Lunch with an old friend from Myanmar; New books by Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir

SINGAPORE — It is true that with some friends we do not say good-bye but till we meet again. Take this friend from Myanmar whom my late husband and I met in Manila many years ago. We lost touch and I heard from friends he had been assigned to many parts of the world. I never thought I’d meet up with him again and certainly not in Singapore. But there we were — old friends, talking to each other to continue a conversation. He loves the Philippines as I have also come to love Myanmar, having read about it and later come from a memorable visit.

Despite the years, the thread of our conversation remained the same. We had talked about the sanctions and how these had not been working for the people of Myanmar or move them closer to democracy. My friend is for democracy but against sanctions. He did not think sanctions work to urge both leaders or citizens to democratize. Better if the lives of the poor were improved and democracy would soon follow. Democracy was a result of well-being not of degradation whether from rulers or outsiders.

As I told him, the bible for my beliefs about Myanmar is Myint Thant’s River of the Lost Footsteps. That faith has been vindicated by recent events with an American ambassador taking up his post in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi freed and the elections held. It may be too little for outsiders with democratic systems but it is happening in their own time and pace.

At the time he wrote his book Myint himself had said he had only “the slimmest of hopes for a better future for its nascent democracy.” But he emphatically wrote it would not come through economic and diplomatic sanctions.

“Trade and more engagement, especially more tourism, might let in badly needed light and air. But trying to topple the regime by isolating it would, he argues, be disastrous.”

My friend agrees with Myint. He, too have had many chances of just staying away until the military regime collapses. But he does not think that is the right way to go. He has chosen to stay because when the military goes, there must be an able civilian government to take over.

So he is unhappy with articles urging the European Union that is set to review its policies towards Myanmar “not to buy into the Burmese junta’s cosmetic reforms.” The more important thing is that although these may be small steps they are steps anyway. We should be there to encourage it.

That, I think is also the rationale for the International Crisis Group (ICG) report, entitled “Myanmar’s Post-Election Landscape,” published on March 7, 2011. It is being criticized by Myanmar’s opposition and sectors of media.

“As Myanmar enters a new political phase and General Than Shwe hands over power to the next generation of leaders, there is a critical window of opportunity to encourage greater openness and reform,” the ICG report reads. “The West must robustly engage the new Myanmar government at the highest level regimes across the world and even in the region. “You may not agree with it but one of the tenets of democracy is to differ and we can begin by practicing it ourselves, more so as outsiders in assessing what is happening in Myanmar today.”

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To me, a visit to Singapore is incomplete without going to my favorite bookshop Kinokumiya. As I entered through its wide doors, I saw immediately two books displayed side by side — Lee Kuan Yew’s “Hard Times” and Mahathir Mohamad’s “A Doctor in the House.” With their active stints in government over, both have put the ideas and thoughts that guided them in their efforts to shape their nations to become powerhouses between covers. 

Lee Kuan Yew’s Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going is based on 16 interviews that he gave to seven journalists from The Straits Times from December 2008 to October 2009. In 458 pages and 11 chapters he answers their questions on issues about his government. Among those are Singapore’s political system, climate change and international relations. In lighter banter he also talked to them what he thought about tattoos, feng shui and movies.

One review said that the question-and-answer format was chosen as a way to “engage younger readers and capture unvarnished, the robust exchanges between Mr. Lee and his interviewers.”

I saw an interview he once had with Bloomberg’s Charlie Rose and noticed how careful he was in the words he used to answer the veteran interviewer. In his latest book he does the same. “There hasn’t been a book like this where his views are subjected to such intense questioning and scrutiny in 32 hours of interviews,” said The Straits Times editor Han Fook Kwang, 57, who led the team of seven writers.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad would not be outdone. He, too, had a legacy to bequeath to the young, the next generation of Malaysians. How did he transform his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that would become the 17th largest trading nation in the world. This was done in 22 years with a program to achieve economic stability.

Like Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Mahathir held an iron grip on his countrymen to fulfill his vision. Unfortunately, that also gained for him both admirers and detractors (Anwar Ibrahim called the book fiction). Anwar can say what he wants to, but the ordinary man in the street in Malaysia regard Mahathir’s government a success. As one taxi driver told me, “I feel the results. He has done well: and added that those that came after him did not pass the grade.” Depending on which side of the debate he is at once a tyrant and a defender of the poor. Every chance he had he defended Islam but by it he means moderate Islam.

Like his counterpart in Singapore he too changed the rules as he saw fit. Doctor in the House and Hard Times have a similar message — they did whatever was needed to advance the country. They succeeded where others failed with authoritarianism. They had no patience for a “democracy” in which their countries would have languished in poverty.

“It is neither apology nor defense, but a forceful, compelling and often exciting account of how Dr Mahathir achieved what he did in so short a time, and why,” wrote one reviewer.