Asia Times: Japanese aid to Burma raises eyebrows


	June 2, 2000	atimes.com

Japan

Japanese aid to Burma raises eyebrows
By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO - Reluctant to cause an international uproar, the Japanese government is treading slowly on restarting its official aid program to Burma. However, the signs are there that it clearly wants to do so. Tokyo, after all, says that dialogue instead of isolation is more likely to have a greater chance of influencing democratic moves in Burma.

In April, Japan's Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya visited Burma in the first visit by a Japanese cabinet minister since the junta took over power in 1988. Fukaya promised a $500 million assistance package to help Burma develop human resources and nurture small and medium companies.

He also said Tokyo - the biggest donor to Burma before the 1988 takeover and pro-democracy uprising - will help it conduct a feasible study for supplying electricity to rural areas. This would be the first formal operation that the government-owned Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has conducted in 12 years in a country that remains subject to sanctions by other countries.

Earlier this month, Japan's interest in doing business and resuming aid to Burma was criticized by Burma's pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who urged the Japanese public not to let their goodwill toward the country be misused by Burma's military rulers. ''We know that the people of Japan bear us goodwill. We would not like that goodwill to be manipulated by those who want to use it for their own ends,'' she said in videotape released on May 21 to mark the 10th anniversary of general elections whose results have yet to be recognized by the Burmese regime.

''We would like the people of Japan to look at the people of Burma. Let the people of Japan talk with their hearts to the people of Burma and decide what is best, what should best be done,'' she added.

Suu Kyi added that support for neighboring people was crucial for pro-democracy efforts in Burma. ''We would particularly like to request the peoples in our region to support our efforts (to convene parliament),'' she said in the video.

Suu Kyi's reference to Japanese policy and her appeal to the Japanese public has added pressure on Tokyo, which has recently been hinting at extending assistance to develop several infrastructure projects in that country.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and its allies won a landslide victory in the May 27, 1990 election, but the ruling military junta refused to hand over power and convene parliament. Since the poll, many countries have since imposed sanctions and called on the Burmese military leaders to improve their human rights record, further marred by the bloody crackdown on a popular uprising in 1988.

But more than a decade since military rule began, countries like Japan and Australia are saying that a softer approach can encourage the military government to enter a dialogue with the international community. Japan suspended economic aid to Burma after 1988. But since the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest in 1995, it has been flexible in providing aid. Now, officials say Japan may resume loans to Burma if the country takes steps to embrace democracy.

Professor Kei Nemoto, an expert on Burma at Asia University, says the government is being pressured by Japanese companies to develop closer economic links with the outcast country. This, he says, was the reason behind Fukaya's visit. In December, a high-powered business delegation visited Burma and met with top military officials. Japan started in March an inter-governmental study group to discuss how to help Burma to change its economic structure. ''Japanese companies want to invest in Burma because of its cheap labor and raw material. If the government resumes ODA, then companies would protect themselves from the risk of investing in a dictatorial country,'' Nemoto explained.

Nemoto was referring to the fact that Japan's promise of more aid and loans comes at a time when major investors from the country have pulled out of Burma. Ajinamoto, Japan's top seasoning maker, built a factory for bottle products in Burma in 1997. But it was forced to halt operations in early 1999 because authorities imposed a ban on the import of materials which they said were harmful.

Car maker Toyota opened a dealership in Rangoon in 1998, based on a state announcement that would allow auto imports in the near future. But it closed the office this year, after Burma's leaders decided not to implement the policy.

Nemoto says these two leading companies' decision to withdraw operations illustrates the difficulties faced by foreign investors in that country. ''The military regime takes decisions arbitrarily. Toyota could not import foreign cars into Burma because the junta wanted to save its foreign currency, making it very difficult for the company to do business there,'' he explained.

Experts point out that economic sanctions on Burma have dealt already caused a huge drop in foreign investments in the economy. Against such a backdrop, Japanese companies are eager that the government resume foreign aid in the hope that this would soon put Burma back on the international trading system and force it to adopt regular tariffs on foreign goods as required by the World Trade Organization.

Ikuko Okamoto, a Burma expert at the Institute of Developing Economies, says Tokyo is also eager to resume aid because of Burma's outstanding debt to Japan. ''The finance ministry is keen that Burma pay back its debt and this is the pressing reason for helping Burma get back on its feet,'' she explained.

Japan is the ninth country, after Singapore at the top and then Britain, that had pledged large amounts of investments before sanctions were slapped against Burma about a decade ago.

After the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest, Japan lent $22 million for the repair of the run-down Rangoon airport. Japan has also been extending around 3 billion yen ($28 million) in grants per year since 1992 to Burma to be used for debt repayment, but an official resumption of assistance is bound to raise eyebrows among taxpayers.

Nemoto says humanitarian aid given to non-governmental organizations involved in medical and educational projects to ease the suffering of the Burmese people is acceptable to the Japanese public, who want aid to foster democracy in that country. ''But they are against Japanese extending official aid again unless there are major shifts in that country towards legal democracy,'' he said.

(Inter Press Service)

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