Kalam’s Wisdom vs Modi’s Myanmar Gambit
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Myanmar’s Workers and India’s Policy Shift in the Gulf
THEINGI is somewhat of a novelty among the profusion of Indian and Filipino employees at a five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi. What makes her stand out is that she is part of a new influx of expatriate workers from Myanmar to the Gulf.
A trickle of job seekers from Myanmar to oil-rich employment markets, which began with the regime change four and a half years ago, is rapidly rising, with much of Myanmar falling to rebels in a civil war.
Jobs for Indians are not nearly as threatened in countries like the United Arab Emirates by hospitality industry guest workers from Myanmar as they are for Pakistani and Bangladeshi taxi drivers as of organised recruitment from Africa in recent years.But India faces the prospect of losing out to the UAE, for instance, as a reliable and broadly diverse partner for Myanmar in the midst of its domestic strife.
Unimaginative flip-flops in New Delhi’s policymaking structure threaten India’s hitherto stable relations with this largely reclusive country which critically straddles Southeast and South Asia.
Whoever advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dwell on elections in Myanmar in such detail as he did during his August 31 meeting with Senior General Min aung Hlaing, Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission, in Tianjin only contributed to this looming threat.
If only Modi’s top aides had gone through the archives of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), they would have come across a captivating anecdote about what happened when Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met his de facto counterpart Than Shwe on a visit to Myanmar in 2006. Their one-on-one meeting was to last 45 minutes.
yudhoyono committed the grave folly of telling Myanmar’s strongman how he had transformed from an army general to a democratic leader, defeating the sitting President in Indonesia’s first direct presidential election.
He then advised Than Shwe how he could do the same in Myanmar. End of meeting. when Yudhoyono concluded his advice seven minutes into the meeting, Than Shwe stood up and held out his hand, indicating that their meeting was being terminated. We will meet for dinner, the host told the visiting president.
President APJ Abdul Kalam was infinitely smarter when he went on a state visit to Myanmar one week after Yudhoyono was snubbed by Than Shwe. Kalam heard about the snub in Yangon. In a rare fit of anger, he came down on accompanying MEA officials who had prepared Kalam’s talking points with Myanmar’s generals about Aung San Suu Kyi, democracy deficit and elections.
He impromptu relied on his instincts about what he would tell the Myanmar leaders. Than Shwe’s meeting with Kalam overran by 45 minutes.
Since Kalam was a bachelor, the general sought his indulgence and said he would like to bring the first Lady, Kyaing Kyaing, to that evening’s state banquet. The best part of the anecdote is that both the strongman and the First Lady were swept off their feet by Kalam and they asked many questions to the President on state and non-state matters.
Because he talked so much at the table, Kalam could not eat his dinner properly. On the way back to his hotel, Kalam asked his Chief Liaison Officer to arrange for some food to be delivered to his room.
The MEA’s readout of Modi’s Tianjin meeting hoped “the forthcoming elections in myanmar will be held in a fair and inclusive manner involving all stakeholders…India supports a Myanmar-lead and Myanmar-owned peace process, for which peaceful dialog and consultation is the only way forward.”