Burma, one of the oldest dictatorships in the world, headed by General Tan Shui, without
a doubt one of the worst tyrants in the world.
Well, almost, because in North Korea, there's stiff competition from Kim Jong-il.
The difference is that Burma has recently started welcoming tourists, especially tourist
lovers, to encourage them to visit the country they made this cute little movie.
Harmony, the good life, well-being, if you believe the regime, Burma is paradise on earth.
When you see this absurd propaganda, you ask yourself, what's behind all that?
So we decided to go there, to get an inside look into the daily life of the Burmese people,
to understand what it's like living in a dictatorship, getting up, working, studying,
getting information. All that must be very complicated. Oh, by the way, journalists are
not welcome here. So we're going to pretend we're just tourists.
You cannot pronounce the word Burma here in this country. Since 89, the Janta decided
to rename the country Myanmar, which means the first inhabitant of the world. But of
course, all that is just propaganda. The regime is especially touchy about this issue. The
Burmese ambassador to the United Nations constantly issues reprimands to impose the use of Myanmar.
On countries like France or the United States that don't recognize it, or refuse to use
it.
One of the first things you realize when you arrive in Mongolia is that 99% of the cars
have the steering wheel on the right side. And they drive also on the right side, what
is extremely dangerous. That is why they all have lucky items. You need somebody like
me, you need a co-pilot. If I want to pass to another car, I need to tell you at the
infront, car will become or not. If you see the no come, I can pass. What you must know
is that the direction of the traffic changed in 1974 when the astrologers of the former
chief of the Jenta, Niwin, told him that it would bring him luck. But the Burmese are
out of luck. Cheap cars mostly come from Japan, with the steering wheel obviously on the wrong
side of the car. So they make do. And of course, for public transportation, it's the same problem.
As you can see here, the steering wheel is on the right side. So here as you can see,
I enter on the left side. And when I exit, of course, I finish in the middle of the street.
This is extremely dangerous. I'm not quite sure I would like to be a bus driver here in Burma.
Ready? Yes, ready? Okay. Dangerous, huh? I'll try. First time, huh?
Here, we're in a public gas station. We're not supposed to film here, so we're staying
in the car. Every Burmese is allowed about two gallons per car, no more. It's an obvious
way to limit the travels in the country. And to be sure they don't go beyond those two
gallons, they have to use this small little booklet. Here I'm in front of a private station
where you can buy unlimited gasoline. It's actually a way for those in the gender to
sell the gasoline they didn't already use. And as you can see, the security is extremely
bad.
In Burma, each tourist has the right to enter the country with $2,000 in cash. Max, there
are no other methods of payment. No credit cards, no travellers checks, nothing. Here,
cash is king. Can I change this? Change? Those change, yeah? Have change in kiat?
Yeah. Kiat. Can I have in kiat? Do you have another one now? Why? There's a problem? In
your country it's okay. What's the problem? The line. The line here. So that's, I can't
change that. You don't have the another one? No, this, but there's a problem with this?
Also, what's the problem with this one? This one, this one, this one. Oh, you mean this
one here? That's a problem there. And that's a problem here. So none of those is okay.
Out of my $2,000, almost half of the bills either have a tiny stain or aren't completely
perfect. So no one wants them. Simply because the junta doesn't accept them. Only 1% of
the population actually have a bank account. Firstly, because it's very difficult to open
one and also because the bank can disappear just like that. That is why the Burmese people
have to find other ways to invest their money and sometimes very strange ways. Tell me,
if I want to buy a SIM card, can you write to me the price to have an official big SIM
card? How much is it? $1,800, $1,700 for one SIM card. That's unbelievable.
You must know that the Burmese people earn every month about $30. You can imagine what
$1,800 is. They actually invest in those cards and rent them around them. So in Burma, you
invest more in SIM cards than in real estate.
Here we have a normal bill of $100. But what is quite incredible is at the end of the 80s,
the junta decided to press some bills that are all multiples of $9. Okay, this is $100.
That makes sense. But $90 is weird. That is also astrology number. Okay. $9 is supposed
to be a good number for the junta. So you have bills of $90 and $45. What is absolutely
absurd. But this is incredible. I mean, $90 and $45 is really funny. But this is not very
easy to make the change. You know, if I want to pay, it's complicated with $90 and $30.
