All language subtitles for Burma With Simon Reeve 02 Eng

I'm on a journey around beautiful
and troubled Burma -

one of the largest countries in
South East Asia.

On the first leg of my travels here,

I witnessed how Burma's
all-powerful military

has turned on the Rohingya people.

This time, I discover
more of a country

that was cut off for decades.

I haven't seen a sight like this
anywhere in the world.

I visit the glorious highlands of
Shan State.

More? More?

It's just completely, totally
fantastic.

In the heart of the infamous
Golden Triangle,

I travelled secretly into
a conflict zone...

There's another checkpoint ahead,

and we're not sure we can get
through it in the car,

and so we're going to have to try
sneaking around it on foot.

..to discover the rebel force
waging a hidden war.

Going off on patrol.

It's supposed to be one nation -
a fledgling democracy.

But Burma's still racked by ethnic
conflict.

I'm next to the Irrawaddy River,

and I'm just beginning the second
leg of my journey across Myanmar -

better known as Burma.

The name of the country's important.

It was called Burma
for decades, of course,

and then the former military
dictatorship

decided to rename it Myanmar.

In English, Burma is still often
used as the country's name.

Many people here still use both.

I was heading out on a local ferry
boat along the Irrawaddy River,

towards the city of Mandalay.

The Irrawaddy flows more than
1,000 miles from north to south.

I like this gentleman's technique.

So the foot means more power.

What does the river mean to you
personally?

It's now just a few years
since the country

began the process of
transitioning from, er,

to become a democracy.

I'm just wondering - you do
a very special route

through the country.

Have you seen anything
starting to change

for people living
along the river bank?

It will take time, eh?

We're coming to some sort of
mooring point.

The community here is very
disconnected from the outside world.

The river is their lifeline.

There's a track to this community
but no real road.

Remember, at independence from
the British,

this was one of the wealthiest
countries in Asia.

In the decades that followed,

it became a military dictatorship,

and it became one of the poorest
countries in the world.

The military dictatorship
lasted for nearly 50 years.

Then in 2011, the military said

they'd step aside
to let civilians rule.

Life has improved for some people
since then, but here

it looked like they were still
living in a previous century.

Most people in Myanmar,
in Burma, are farmers.

They work the land.

And they do it with ancient
equipment and kit.

A wooden cart, for goodness' sake,
in the 21st-century.

Best to take the hint.

Under democracy, the leader of
the country is now supposed to be

the former human rights icon,
Aung San Suu Kyi.

She promised reform and change.

There are incredible
natural resources here,

incredible natural wealth.

But the ownership of them,
the control of them,

is in the hands of an elite few,

many of them generals
or former generals.

Not a lot of it trickles down
to communities like this.

The military said they'd relinquish
control but, in fact,

much of the money and the power here
is still in their hands.

I'd arrived into Mandalay, the
second-largest city in the country.

Famous for its magnificent palace,
it was once the royal capital.

Fortunes have long been made here,

trading Burma's spectacular natural
resources

and today it's an economic hub,

thanks in part to strong links
with China,

which is just a couple of hundred
miles to the east.

I'm off to a market now where they
sell the so-called stone of heaven.

Prized for jewellery and ornaments,
the stone is jade.

Most of the rarest and most valuable
jade in the world comes from Burma.

Wow! Look at that!

Every day, hundreds of sellers
make the trek

from secretive jade mines
in the north of Myanmar,

to this market,
laden with rough green slabs.

Right, he's in the middle of a sale.

It's enormous!

How much are you hoping to get
for this stone today?

That's a huge sum of money,
isn't it?

Is that going to go to you?

Will you get that?

What will you do with the money?

So you keep trading up?

OK.

Jade's been highly prized in China
for millennia

by emperors and merchants,

and now by the new Chinese
middle-class.

Buyers come here from across China.

When you are deciding,
what are you looking for?

How do you look at it?
How do you assess it?

So you want it to be
as transparent as possible?

Are you going to make
an offer for this?

Are you going to buy it?

