Fearing Invasion, Burma Junta Plans To Move Capitol

by Larry Jagan

(IPS) BANGKOK -- For months Rangoon has been rife with rumors that the country's military rulers were planning to move the capital to the hills of central Burma for fear of a foreign invasion from the sea.

But according to the blueprints for the new military complex, it is actually going to replace the inland port city of Rangoon, with its famed shimmering pagodas, as the country's capital.

"This is typical of (military ruler) Than Shwe's pretensions to be the new Burmese monarch. Like the Burmese kings who ruled before him he is building a new palace-capital for posterity," said Thailand-based, senior Burmese analyst, Win Min.

But, according to diplomats and government officials in Rangoon, the real reason for the relocation inland to Pyinmana, 400 kms to the north, is for safety from possible outside intervention.

Burma's military rulers have faced ever-tightening international sanctions since 1997 when the U.S. stopped new investments in the country. On Tuesday, the sanctions were renewed for another year when the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly in favour of continued sanctions.

The military's headquarters, government ministries and the new parliament are all scheduled to be moved to the new inland location within the next twelve months in what many Burmese are already calling 'escape city.'

"It's one of the biggest constructions I have ever seen," a western diplomat in Rangoon told IPS referring to the new complex on an area measuring 10 sq kms.

Mansions for the senior generals, government offices and national headquarters for the country's ethnic groups are being built. The national headquarters is to be 30 metres high according to the architectural plans.

Although a new parliament is under construction, it is unclear from the plans whether there are plots allocated to the political parties, particularly incarcerated leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said the government official.

Bunkers, tunnels, a large military hospital, apartments, a huge airstrip and a golf course are being built, said eye-witnesses.

The plans have been in the pipeline for several years now and construction started on it nearly two years ago. "The planned retreat is essentially strategic," said an Asian diplomat who regularly deals with Rangoon.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 reinforced the generals' fear that Washington might attack Burma, according to analysts. Burma's military strategists have long argued that the country's defenses were vulnerable to an attack from the sea.

'Than Shwe has a bunker mentality, and when he's completely secure he'll launch his offensives," said Win Min.

Analysts believe that the move inland is also intended to give the regime better access to the frontier areas, especially the Chin, Karen, Kayah and Shan where most ethnic groups that have ceasefire pacts with Rangoon are strong.

"Although the ethnic organizations have ceasefire agreements with the junta, the top generals remain highly suspicious of them and want to be in a better position to control them if they need to," Win Min told IPS.

But now, according to the plans, the whole military and government administration is to be relocated to Pyinmana. Even foreign embassies are likely to have to follow the Burmese government when it is finally transplanted into the hills.

Several ministries are scheduled to move to the new capital in the next few months, according to diplomats.

Civil servants have been panicky about the shift. "The civil servants do not want to move. There's no infrastructure such as schools for their kids," said Win Min.

The lack of accommodation for families at Pyinmana means only bureaucrats who are single are likely to be transferred in the first phase. As a result many young public servants are desperately trying to find marriage partners to help postpone their reassignment to the new capital.

Thousands of villagers have been up-rooted and relocated to make way for the construction of the new capital. Over the past eighteen months at least ten thousand people are said to have been removed from the site.

At the beginning of May another three thousand local residents were ordered to vacate their villages. More than five thousand villagers are scheduled to be relocated at the start of next year.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has received complaints of extensive forced labor and relocations. In a recent report, the ILO representative in Rangoon said there had been allegations that villagers were forced to construct camps and facilities for several army battalions and an air defense squadron deployed on the site.

"At least 14 villages had to provide 200 workers each on a daily basis for the work," according to the ILO report. Typically, the Burmese government dismissed these allegations as baseless.

The construction work involves several prominent Burmese companies, including 'Htoo Trading' owned by the wealthy magnate and arms dealer Te Za, who is reputed to be very close to Than Shwe.

"The delay in the reconvening of the National Convention and the drafting of the constitution may actually be related to the completion of the new capital at Pyinmana," a western diplomat in Rangoon told IPS.