Burma 2007 - To visit Myanmar, or Not?

I'm in Singapore at the moment. The local budget airline, Jetstar Asia, is offering some very cheap airfares to Myanmar. This country, formerly known as Burma, has held an interest for me for a number of years. It's meant to have some amazing buddhist temples, very friendly people and some great food. It's also run by a military dictatorship that has held the opposition leader, An San Su Chi under house arrest for the past 15 years or so. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, but she's still locked up. Should I go and meet the locals and see the sights, or should I stay clear and support the Freedom Fighters?

Apparently, An San Su Chi has requested that tourists not visit the country until the junta is removed. On the other hand, there is the "Free Burma Coalition" that has exactly the opposite view. Their view is that isolating the country only increases the suffering of the people of Myanmar. I think there's merit in both views. If the international community doesn't kick up a stink, who will? On the other hand, if no tourists come to visit and the workers have nothing to sell or produce, how are they going to make a living?

The Lonely Planet web site has a good summary of the issues. They make no judgment on the issue, but suggest you have a good think about it first.

I was all set to go last year, then I heard the news that the government had been blowing up the hill tribes that live on the border of Thailand. Then there's the recent opening of the new purpose built capital, Pyinmana. Who in their right mind spends billions of dollars building a brand new capital city when most of the country doesn't have clean running water, decent hospitals or a job.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so picky. I've been to other countries with questionable human rights records. Morocco has a habit of locking up people they don't like. Turkey is similarly loose with their laws and China executes more people than all the other countries in the world combined.

Then again, it does look amazingly pretty and I'd love to go and have a look. What do you think?