Wading Through a Burmese Haze

Episode #119: Erin Murphy has been involved in Asia issues since 2001, and Myanmar, in particular, since 2008. She relates all this in her recently released book, Burmese Haze.

She contrasts the somewhat distorted, emotionally charged view of Myanmar held by American policy-makers during the transition period with the harsh, even brutal military reality in Myanmar that was lurking just under the surface. Murphy recalls the sheer callousness of the military government’s refusal to accept humanitarian aid in the aftermath of the horrific and devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Regarding sanctions, for some in the American government the push for sanctions against the Tatmadaw has become almost a moral crusade. However, Murphy explains that the effect of any sanctions imposed on the regime will not be that onerous if other countries do not follow suit. As for any role that China might play, Murphy states, “I think one word that summarizes [the relationship between Myanmar and China] is ‘complicated’.”

When asked to speculate about the motivations of Aung San Suu Kyi, Murphy says that we may never know exactly what she was planning. She believes that The Lady has had to walk a fine line, balancing priorities, and no one really knows what her internal calculus was.

As for the Rohingya, it is but one of many decades-long, ethnic wars waged by the Burmese junta. Murphy says many in the international community should have seen it coming, but did nothing to stop it. Besides being an overall global failure, more recently it’s an instance of unfortunate timing, in which international attention got distracted by Myanmar’s nascent yet fragile democracy period.

On a sobering but positive note, Murphy concludes by saying that none of the protests have been in vain. “These are lessons; I don't see them as failures. Did they succeed in getting a democracy? No. But did they succeed in getting their cause recognized by the world? People know about it. And that's important, laying the groundwork… What you do is you keep getting new generations of people interested and then they bring in their tools, and their thoughts and their experiences.”