Mainland Southeast Asia: Turmoil and Peace - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 419

would have no food at all. They needed the rats for food
since all their other foodcrops were decimated. Moreover,
if they poisoned the rats, they would be deadly to eat.
Thousands of Chin farmers have given up and mi-
grated to border areas where food can be purchased. Oth-
ers simply leave to scavenge for grass, roots, and bark in
less-populated areas. However, it is a social taboo—a
disgrace—for Chin to abandon their villages and com-
munities. Many leave during the night.
Recently the military junta has allowed the World
Food Program and a limited number of other organiza-
tions to generate “work-for-food” projects. Relief from
across the Indian border is absolutely forbidden. Any
assistance is given clandestinely , often by Christian
groups. The Chin, fearing reprisals, are afraid to talk about
the deteriorating situation because this would draw atten-
tion to the failure of the government to manage the crisis.

Inle Lake's Floating
Agriculture

Inle Lake, located in one of the Shan states, is
Burma' is largest lake. The lake is home to vast areas
of floating gardens anchored in place with long
bamboo poles driven into the lake bottom
(Figure 15-5). Adjacent houses are built on stilts
and stand in 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m) of water.
The gardens are strips roughly 82 feet (25 m)
long and 3 feet (1 m) wide. They are cut from float-
ing vegetation at the lake' s edge and towed to the
garden site. Sediment from the lake bottom is
scooped up and placed on top of these mats to
provide topsoil for the planting of vegetables.
Plants, especially tomatoes, with their roots close
to the water, absorb nutrients from the lake, which
is a repository for all the residential waste in addi-
tion to runoff from the surrounding hills. The gar-
dens are tended by farmers who move from strip
to strip in dugout canoes. Much of the produce is
sold at markets around the lake. Fish farming is
also practiced, with the floating gardens acting as
nurseries.

Figure 15-5
Inle Lake. This man is tending his gardens from his dugout boat.
Note that the paddle is operated by hand and foot. Increasing
numbers of motorboats are displacing the polers. Photograph
courtesy of B. A. Weightman.

their land. T Tens of thousands have been moved to satel-
lite towns around Yangon (called “Rangoon” by the
British and during the period before SLORC) and Man-
dalay . The entire population of Bagan was displaced to
eliminate dwellings from among the temple complexes.
The displacement was part of the government' s tourism
promotion. When the government wanted to widen a
road in Mandalay , it simply sliced the fronts off all the
shops lining the route.
Most displaced people work in the cities but find
transport costly in both time and money . Many have
moved to squatter settlements closer to their place of
employment. In any case, community and family rela-
tionships and village economic systems are broken or
strained.

AUTHORITARIAN DEVELOPMENT
T To make way for development projects such as roads and
tourist facilities, SPDC has forcibly moved people off