Myanmar's new capital provides a glimpse of things to come

By Peter Janssen Mar 27, 2007, 7:03 GMT

Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Still under construction at Myanmar's new capital of Naypyitaw is a new parliament building, a sign that the country's military leaders are preparing for what they have uniquely termed 'discipline-flourishing democracy.'

There is little doubt about who will be providing the flourishing discipline.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 when Army General Ne Win overthrew the government of elected prime minister U Nu.

Ne Win introduced the country then known as Burma to a host of innovations such as 'The Burmese Way to Socialism,' a blend of socialism and Buddhist concepts that eventually proved disastrous for the economy, led to diplomatic isolationism - even the non-aligned movement was too aligned for Ne Win - and a host of quirky regulations such as insisting that cars be driven on the same side of the road that the steering wheel is on, in Myanmar's case, the right.

Although Ne Win resigned all his political positions in 1988 in the face of nationwide anti-military protests, his legacy for idiosyncratic decision-making lives on among his military successors who rule the nation today.

The decision to move Myanmar's capital from Yangon (formerly Rangoon) to Pyinmana, a remote city that was once the headquarters of the now-defunct Burmese Communist Party, was already made in 2003, but only became public knowledge in June 2005, when civil servants received notice that they would have to move.

On November 6, 2005, the junta began relocating bureaucrats to their new offices in Pyinmana, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, which was later renamed Naypyitaw, meaning Royal City (although Myanmar has no king or royal family.)

The seemingly sudden shift of the capital prompted much speculation as to the reasoning behind the move, ranging from astrological considerations to the regime's fears of a U.S.-led invasion a la Iraq.

The State Peace and Development Council, as Myanmar's junta calls itself, has its own pragmatic explanation.

'To strengthen and consolidate national unity it is essential for the leaders to have convenient and easy access to all parts of the country,' Kyaw Hsan, minister of information told a recent press conference, the first in the new capital to which the foreign press was invited.

'Naypyitaw is located at the central part of the country linked with networks or motor road and railroad,' he said, adding that Yangon, the capital under the British colonial period, was too congested and far from the hinterland.

At present, Naypyitaw can be considered pretty far from Yangon. Although only 350 kilometres away, a drive to the new capital from Yangon takes at least eight hours due to poor roads and long waits at one-way bridges.

If security was one of the generals' considerations in choosing the capital, an invading force would certainly be slowed down by the road to Mandalay, which happens to be the same one to Naypyitaw.

After two and a half years, Naypyitaw is still very much a huge construction site with a sprinkling of ministries, some 1,600 multi-coloured apartment blocks for civil servants and 160 kilometres of new roads, many of them leading nowhere.

Naypyitaw is being built by a handful of business conglomerates such as Asia World, Htoo Trading, Eden Group and Max Myanmar that have close ties with the junta and sometimes dubious business dealings.

Asia World, for example, is owned by Tun Myint Naing, alias Steven Law, who is on the USA's exclusion list for a visa because of his suspected drug trafficking.

Those companies are also behind the dozen or so hotels that have been opened at Naypyitaw to cater to the trickle of diplomats, international aid workers and foreign businessmen who visit the capital.

One such establishment, Myaw Taw Win Hotel, run by Asia World, is not overly generous to its ground staff. Yadana Oo, 15, works from dawn to dusk clipping the hotel's yard, for which she earns 600 kyat (50 cents) a day and gets free board and two meals.

Most of the 80,000 workers building Naypyitaw earn a bit more, usually 1,500 kyat (1.15 dollars), but skilled workers can expect double or triple the wages they earn in Yangon, because of the hardships entailed in living in Naypyitaw.

Many of the civil servants forced to move to Naypyitaw did so reluctantly and are eager to return to Yangon.

'I miss Yangon a lot,' said Khin Maung, 65, an employee in the Hotels and Tourism Ministry. 'When I get my pension I'm going back to Yangon.'