What am I doing out of the country a few days before our election? I thought it would be a good idea to step back from the heat of our election campaign. It would be good to get a perspective of things. The budding democracy and booming economy of Myanmar seems a good place to do that.
Why Myanmar? I was last here 14 years ago and I had been curious to see the changes in its domestic politics and the economy first hand. I also got intrigued by a glowing review of Myanmar from the ADB, gushing about it as the fastest growing country in Asia.
When I first visited in 2002, I saw a Yangon as if it was frozen in time, the 50s. Yangon did not have the adrenaline rush of Saigon. It didn’t have much of the infrastructure one would associate with its neighbors. Life seemed so easy going amidst the lush greenery of the surroundings.
I wrote in 2002 that “maybe the ruling junta will wake up one morning feeling like Lee Kuan Yew. Any positive shift in the political winds will enable the country to shift from mere survival mode. The country has huge potentials and could be an important competitor in the tiger race among the ASEAN countries.” (Courtesy of philstar.com)
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