This lasted only a few years and created a huge fiasco and economic fiasco and they decided
to come back to reason and come back to normal bills. Welcome to Burma.
Here I'm in front of the University of Yangon. It used to be a very active university. But
the junta doesn't like the students to be concentrated in one place in the center. That
is why they decided to send them far away from the city. I'm going to show you.
Here I'm in front of the University of East Yangon, one of the universities created by
the regime far away from the city. You have to come from Yangon to here. So it's a long
way to go to school. Every day you go back to Yangon. There's about 10,000 students who
come to study here every day and 50,000 who depends on this university for what they call
e-learning. I've just met a student in front of the university who has agreed to take me
to his place to talk about their famous junta style e-learning. On the condition that we
don't film his face, we change his name and the neighbors don't see our little camera.
So Jojo, you told me that in your home here, you had one of those cassettes of e-learning?
Yes, of course I have. So we don't need to go to university all the time. We learn from
the classes. If you don't understand, you cannot ask to...
Okay, so you don't have any help? You're alone and it's more difficult to learn, okay?
So thanks to Jojo, I was able to get a surprising look into a Burmese family's day-to-day life.
Oh by the way, when I arrived in your home here, I saw a too big item here. What is that
for?
That is transformer. This is used for a regular electricity.
Okay. And what about this one here?
This is one for battery use. One of the electric no-cans we can use is so we can watch the
TV all the time.
Okay, so that's very important to be able to watch TV. What do you watch on TV?
Yes, because here in Korea, cities are very popular. So using this, we can miss it.
Okay, so maybe tonight I can stay with you and watch the Korean show with you?
But after TV, you have to go back to your home.
Oh, why? I can't stay too late?
No, you cannot stay here because if you sleep here, you have to do as permission from our
township committee.
Is it because I'm a foreigner?
No, no, no, no. Even my friends from other township, if they want to stay my home, we
need to do same procedure later.
Okay, but you know what? We won't stay too late.
So it's so good for me.
Okay.
Now the state television is really something.
The Burma that the junta depicts on its channels is really a make-believe country,
with magnificent public buildings, sumptuous scenery.
Everything is smooth and without blemish.
It radiates harmony and national unity.
As for their evening news, it's an endless stream of soothing statements,
all devoted to the glory of the regime.
It's the game shows that provide what are perhaps the only moments of escape.
But they're kind of pathetic.
I decided to make a break here at the Traders Hotel,
which is that place to be if you're close to the gender.
You can find here high-class prostitution,
and also, of course, you can read this.
First, it's filled with propaganda ads,
explaining how to behave, how to be a good,
obedient and disciplined citizen.
The only articles with a little bit of content
are almost all about public works or industrial machines,
or about ribbon-cutting ceremonies at public buildings or bridges that they love.
You also find weird reports of official speeches given by the generals,
reports that somehow managed to avoid talking about the content of the speech
all the while telling us that the audience really enjoyed it.
As for the international news, it's a complete caricature.
The newspaper copies articles from the internet without ever giving the source.
And finally, when the newspaper mentions the US or the UK,
it's always in a grotesque way.
Like here, for example, with this story about a vulture invasion in Florida.
And we don't really see anyone who would support this daily,
especially not the Burmese.
They use it to clean their windows.
Okay, we finally found an internet connection here in the hall of this hotel,
and we're going to try and check our email first thought.
The main access has been denied.
Maybe another one.
Let's try maybe Hotmail.
Access has been denied.
Okay, let's try maybe just for general information,
like an international AFP, AP, or Reuters, for example.
Reuters, let's try that.
Okay, access has been denied.
Okay, well, it's not here that we'll manage to get a good connection on internet
or check our emails.
We'll try somewhere else, maybe in Rangoon, with a bit of luck.
Hello, excuse me.
Look, we're looking for internet with email, internet.
Internet over there?
Yes, yes.
Yeah, the big building.
Thank you very much.
Can I use Gmail?
Yeah.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
Because we try everywhere, it doesn't work.
Here it works.
You sure?
Yeah.
So let's give it a try.
Okay.
Okay, now you must be quite patient.
