach won't cut it without human rights, among them right to work where we wish, say what we want,live where we want, associate with whomever we want.
I just hope Dr. Myint is not made into a scapegoat.
But I do admire his Courage and that of Daw Suu, the NLD and All.
Being optimistic while being pessimistic,
Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)"
