Burma and Malaysia forge closer relations

Bangkok Post - Thailand; Oct 3, 2001
LARRY JAGAN

Mahathir Mohamad has been a strong defender of the Burmese junta, and now Rangoon is looking at KL as a political model

Burmese military leader General Than Shwe and his country's intelligence chief, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, have just returned from a three-day official visit to Malaysia where politics and economics were top of the agenda.Although ostensibly in reciprocation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's visit to Rangoon in January, the trip was much more important than that, particularly as it came at a crucial time in the Burmese junta's talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi _ when a breakthrough is becoming more and more possible.

Burma's generals are increasingly turning to Malaysia for advice: both on politics and economics. Dr Mahathir has proved to be a trusted ally. Whenever Burma is criticised internationally, Dr Mahathir leaps to the defence of the generals.

And politics was certainly high on the agenda in Kuala Lumpur. After briefing Dr Mahathir, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Alber told journalists that Burma should be allowed to introduce democratic change at its own pace, free from international pressure.This has been Dr Mahathir's position all along. The Malaysian prime minister, according to senior foreign ministry officials, has always backed the Burmese leaders publicly while urging them in private to accommodate opposition leader Suu Kyi and introduce democratic reform.

Diplomats in Rangoon believe it was Dr Mahathir's intervention behind the scenes last year that led to Rangoon starting the dialogue process in the first place. The United Nations envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail of Malaysia, who has acted as a facilitator for the talks, is known to be close to Dr Mahathir and has his full backing.Observers believe Mr Razali's periodic trips to Rangoon have helped the talks move forward.

Government officials in Kuala Lumpur said Dr Mahathir urged Gen Than Shwe in Kuala Lumpur to allow the UN envoy to make more frequent visits to help build up the momentum for democratic change.

Dr Mahathir has made no secret that he feels Burma must be allowed to adopt political change in its own way and that constant international criticism is harmful to that process. He also has said that the junta should introduce political reforms appropriate to Burmese conditions and not slavishly adopt a western model of democracy.

Burma's generals are looking for political models to adopt as they begin to grapple with what sort of political change is acceptable. Indonesia's constitution was once regarded as the model, but when former president Suharto was thrown from power three years ago, Burma's generals began to look elsewhere.

Dr Mahathir has promised Burma's military rulers all the help he can give them, and has suggested that his United Malaysian National Organisation political machine may provide a useful model. There is no doubt that Burma's senior leaders took the opportunity of learning how Umno works in practice and how the organisation has ensured political stability in the country.

But economics more than politics was the chief concern of the Burmese leaders while they were in Malaysia. Government officials said improving economic ties with Burma was a key priority of the Dr Mahathir's government. That's something the Burmese were also anxious to emphasise.

Gen Than Shwe spent much of his trip exploring ways of boosting bilateral trade and investment, especially in the fishing, manufacturing, petroleum and tourism sectors. He visited the Multi-media Super Corridor _ Malaysia's equivalent to California's Silicon Valley _ in Putrajaya just outside Kuala Lumpur as well as the country's premier island resort Langkawi.

The two countries signed memorandums of understanding on tourism and information exchange. But more crucially, they discussed ways of increasing bilateral trade. A senior Malaysian official said that during their talks the two countries agreed it was necessary to boost trade across the Southeast Asian region to counter the likely downturn in the US economy following the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Malaysian foreign minister said after the talks that Burma and Malaysia were exploring ways in which a form of barter trade could be conducted, rather than constantly using foreign exchange for bilateral trade.

After all, Burma has very limited foreign reserves and is keen to conduct trade on a more informal basis. That is how much of the trade with China is conducted. Thailand and Burma also are currently looking at how trade might be conducted on that basis _ at least border trade. The two trade ministers discussed this several months ago and, according to Thai government officials, are close to reaching agreement after the recent visit by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt to Bangkok.

Trade between Burma and Malaysia is worth around $200 million (893 million baht) _ in Malaysia's favour. At present Malaysia is Burma's third largest investor, with nearly $600 million (26.8 billion baht) invested in manufacturing, oil and gas, tourism and real estate. The Malaysian government expects investment in Burma to increase significantly in the near future. Gen Than Shwe appealed to Malaysian businessmen to relocate their labour intensive industries to Burma to make use of the cheap labour. This is reminiscent of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's plans to relocate some of Thailand's industries across the border.

Construction and tourism are the areas most likely to be targetted by new Malaysia investment, according to analysts. Sources in Kuala Lumpur say the two countries are discussing ways to co-operate further in the field of tourism. That is probably why Gen Than Shwe and his delegation visited Dr Mahathir's pet project, the tourist resort of Langkawi which lies just south of Burma in the Andaman sea. The Malaysian government is interested in linking the two areas into a major tourist development project. But Malaysian involvement in Burma's timber industry is already beginning to raise concerns amongst environmental groups. There has been heavy investment by Chinese Malaysians in the logging industry in Kachin state; the timber is then exported to China. Recent visitors to the area say trees are being felled at an alarming rate, fuelling fears that there will lasting ecological damage to the region.

Larry Jagan is the BBC's regional editor for the Asia-Pacific Region. He is currently based in Bangkok.