One positive
development given the political changes in Myanmar since 2011 is that empirical
research is now possible to a much greater extent than in the past. One recent example
of this is an empirical study on state and region governments conducted by
a team of researchers from MDRI-CESD in partnership with the Asia Foundation. The
report, entitled State and Region
Governments in Myanmar, addresses a previously unknown topic in terms
of how local governance and administration works, and how, if at all, this has
changed in the post-2011 era.
The report is
based on research conducted in four of the seven states and two of the seven
regions, namely Karen, Mon, Shan and Chin State, and Tanintharyi and Ayeyarwady
Region. The research included interviews with over 70 officials in these areas.
The report is rich in details and thorough in scope. Here is a snapshot of a
few key points that the report makes:
The Composition of State and Region Governments
First, the
report emphasis that state/region governments are very recent developments in
Myanmar, and most have not passed any laws to date (although note this month’s
Law Gazette appears to suggest that this will soon change with the proposal of
several state/region laws).
In terms of
representation, the figures on women in local governance are low, with only 4
women cabinet ministers across all states/regions (p 56).
The disjuncture
between state/region departments and ministerial portfolios is striking. As the
report highlights: ‘While there are state and region ministers, there are, as
yet, no state and region ministries for them to lead’ (p 26). They explain that
the reason for this is because ‘they are pre-existing departments within the
centralised ministerial structure of Myanmar that have been nominally placed
under state/region authority’ (p 25).
The General Administration Department
The report
provides vital information on the central role of the General Administration
Department, which was established in 1988 when the military took over as part
of its strategy to control all levels of governance and administration. The
report describes the GAD as ‘the bureaucratic core of the subnational state
structure’ (p 33), and emphasises the pivotal role that it plays in terms of
village administration.
Courts
On the
state/region courts, the report finds that general attitudes towards the
judiciary and the courts was ‘highly dismissive’ (p 62).
Importance of Townships
The report
briefly refers to the importance of townships in terms of the role township
officials play in terms of land registration, taxation, birth registration and
so on (p 9). It appears that township governance will be the topic of a future
report.
One caveat is
that the report only focuses on official state government, although the report does
admit that it is limited in its scope because it essentially does not consider
legal pluralism, that is, whether there are any existing forms of customary law
or other governance structures beyond the state (p 7).
Overall, this report
provides an excellent starting point for empirical research on local governance
and begins to fill the gaps in our understanding of the form and shape of local
governance in Myanmar.
