In the old days if someone talked about a precious product from Burma, we would think about ‘Burmese ruby’ which was the best quality or the most beautiful red stone in the world. One of the places we could find it was in Mae Sai town of Chiang Rai province, Northern Thailand, which borders with Tachilek town of Shan State of Burma. Even though, to get the Burmese gem that means the suffering of people who work at the mine under the dictatorship military control, and that is a controversial issue.
However, today the first thought comes up in people’s minds about the products from Burma is so much about pirate CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and imitated brand name products which is so much cheaper than the brand ones, i.e. T-shirt, women handbag, shoes, handphone, mp3 player, etc. As we all knew, they all are actually imported from and made in China.
For many people who had visited Tachilek in the past might be thinking of this town where used to be more calm but lively in the way, and preferably wish to go back to the old Tachilek. The picture of Tachilek back in 1980s, is still vivid in my memory. I had to go there three or four times a week with my mother who has business of buying and selling gem crossing the border for over 30 years.
The Burmese wooden string puppet those were hung in front of the shophouse always scared me. I remember well that there were a lot of handicraft things, for example, bags, cloth, stitch wall sheet of elephant, horse, peacock pictures, and product from forest, and they were selling Shan food. Also, there were some product from China, for instance, chocolate, dried fruit, seaweed, selling in the market of Tachilek town.
The current picture that I got from my last visit Tachilek, the road and the building still look very much the same as the past, but all products on the shelves, in the shops are totally changed. There are so many pirate DVDs, brand name shoes, cloth, bag, and mobile phone, and the list goes on. These products are made in China, and mostly illegal in Thailand.
Although, there is a big blue banner written with white letter in Thai and English obviously inform everyone who cross to Burma site is not allowed to bring back many items which are illegal in Thailand, Thai people and tourists seemingly enjoy buying them as much as they can easily bring across the immigration office to Mae Sai, Thai side, without having any trouble.
On the other hand, many items of products from Thailand are prohibited in Burma as well, such as, seasoning powder (MSG), soft drinks, biscuits assorted, chewing gum, cake, wafer, chocolate, canned foods (meat & fruits), noodles, liquor, beer, cigarette, fruits(fresh), plastic wares. (Pongsawat, 2007) Interestingly, however, these items can be carried crossing the border as a personal use, and yet there is many smugglings.
Besides, these two border towns have many common similarities and differences in many ways. Of course, they are border towns, diverse in cultures and languages, and fulfilled with a lot of products from many places, but mainly imported from China. However, we can obviously see that there are only civil officials working at the Thai Immigration Office with full operation of documental and administrative task, whereas there are many soldiers are working at the Burmese Immigration Office. Unsurprisingly, there are only a few people working as collecting money, and stamping the boarding pass, this could be seen as how much Burmese government is charge of the area and the trade.
What we have seen at the borders, it reminds us to look at the connection between these two border towns Mae Sai and Tachilek and urbanization at the border town is that the tourism at the town of Mae Sai and the border economy does not take place purely as a result of the government’s border regulation (or the loose regulation), but requires the militarization of the border especially by the struggle among the Shan, the Wa, and the Burmese government as well.
The urban development of Mae Sai in a particular way, precisely the way in which legal and illegal border trades coexist and articulated themeselves as a specific form of border trade, and the way Mae Sai tourism relies heavily on the illegal activities of Tachilek as a point of attraction for both gambling and counterfeit products.
Moreover, in the past it would take about an hour and a half to get to Mae Sai, even you went by a personal car. Now, it takes only about 45 minutes to get there. It is much more convenient and easy than the past. Accordingly, the development of the road quality, it is relatively to build the trade route passing through Thailand, Burma, to China. (Continued #2)
No comments:
Post a Comment