Thant Myint U (2019), The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century, New Delhi: Juggernaut Books.
Shrabana Barua
A fresh take on Myanmar’s historical moorings, its slow political transition to democracy, along with many stories that bring out the fragility of the economy, complexities of the multi-ethnic society and its rather primitive engagement with the outside world until recent times, is what the book, The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century, offers. Thant Myint U especially gives a much-needed update on Myanmar’s push and pull with its democratic paraphernalia, as well as an insider’s view of the Rohingya crisis that brought Myanmar back to critical international scrutiny. What makes the book an essential read for understanding contemporary Myanmar is an elementary narration of the backstory of a place, person or event, before any topic of significance is explained in detail. It is a comprehensive text on Myanmar that answers many questions for the readers as well as guides with foreseeing potential challenges.
A recipient of the Padmashree Award in 2018, an alumnus of Harvard and Cambridge Universities, a former advisor to the President of Myanmar, Thant Myint U has many adages to his credit that makes any book written by him doubly worthwhile. He has had the added advantage of experiencing the volatility of Burma, a country whose name was changed in 1989 along with much else, and its socio-political milieu early on. In 1974, visiting Burma for the first time as an eight years old child, he witnessed the heavy handedness of the Ne Win regime that did not allow a state funeral for his grandfather, former UN Secretary General U Thant, which in turn led to protests turning violent and subsequently suppressed. His family was advised to leave the country, shortly after which they moved to Bangkok. The watershed year of 1988 in Burmese history encouraged him to quit his internship in the US and return back with the idea of bringing about revolution. In fact, that was the aim of many young Burmese indeed, many of whom finds mention at pertinent places throughout the book, along with Thant’s own journey from being an outside observer of politics in Burma to being involved in influencing the making of modern Myanmar.
The book’s narration is chronological. Besides ‘A Note on Burmese Names’ that explains what the change of names in the country signify, and an ‘Introduction’ which sets the mood for understanding the upcoming transition that has been unraveling since 2010 onwards, the book has nine fascinating chapters. The epilogue that follows is meant to leave the readers with food for thought about the challenges that Myanmar faces today- foreign influence, the issue of racial identity, inequality and even climate change.
Chapter one titled ‘New World’, unlike the name suggests, is a dive down few ancient underpinnings of Burmese language and culture, but mostly its story of modern colonial history. Within it, Thant Myint U engages with how the Burmese originally viewed all outsiders from its West as kala, a term that is now indicative of Indians alone, while Europeans are called as bo. It ends by mentioning how Burma slipped into a ‘Burmese Way to Socialism’ in the 1960s, that only cracked in the 1980s. Chapter two, ‘Changing lanes’, then goes on to illustrate the many changes that occurred up to the mid 1990s and how it impacted Myanmar’s economy and politics. In this crucial decade, foreign aid was resumed, private businesses came up and the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, whose struggles and life has been well summarized within the book, began to demand for democracy and appealed to the West to assist in this regard. Though idea of a new constitution was initiated in 1993 by General Than Shwe, things didn’t turn out as expected. The various insurgent groups, some of which were in talks regarding ceasefire, were involved one way or the other with scrupulous money laundering activities associated largely with the jade and opium industries. The issue of ethnic armed organization and the various process of reconciliation, through the idea of a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in 2013, is picked up in chapter seven, ‘Blood and Belongings’. In fact, Thant throws light on how Beijing has had a hand in influencing the peace process in Myanmar, either negatively during Thein Sein’s time, or positively, when the idea of the 21st century Panglong was initiated by Suu Kyi in 2015.
Meanwhile, Thant brings out the enmeshed threads of power and money rooted in black markets and shows how this produced a rich class of elite, setting off a ‘crony capitalism’ in Myanmar by the turn of the 21st century. While the hope of seeing Myanmar as a modern country was genuine, how that was to be done was nothing less than an enigma for the generals. The financial crises in 1997, the US led sanctions on Myanmar by early 2000s, the cutting of international assistance and funds for the country all led to a grim economic scenario. This sense is captured in the very title of the third chapter- ‘Drifting to Dystopia’. The author’s concern is evident when he juxtaposes the colonial Burma, which he says was ‘richer than the rest of British India’ (p.18), to the Myanmar of early 2000s which had become ‘the poorest country in Asia’ (p.60). On the international front, there was pressure from the pro-democracy camp as well as the United Nations (UN). But years of isolation had made the leadership in Naypitaw, the new capital announced in 2005, wary of the West. It was China that tried to mitigate this gap, albeit with its own interest in mind.
Aptly titled ‘Tempest’, Chapter four that revolves around the 2008 cyclone Nargis, and its aftermath, is a great depiction of human loss explained thorough story telling skills. The international community came to help, as requested by Myanmar. Yet, the humanitarian response of the government came across as inept to most foreign countries, who by then was hoping for real change in Myanmar’s internal politics. That change began to appear at a snail pace in 2010.
Chapter five, ‘Fighting Chance’ and Chapter six, ‘Alignments’ are an examination of those changes, pre-elections and post-elections of November 2010 respectively. It shows how General Shwe orchestrated the political script while preparing for his own retirement. ‘The Lady’, still under house arrest, was dramatically announced to be released post elections. Yet, as she called for a boycott, NLD split into two. A desire to open up to the West, especially through Norway, was visible, while China loomed large by signing infrastructure deals worth billions of dollars. However, by 2013 some major political shifts began to occur, probably outside the script laid out earlier. The new democratic institutions that were formed, were mostly filled by ex-generals hand-picked by Than Shwe. But Thein Sein’s government surprisingly turned towards liberalization of policies. Soon efficient outsiders began to be appointed, foreign advice began to be sought, think tanks were involved in policy making, and the NLD agreed to be under this new system and constitution. Suu Kyi was barred from the Presidentship but had begun travelling the world. China underwent some setbacks as Myanmar increasingly looked towards the West at the behest of leaders like Soe Thane.
A ‘Virtual Transition’ (Chapter eight) had begun in Myanmar. Real debates and factions over positions of power emerged, Thein Sein and Suu Kyi being on opposite sides of it. Thant Myint U is credited with the establishment of the Yangon Heritage Trust, something that he talks about earnestly in the chapter. But the bureaucratic lag to achieve his goals are also highlighted. The state seemed to be progressing well. Yet on the inside, problems linked to illicit industries, wildlife trafficking and a rising concern about the concept of taing-yintha (indigenous race) and nationalism was gripping the country. Especially in the Rakhine state, where the Buddhist began to fear the inclusion of the Rohingyas as citizens, violence erupted leading to exodus of many Rohingya Muslims. The UN backed nationwide census exerbated the problem.
The last chapter, ‘Unfinished Nation’, assesses the developments in Myanmar after the first official democratic transfer of power took place in 2015. NLD under Suu Kyi (for whom a new position was created) was now in charge. The generals were the ones who accused of being ‘bullied’ in parliament (p. 224). But a more somber scenario occurred when violence began in Arakan, led by the Arkan Rohingya Salvation Army, and a snowball effect eventually led to an Islamist threat in Myanmar, leading to an unprecedented exodus of Rohingyas. International pressure mounted against Myanmar, (read Suu Kyi, whose Western image was increasingly tarnished) for ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’. The author narrates the complexity of the issue well and provides a holistic account of both inside and outside perspective, at times with assured vindication for the target international readers. With fresh elections due in Myanmar in November 2020, the timely work of Thant Myint U is an absolutely must for all those who want to know the country a little more each day.
