Abstract
This paper briefly describes the general poverty situation in Myanmar, factors that partly constitute poverty in Myanmar, and social work and poverty in Myanmar. Myanmar with a population of over 60 million and at 676,578 km2 (Burma) is the largest country of mainland Southeast Asian Region, and second largest overall in size after Indonesia. It is a country that is rich in natural resources including precious stones, oil, and natural gas, however, Myanmar is still one of the poorest countries and majority of its citizens are still living in poverty and do not enjoy the benefit of their rich natural resources even under the newly introduced political reforms. There are differences in urban and rural poverty. The urban people have more money than the rural people but rural people on subsistence agriculture have more food but no hard cash. It is argued in this paper that poverty in Myanmar is mainly caused by the mismanagement of resources and inefficiency of governance, corruption and dishonesty in resource allocations, insecurities of social and economic conditions to the people. The 2008 Myanmar Constitution describes the protection and rights of the citizens for property ownership, education and health. The newly adopted pro-market reforms have led to cases of land seizures from farmers for mining and industrial development, decline in wages in real terms for factory workers with resultant social problems in many areas in the country. The challenge for the future leaders and policy makers is whether it is the constitution that needs to be changed or improved or improve the enforcement of the current one to improve the poverty situation for the people of Myanmar.
Highlights
Defining Poverty and PoorPoverty is experienced ad defined by different people differently depending on their personal, socio-cultural and economic situation. Marshall (1998) defines poverty in terms of lack of resources, mainly material but could be cultural
Poverty is still one of the main social and economic issues to many Myanmar citizens
The economy of the country is partially dependent on its agriculture and on its export trade’ (Myanmar in World Map).Poverty is recognized by the United Nations as a social and an economic issue to be addressed through Millennium
Summary
Poverty is experienced ad defined by different people differently depending on their personal, socio-cultural and economic situation. Marshall (1998) defines poverty in terms of lack of resources, mainly material but could be cultural. Poverty needs to be understood in context, Jung (1990) argues that the poor might be classified as socially poor meaning that their social status are deprived, economically poor where economic opportunities are denied and politically poor in situations where freedom of choice for their own betterment is suppressed To define this in the Korean context, the poor are referred to as ‘Minjung.’ Jung describes the different manifestations of poverty in Korea: The Minjung are the poor, but by poor we mean those who are poor in money and in power, in social status, and by the standards of the present order, in educational attainment. ‘Minjung’, is more than a term for the poor as it includes art, theology, and an activist movement that struggles for human rights, social justice and democratization as well as autonomy and reunification in their foreign affairs position (Kuster, 1994)
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