Reconsidering the Failure of the Burma Socialist Programme Party Government to Eradicate Internal Economic Impediments

Abstract

Adopting the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism’ as a guiding principle, the military-led Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government tried to restructure, among other things, the country's economic system and business community. However, due to its limited technical, financial and human resources – the resources needed to meet the needs of the public and to allow local state organs to function – the BSPP government failed to expand the state's share of the economy and to prevent the emergence of private business people, especially illegal ones, as dominant economic actors. This situation was compounded by the way party-state officials were elected, the domination of the party-state apparatus by corrupt opportunistic cadres, and the emergence of the three ma principles as the guidelines by which party-state officials carried out their duties. All these factors led local state officials to set aside the anti-business policies and regulations laid down by the central state, and to maintain the legal and illegal business people who had taken advantage of the state's failure to meet the public's needs as alternative providers of those basic needs, and as sources of additional income and finance for the state-sponsored ceremonies in their area. In the late 1980s, the BSPP government tried to reassert its control over the economy by opting for a head-on confrontation aimed at emasculating hmaung-kho (illegal) traders through demonetization. Taking tough action against the hmaung-kho sector, without the necessary political, social and economic power, was a disaster for the state. The party-state was then nearly bankrupt and politically very unpopular. Not surprisingly, the party-state's demonetization measures against hmaung-kho activities backfired, and the economy was plunged into even greater difficulty. Eventually, public disorder born from popular grievance paralysed the state, and the implementation of the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism’ ended in disarray.