Like very patient.
Extremely patient.
Okay, it seems you can actually access your Gmail account.
The only problem is that it's not a secure connection
and that the regime can actually read your emails.
One last thing, once you've finished with internet,
you have to give your address, your name, and your password number.
Welcome to Freedom Country.
Here I'm in front of a field.
A traditional field that you can see in the region.
And you can see that part of it is dedicated to this small little tree behind me.
It's called the ketsu.
And here you can actually see the fruit that's supposed to be used
in the production of the biodiesel.
That's ketsu.
Yeah.
Here ketsu.
All that is ketsu.
He cannot produce biodiesel from the ketsu
because he has no machine, no alcohol, no protection, no instrument.
I understand.
Rice is more better for people.
The ketsu is also forced by the government
to must be planted this plantation.
Government by force.
Well, thank you very much and good luck.
Okay, we're going to try and go in here, but I'm not quite sure about it.
Ministry of Agriculture.
I can't believe we're inside.
The craziest thing is that we've managed to convince them
that we were professionals fascinated by biodiesel.
We managed to come here and visit the process
that you need to go through if you want to create biodiesel from ketsu.
You add that into this.
So to sum up, the process is highly complex and very expensive.
$9,000 for the conversion kit.
A Burmese farmer just can't afford it.
Locals even plant ketsu in the centre of the city.
Ketsu.
The regime believes it's a way to neutralise the opponent Aung San Suu Kyi
because Suu Kyi and Ketsu are opposites.
Ketsu? Suu Kyi?
That's opium pipe.
Like this?
Yeah.
Oh my God.
You can lie on a mat?
You have to lie because if you don't lie, you fall.
When you come to Burma, you can very easily buy an opium pipe
or an opium weight like this one.
But what you must know is that the country is actually the second producer
of opium in the world after Afghanistan.
What's quite funny is that on one hand,
the regime actually benefits of this traffic.
And on the other hand, it actually created a huge museum,
a fight against the drug.
If we go by the museum's records, we are the first visitors in ages.
Yet there are thousands of square metres on three levels
that are sitting empty just waiting for visitors.
At the same time, you can't really tell
who this circus is meant for.
So we're here and I'm absolutely alone.
There's nobody in this free-store building entirely dedicated
to fight against the drug.
OK.
If you think that Yangon is the capital of Burma, you're wrong.
It's Napido, a new city created by the gentile
about 200 miles north from here.
And to link those two cities, they created a huge highway
that we're going to try and take now.
On the 6th of November 2005, at 6.37 in the morning,
they decided to transfer the capital from Yangon to Napido.
Thousands of civil servants were obliged to go to Napido.
As for the population, it learned to transfer only two months later.
OK, from here on, no tourists are allowed.
Only businessmen and officials can come through.
So from here on, we'll try and keep a low profile
because we don't want to get arrested.
Napido means city of the kings.
Simple and humble as usual.
There is no downtown here that would be too dangerous.
The capital was built in zones.
A zone for luxury hotels.
Another for malls.
There's also a zone for the civil servants' houses
and high security zones, such as ministries.
Here, the Ministry of Information.
And here, the police ministry.
And a bit further, the military zone with their army camp.
A highly protected zone, but we're not going to stick around here
because it's too risky.
You should know that half of the regime's 400,000 soldiers
are stationed here in the new capital.
And Burma is simply the biggest army in the region.
After China, of course.
Napido is also a little paradise for the regime's bureaucrats.
Drinking water, electricity around the clock.
The city is like a giant VIP space surrounded by 200,000 armed bouncers.
And inside, it's first class, all the way.
So here we're in the middle of the capital,
and we found this gulf here.
This gulf practice, and there's just absolutely no body.
There must be a huge economic failure this place.
Well, let's give it a try, anyway.
Yes. Wonderful.
This place in the middle of nowhere looks like a fake city.
There's just nobody.
You have all the services you can imagine,
but nobody to use them.
Except me.
Living in Burma today is a bit like
if someone made you watch a really bad movie
in a gigantic open air prison.
The regime has staged a grotesque play on a country-wide scale.
A show in which the Burmese are both the main audience
and the primary victims.
A huge masquerade that's been dragging on for half a century.