Sorry.

Oh, this is beautiful.

Will you pay 400 for this?

So, there's a crack there.

This is very clearly
a buyer's market.

One of the many things that's really
incredible about this place is just

how dependent it is on China.

We're just a few hundred miles
from the Chinese border here

and so many of the buyers,
most of the buyers here, are Chinese.

China has long had power
and influence in Burma.

From trading with the country,
of course,

but also helping to prop up
the military dictatorship.

This is what the jade becomes.

Oh, yeah, there's a price.
Let's have a look. So that one is...

4,000 dollars.

So about L3,000.

She's holding on to it.

I'm teasing it away
from her fingers.

So that's about L3,000.

I can't fit...

Ah, magic.

You see. She knows what she's doing.

I bet...

Oh, like this. OK.

It's not going to come off,
I tell you.

There we go.

Do men normally wear this?

For anything. For anyone.

I think I know what's happened here.

Now I'm not going to be able
to get it off, am I?

So I'm going to have to buy.

A discount. Discount for you.

I don't think I'm paid enough,
but it is very beautiful.

The jade industry in Myanmar
is enormous,

believed to be worth more than
L20 billion a year.

But much is sold via
the black market.

This is about as close as I can get
to the source of jade.

Almost all of it comes from
the far north of Myanmar,

an area that's completely closed
to us.

Conditions in the jade mines
are often horrendous.

Many are run by people connected
to the Burmese military.

As with so much else here,
army generals,

or former army generals,
pull the strings,

and they don't want outsiders
knowing what's going on.

The international campaigning group
Global Witness

has suggested jade mining in Burma

might be the biggest natural
resources heist in modern history.

It isn't just money from jade that's
not benefiting the people here.

I left Mandalay and headed into

one of Burma's main
oil-producing regions.

But first we needed
to get permission.

We're now heading to an immigration
office where local officials

apparently are going to decide

whether or not
we can stay in the area.

That does fill me with
a bit of dread.

Here's my passport.
I should stay here?

We should keep the windows...

OK.

All right.

It became clear a surveillance unit
from the Burmese secret police

had been keeping a close eye
on our travels and filming.

We didn't know whether
we'd be allowed to stay in the area.

But we had all our paperwork,

and were supposed to be allowed
to travel and film freely here.

Good news. Excellent.

All done.

As Burma now opens to the world,

foreign oil companies are investing
in the country,

carving up drilling areas.

But many ordinary folk are also keen
to get at the riches underground.

Bloody hell.

Right. Let's go.

This is one of the largest unofficial
oil-drilling areas on the planet.

I haven't seen a site like this
anywhere in the world.

This looks as though this is a real,

almost little family patches,
it's bizarre.

Thousands of people have come here
from across Burma,

to dig and drill for the black gold,

using the most basic equipment.

What are you doing?

So you use the pipe as a bucket?

The winch is really going down.

How far down do you put the pipe?

What an astonishing system this is!

Here comes the pipe.

He's unplugging it, letting out
water from the deep

by the look of it.

Then, when it starts to turn dark
yellow, that goes into the bucket.

I've never really seen
anything like this.

It's thought there could be more
than 50,000 primitive oil wells

throughout this region.

Is this your well?

Do you own the well
that you're drilling now?

What was life like for you before
you started working here.

What were you doing?

You were a farmer!

It's a bit of a shift, isn't it,
from working with the soil

to working with oil?

Which job do you prefer?

Why don't you go back to farming?

My God! So, this is
the best alternative.

It's dirty and dangerous work -

completely unregulated.

Fires and explosions
are a constant hazard.

And, of course, the oil is toxic.

But poverty drives desperation.

The vast majority of the millions

living below the poverty line
in Burma are in rural areas.

23-year-old Yemen Byne took me
back to meet his family.

So your husband is saying that...

He quite misses being a farmer,

but he needs to be here
to earn good money.

Are you happy for you
as a family to be here?

