Building Naypyitaw, Creating Ambiguity

• In Event: The Ebbs and Flows of Democracy in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This paper is based on long-term field research in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s new capital. It delves into the day-to-day role of the city in Myanmar’s ongoing political, economic and cultural transformation. The paper seeks to answer questions about the “transition” from the vantage of the city that best exemplifies the ambition and the constraints of this uncertain period. The creation of quasi-democratic institutions in Naypyitaw is often described as an abstract exercise, devoid of connection to the realities of ordinary existence in Myanmar. While acknowledging the ongoing appeal of such perspectives this paper explains Naypyitaw on its own terms as an integral, albeit only decade-old, part of a grand story of political purpose and spatial re-calibration. From the new legislatures, to the Defence Services Museum, to the city’s markets, malls, tourist attractions and residential neighbourhoods, this analysis builds from the ground up. Whether Naypyitaw can survive the current fragile stage in its development is a matter of interest not only to students of democratic transition but anybody who is intrigued by the character of creative ambiguity in Southeast Asia today.

Author

• Nicholas Farrelly, Australian National University