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Burma
Quick Overview:
Burma, or Myanmar as it is called by the present government, is a country where magnificent Buddhist temples gaze out serenely over a nation restless for change. Burma has plenty of wonders for the eye, and at the first look it can be travelers paradise. Resplendent golden pagodas shimmer in the light. Riverboats pass lush, green, irrigated paddy fields. Ethnic festivals explode in color and noise against a still-grand back drop of fading colonial architecture. Bright, sarong-like "longyis," wrapped around people's waists, add to the vividness of the scene. But it can also trouble the soul, as a vast, disturbing darkness shadows the country. For the last 30 years, its people have been ruled by a notoriously repressive military government, the tatmadaw. Fear, deprivation and worse are commonplace.
Geography:
Burma was colonized by the British in 1886 and became independent in 1948. There was a brief period of parliamentary democracy when U Nu served as Prime Minister until 1962 when he was deposed in a military coup by General Ne Win. Apparently Ne Win didn't know what to do next. He's not an economist, not a scientist, not even a politician. He's a general. Since the coup, Burma has been a repressed country cut off from the rest of the world. Ne Win began a policy of extreme isolationism, non-alignment and neutrality. He rejected investments by Western and other foreign governments, nationalized industry, banks, the import/export trade, and retail business. To retain power through such tragic failure he used the skills he had as a general: fear, disappearances, murders, arrests, and torture. He is believed still to wield power. During his brutal military reign the economy collapsed. Burma went from being the "rice bowl of Asia" to the distinction of United Nations Least Developed Country in 1987. It is now on par with Ethiopia and Chad.
Related Links:
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News Information about new developments Newspaper in Burma |
Offical Sites Offical Government Site National Coalition Government |
Country Guides Internet Travel Guide Travel Guide on Myanmar |
Education Article about Education in Burma |