Poverty has actually been declining
in Myanmar, but the country lags

behind neighbours like
Thailand and Vietnam,

which have seen huge increases
in living standards.

But even here people
are starting to feel

more connected to the outside
world - albeit virtually.

This is the first time
seeing a foreigner.

Have you never seen
a white person before?

You can access the world
through your smartphone.

Most of the people I'd met on
the central plains of Myanmar

were from the majority
Bamar ethnic group,

who comprise almost
70% of the population.

Now I headed east into the country's
vast forested highlands -

home to some of the dozens
of other ethnic minorities

who make up this huge country.

I was entering Shan State,
the biggest in Burma.

It makes up a quarter
of the entire country.

Nearly 3,000 feet
up in the Shan Hills

is one of the wonders of Burma.

HE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

Hello.

I'd arranged to meet local guide
Jau So.

Here we are. We've just gone through
the entrance, if you like,

and we're now on the magnificent,
extraordinary Inle Lake.

This mountain lake is around
45 square miles in size.

This huge lake is
absolutely stunning.

It's been described as being like
the Galapagos of Asia,

because life here has been cut off
from the outside world

for an absolute age,

and it's evolved in
special and spectacular ways.

Among the numerous
endemic species found

in the lake is the unique Inle carp.

Hard to see in this silty water

but it's long played
an important role

in the life of
the 100,000 Intha people,

who live around and on the lake.

The depth of the lake
is just a couple of metres so...

whopping big poles into the ground.

And then they put up the structures,

to include
a whopping pagoda.

In 2015,

the United Nations added the lake to

the world network of
biosphere reserves -

the first in Myanmar.

This is incredible. This is like
Burma's version of Venice.

It's an upcoming tourist
destination,

but also a precious
ecosystem for the Intha people,

who traditionally make
a living from fishing and farming.

Jau So took me to some
rather clogged side channels

to see just how to feed a family

and make a living
when you live on a lake.

Bloody hell!

Look what's ahead!

Tomatoes!

It floats.

And does it work well?

The area covered by floating
farms

increased by up to 500%
in recent decades.

They produce hundreds of
tonnes of tomatoes a day.

Because farmers are using quantities
of fertilisers and pesticides,

the delicate ecosystem is
threatened,

changing life here for the locals
and the fish.

So they fish
in a quite extraordinary way.

There's a gentleman here
doing a most incredible pose.

This is one of the signature images
of Myanmar.

It's a very popular,
famous image of the country.

He does seem to have caught a fish
in the side of that net.

It looks very dead.

I wonder if it might be
a bit of a prop.

To make a living from fishing.

Can I just ask, do you make more
money doing this than fishing?

Fishing is dying out.

The lake is being poisoned,

and another threat
comes from the surrounding hills.

Look at this!

So is this dredging?

Why is it dredging here?

Up in the hills,

Burma's farmers chop down trees
to clear land for cultivation,

but tree roots
hold the soil together.

Without them, silt floods
down rivers during rains,

clogging the lake.

Experts fear beautiful Lake Inle
could one day disappear.

Forest cover in Myanmar has fallen
dramatically in just a generation.

What's left contains astonishing
biodiversity,

including some of the most
magnificent trees on the planet.

So we are just stopped
by the side of the road,

because we saw this incredible
teak tree!

This is a wonder tree.

It grows most exceptionally here
in Burma, in Myanmar.

Fortunes have been made
from this tree.

Teak was one of the world's most
important natural resources.

It was what first attracted
the British to Burma.

They felled countless great trees
for the Royal Navy.

Even after Burma secured
its independence from Britain,

they kept chopping the trees down.

It was a massive source of revenue
for the military dictatorship.

Burmese teak is renowned
as the best in the world.

Part of what makes it so strong,

valuable and special
is how long it takes to grow.

An inch in diameter in 20 years
by one reckoning.

There was often only one way
of extracting the valuable timber.

Oh, wow!

This is quite the scene.

You know what,
Myanmar is a country...

Since the arrival of democracy,

the Government here
has tried to reduce logging

to preserve the forests.

