Since you didn’t mention learning any negative aspects of Burma, I would be thrilled to know what your “university educated” tour guides told you about the locations in Burma (almost anywhere outside of the cities and tourist venues) where the illegal SPDC government would have forbidden you to travel to.

And whether they told you that right now, and for many decades before THEY were born, millions of Burmese ethnic minority citizens have suffered some of the worst human rights violations, ethnic and religious persecution, forced labour, forced relocation, and starvation known in modern history.

You could even say suffering and ethnic persecution of Biblical proportions.

Surely they must have mentioned that the Burma army commanded by your hosts, the SPDC is well known for looting and burning villages, and for using rape, beatings, torture, summary execution, and starvation to control Burmese ethnic minority citizens.

And, that THESE BURMESE CITIZENS were suffering and dying in Burma while YOU were visiting, eating at street stalls, buying your longyis and learning all about the Burmese people who live in the lap of comparitive luxury in the cities.

If they didn’t mention these important issues which affect approximately one-third of Burma’s 50,000,000+ citizens, do you think they were just protecting you from the truth because it may have made you uncomfortable?

I also wonder whether they told you how fortunate they were to have the opportunity to gain a university education, while most of the children of Burmese ethnic minority citizens who live behind the Bamboo curtain don’t have the opportunity to attend school beyond the fourth grade.

That is of course a major achievement when you consider that the Burma army burns their schools and churches, and that many tens of thousands of ethnic minority children die of treatable diseases or malnutrition each year, before they ever reach school age.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who is basically the only person alive in Burma who was ever elected by the Burmese citizens, asked for westerners to avoid tourism until such time as the SPDC allows free and fair democratic elections, and the human rights violations, ethnic, religious, and political persecution come to an end.

I think it is disgusting that many tourists think they are somehow special, and exempt from Daw Suu’s request.

How cold and heartless can they be to go to Burma for a vacation, while millions of Burmese ethnic minority citizens suffer unspeakable hardships at the hands of the SPDC regime?

Time and time again, those who ignore Aung San Suu Kyi’s request to avoid tourism in Burma say that they were able to learn about the Burmese people during their stay, yet in reality they completely missed the UGLY TRUTH.

What is even worse, is that they were ignorant/apathetic of the truth before they went to Burma in the first place.

The main reason being, people in Myanmar are poor. Much poorer than in any other Asian countries. When I was there, I met many young Burmese, university educated, who could not find a job. So, the only real industry for them to make any kind of money, this being about $20-$100 US a month, is tourism. So, they work in restaurants, as tour guides, souvenir sellers, internet shop operators etc. So, the more tourists go, the more of them can have a better life. Take a trishaw, buy a painting or a souvenir or a longji. Eat at the street stalls. Take buses. Talk to people. And those people who go that way can learn more about the Burmese people and their different opinions and lifes. I don’t think you can get that from reading the news and the internet.

When I was in Burma just now, I heard many different things and came away with a better understanding of the Burmese people. And I didn’t join a single tour group or ever had an official guide.

Hearing of his background in the hotel business, I understand a lot better why Mr.Tonkin seems pro-regime. However, he does seem to represent the ugly side of foreign investments in Burma.

I can picture the tourists living like Kings in his company’s hotels, dropping their $1000 each drinking iced champagne, arranging boat trips and balloon tours and of course always remembering to refer to the country as Myanmar, while nine out of ten *Burmese citizens they meet during their trip live in state & foreign investment induced poverty.
(*probably not allowed to be in the vicinity of the hotel property)

But I bet the travel agents will do a great job of telling them they will see the REAL *Myanmar. (*Burma)
If they are lucky, they may even get to kowtow to the same jade Buddha statue as Ibrahim Gambari and Ban Ki Moon got to kowtow to!
(the one carved with the face of Than Shwe)
Just remember NOT to ask any of the attendant monks just how many monks the monk-killers killed in 2007!

Of course, the tourists won’t be allowed to travel freely to the majority of the countryside, to the cyclone ravaged areas, nor anywhere behind the Bamboo Curtain where they might witness first-hand the fear, the forced labor, the relocation camps, or the victims of Burma army rapes, beatings and torture.

Nope, from their air conditioned buses they will never see the starvation caused by the Burma army shock troops when they burn crops at harvest time, or the destroyed villages, schools, and churches in the ethnic minority homelands.

But they WILL have the privilege of being among the special liberal-minded westerners who see fit to go against the wishes of the last leader elected by the citizens of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, who asked that westerners avoid tourism to Burma.

So remember, don’t worry about supporting freedom, democracy, or human rights, support Mr.Tonkin’s investment company, and your travel agent.

And don’t worry about Aung San Suu Kyi’s asking for tourists not to come to Burma, she obviously was talking about someone else who is not special like you.

And of course, don’t worry about that man in your tour group wearing the short sleeved button-down shirt and the longyi, you know, the guy that all of the Burmese people seem really nervous around? He is just there for your protection….from the truth.

I think he may of over estimated the gross number of arrivals though since those figures seem represent boarder crossings to from Thailand etc as well.

There is no way Burma has 227,400 international visitors flying in through international airports.

Either way you pay for it ?