YANGON, Mar 28: Myanmar is preparing its first census in decades, giving a vital snapshot of the ethnically diverse society but inflaming tensions in a nation where suspicions of Government run deep after years of junta rule.
Cheerful information posters festoon roadsides ahead of the 12-day survey, which will see tens of thousands of census takers – mainly teachers – fan out from the mountainous north to conflict-scarred jungle borderlands and the tropical south.
With even basic information like population based on estimates, the survey – which begins on Sunday – aims to visit every household to plug information gaps that hamper policymakers.
But it has already sparked violent protests in a western region blighted by sectarian violence, and there are concerns it could also undermine peace talks with ethnic minority rebels.
Local people, repressed under decades of secretive military rule that ended in 2011, have expressed suspicion of the collection of household information including questions on movement and economic activity.
“Despite reforms and amnesties, peaceful protesters and political activists are still subject to arbitrary detention and other human rights abuses by state security forces,” said Daniel Gray of risk analysts Maplecroft.
“Equipping Myanmar’s largely authoritarian Government with up-to-date information on its citizens is therefore a cause for concern.”
The United Nations Population Fund, which is facilitating the census, has faced criticism – along with donors contributing to the USD 65 million cost – for focusing on the technical aspects of the survey and neglecting political concerns.
Its Myanmar chief Janet Jackson has sought to reassure people that it will be impossible to trace data back to individuals.
“The deep mistrust cannot be washed away in one swoop. It’s going to take time,” she told reporters.
She said it was imperative to get “credible” new data to replace unreliable information from the last census in 1983 to help set priorities for everything from national education and health provision, to town planning.
But many observers have called for the census to be postponed, while the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank has recommended streamlining to focus on key demographic data, calling the survey “overly complicated and fraught with danger”.
Buddhist nationalists in western Rakhine State have campaigned for a boycott of the census over fears local Muslims could use it to boost calls for political rights. (AGENCIES)
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