Magnificent Myanmar - So Many Unanswered Questions

Our plane is about to leave Myanmar for our final stopover at KL... Malaysia. It is somewhat frustrating leaving Myanmar... because so many questions remain unanswered.

How come this country has such a low GDP per capita?
This country has a community that is wealthier than India... or Vietnam... but has a GDP per capita (as calculated by the World Bank ) that is half that of comparative nations.  Yangon has traffic that is as organised as Chatswood on a good day... many people own enough fertile land to feed themselves... and people with water and land are usually not destitute. Myanmar is self sufficient in food production... it has hydroelectricity currently sufficient to meet its small network... only 10% of dwellings have electricity. Its roads are bumpy... but the rivers are smooth. It has a high rate of literacy... many residents spend a large proportion of their spare time reading for recreation.

Why don't these facts show up in the GDP figures?

We have certainly seen people employed in ways that will soon be replaced by machines. At one house, we saw six girls employed in rolling cigarettes made from local material. We had our guide ask one of the girls how many cigarettes she rolled each day... 1,000 was her reply... she had worked at the establishment for 6 years... 7 days a week. Her career expectations were to remain with that employer. We saw a small blacksmith shop... 4 young guys... who melted the ore... using hand pumped bellows. We saw them heat and hammer the steel into a machete blade... just like you imagine the Smithies in England in days of yore. We saw a guy with fantastic skills make an umbrella from bamboo and mulberry bark... without any electricity. His improvised lathe was inspiring... his design for the spring loaded clip to hold the umbrella up was better than steel springs... and the end result had artistic appeal. Elsewhere, we saw girls making thread from lotus plant stems... did you know there is a big market in cloth made from lotus thread? We saw lots of weaving machines using up to 30 different threads... operated with girls who have memorised weaving patterns more complicated than nuclear physics... producing a yard of cloth each week... but absolutely beautiful garments.

All these traditional jobs may disappear in the next decade... and, perhaps, the country will be poorer (less interesting) as a result.

You can purchase a motorbike for $300... but that has limited utility. Many of the locals prefer to purchase water pump engines. You can use these engines for pumping water... powering your tractor/truck... and if you live near water, you can pop it into the boat and hook up the propeller. This versatile piece of equipment never seems to break down or wear out.

Why have so many pagodas?

Since the 12th century, Myanmar citizens have seen pagoda construction as a short cut to Nirvana. Our tour guide said that Buddha's teaching gave no encouragement to the cult of pagoda building... but the cult started very early. His prime message (as far as I can see) was to forget about possessions and posturing... rather, that happiness comes from being at peace with yourself, nature and community. I guess that spending money on building a pagoda illustrates that you are not concerned about accumulating material wealth. However, having yourself known as the donor of a big pagoda probably plus you on the 'A List' for every party in downtown Yangon.

The smartest boys of each generation devote themselves to studying Buddha's teaching and building high levels of skill in the art of meditation. Western civilisation attempted to run large monasteries and teach young men the inner wisdom of Christian teaching. After a time, this momentum petered out... the smartest minds chose science and business studies in preference to everlasting life. Myanmar men are still backing Nirvana... how long will this preference continue.

Myanmar is another country to challenge your long-held beliefs. Get there before it changes.

Magnificent Myanmar - Focused on Inner Peace

Myanmar invests a significant proportion of its resources in search of inner peace. The unifying feature of the country is is Buddhist religion... covering some 80% of the population... Muslims and Christians are the minority religions.

Moving around the country, the eye-catching buildings are the temples and pagodas... often painted white with gold leaf trim. Isolated stupas fill in the gaps between the main centres. Less obvious, but still numerous are the monasteries and convents where religious professionals practise their meditation.
What proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is allocated to religious pursuits? There are no numbers available to accurately assess the size of the investment. Because the religious buildings are the only bright and colourful constructions on the landscape, it is tempting to guess at a high figure... say 10%. Perhaps a more realistic figure is 3-5%... still a significant amount.

The age-old question is whether a nation that is underdeveloped in other dimensions... can afford to invest 3-5% of its efforts into religion. It would seem that Buddhism is well suited to a community with inadequate resources. It is a religion that practises the art of asking and giving... of avoiding consumption of personal resources... of taking care of nature and each other. The day of a monk starts with his walking the street with his begging bowls to collect food from the citizens. Twenty percent of each generation of men develop this habit during their period of monkhood... lessons that permeate through the whole of society. Myanmar provides no social security benefits for its poor or disabled. However, anyone can (and does) turn up at a monastery and receive food at no cost.

Interestingly, monks are not allowed to engage in any activity other than the study of Buddhist teaching and the practice of meditation. They learn reading and writing to a high level of skill. Myanmar residents are some of the world's most ardent readers. Second hand book stalls are plentiful in the marketplace. There is an active market in collectable ancient books. The monasteries revere its monks who have written new books on Buddhist teachings. However, most respect is reserved for monks who show a high degree of inner peace... difficult to measure... but you know it when you see it.

People seem much more concerned about religion than they are with politics. There is some irony that a nation focussed on inner peace has been ruled by a military dictatorship for so long. The political arts are not highly prized by Myanmarians... they don't like arguments... they don't like ambition... they don't like bullies... which means they don't like politicians. They like families... good manners... self sacrifice... everything that Buddha teaches. As a result, Myanmar's national government is treated with more patience than we are prepared to give Tony Abbott.

But like religions all over the world, there are criticisms that can be levelled against the Buddhist clergy.

A large number of young men are taken away from productive work and instructed to be idle... during their most productive years. The educational effort is not focused on better management of worldly resources... Myanmar could use is monasteries to produce the world's best technicians... managers.... engineers... administrators. Instead, they have chosen to produce the world's best meditators!

We took a boat cruising down the Irrawady River from Mandalay to Pagan... a magnificent river running through rich agricultural land. Dotted along its banks, we saw the temples and pagodas. Joye was reading from a travel book that quoted a phrase from George Orwell... he said that Stupas stood out like 'corpustules' on the Burmese landscape. I wish she hadn't come across that phrase... because it is a caricature of the negative side of Buddhism influence. You look at the resources used to duplicate the one brand icon... and think of the alternative benefits that could be achieved with similar effort. How many bridges could be built with all the resources employed to construct Mandalay's pagodas... how much curbing and guttering... how many hospitals... how many schools? More importantly, how many factories producing international goods could be constructed... how many good paying jobs could be delivered?

You will have noted that these criticisms come from westerner's eyes. Myanmarians could defend their priorities by asking why it is important to live longer and consume more if you have no inner peace... if you are being tormented by unresolved mental conflicts that stop you experiencing full happiness. Why not choose a shorter happier life and advance your progress towards 'nirvana'.
Who can argue with that? Us westerners would retort... develop your nation first... provide earthy comforts for your children... then go seeking 'nirvana '