Burma's beauty masks brutal regime
Source : Elin Sigurdson, Vancouver (Vancouver Sun)
It is a traveller's dream to discover virgin land unsullied by tourism: thus Bob Riche's astonishing article extolling the magnificence of a cruise on Burma's Ayeyarwady River (On the river from Mandalay, Travel, Nov. 18). But it was shocking to see that Mr. Riche took such an uncritical approach to supporting the tourist industry in Burma, a country notorious for having one of the worst human rights records in the world.
I was incensed at Mr. Riche's irresponsible journalism, particularly after having attended a screening of Inside Burma: Land of Fear at the recent Fifth Annual Amnesty International Film Festival. This documentary illustrated something unique to Burma -- it is the only country with an elected leader who urges foreigners not to support its tourist industry.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has said that tourism only serves to support the regime, one that made a bloodbath of the student democratic movement in 1988, and suppressed the elected government in 1990.
While the river from Mandalay might hold idyllic vistas of jungle and pagodas, until the people of Burma have attained the democracy and human rights standards that they have been fighting for, tourism serves as funding for the regime's armaments, human rights abuses and drug trade.
While there may be untold personal gratification in the discovery of such an untouched tourist destination, the fact remains that the tourist's footprint is not without significant impact.