The Madness of Burma's Junta

Some observations about Burma:

• "Burma is today the least developed country in Asia in all rankings. In some indexes it is lower than Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh."
• School enrolment is about 50 percent.
• Infant and maternal mortality is the worst in Asia.

The source for this information is Dr. Sann Aung. Elected to parliament in Burma in the 1990 elections, he now lives in exile in Thailand. Dr. Sann Aung's comments were delivered in an interview with The Nation published today in Bangkok. He also said:

In 2006, the military moved the capital. That cost it US$10 billion and that caused inflation. In March the same year, it increased military salaries ten-fold. People became poorer and poorer and then it doubled the price of petrol, and gas by five times. This exacerbated the social and political crisis.

I have posted other disturbing economic data and health estimates concerning here.

I was in northern Burma last year and I had a chance to learn something about the aspirations of Burma's kids. Check out this post.