But that's left 40% of working
elephants in Burma out of a job.

To support ellies,

lucky travellers can visit
and get up close

at the Greenhill Elephant Sanctuary,

set up by Tin Win Maw
and her husband.

What's her name?
She's called Hug Mo Yin.

We need to introduce who you are,

so we will make you friendship
with our elephants and you.

Elephants are big eater.

They can eat all day long.

So as long as you don't get tired
of feeding,

they never get tired of eating.

And later they will recognise you
as their new good friend.

I would like that very much.

Oh, you want more. Your teeth are
actually quite big, aren't they?

More? More?

You want a full mouthful?

OK. How about that?

More? Goodness me.

OK. This is the most
extraordinary sight.

They say Asian elephants, I know,

are smaller than African
elephants but, still,

when you are this close to
an Asian elly, it looks like a truck.

OK, OK. I'll get more.

I'll get more.

I'm glad she's a herbivore.

They eat so much, don't they?

Unbelievable. It is true.

Elephants are eating like elephants.

They need to eat over hundreds
and hundreds of kilograms per day.

Do you not want this? There we go.

The forest is shrinking here,

and there's been a ban placed
on the export

of some timber from Myanmar.

So there's nothing really left.

There's not enough work left
for them to do,

which means there's not enough money
to be earned

for their owners
and carers to feed them.

Which means a lot of elephants
are not getting work,

and they are going hungry.

Each elephant here has its own
mahout, dedicated to its care.

It was time for an essential part of
the day - bath time.

She likes everywhere you washed her.

But be careful when you wash,
you know, near the ears area,

she gets a little bit itchy
sometimes.

So this is some sort of natural
skin care product for elephants -

a bit of an acacia tree.

Deforestation is also a huge threat
to these ellies' wild cousins.

Elephants are endangered
across Asia.

Here it's possible there's
just over 1,000 left in the wild.

So the sanctuary's embarked
on an ambitious project.

So this way... To rebuild some of
the elephants' habitat.

OK. I met Tin Win's husband,
Tun Tun Win.

Oh, goodness.
So this is your nursery.

Nursery.

Every visitor to Greenhill Valley
is invited

to plant their very own teak tree.

So far an incredible
45,000 saplings

have been put into the ground.

Excellent work, Tin Tin.

All right. Is that too deep?

No. Is that acceptable?

Yes. Why don't we name
one after your son,

and one after my son?

Your son's ten.

Can. My son is six.

Jake. So this is Can.

And your will be?

My one's going to be called Jake.

Because, frankly,

this is about the next generation

and how soon there's a risk

there won't be any elephants
in the wild for them,

which is a horrific thought.

Each year, people from all
over Shan State come here,

to their capital, Taunggyi,
to celebrate.

For a whole week, teams compete

to release the most spectacular
and enormous balloons.

Now that is a balloon!

Entire communities
get behind their team.

There are huge amounts at stake...
ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYS

..L4,000 for the winners.

I'd arranged to meet the leader of

one of Shan State's
top balloon teams.

We are just very pleased,
we're very pleased to be here.

So you are the best balloon team
in all of Myanmar.

CHANTING

The team has spent two months
preparing their balloon

and a hefty payload of fireworks.

How many fireworks do you have?

70 kilos of home-made fireworks?!

They're readying...

HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

They want everybody back.

A string is going up
to hold people back.

Excellent.

There's a tension and a stress
amongst the team because, of course,

this is when it can go
horribly wrong,

because the balloon
is made of paper.

The burner goes in.
So that's the key, crucial burner,

so the explosives
are now being brought in.

Look at that!

CHEERING

Yes! Come on!

Stage one complete.

The balloon's taken off
without exploding.

How far into the heavens
will it rise?

40 minutes?! Yeah.
Wow, that's quite a challenge! OK.

Not every launch
went completely to plan.

CHEERING

Bloody hell!

Wow! Shit!

I took a minor hit.

I was just whacked by a firework.

It hit me like
the proverbial rocket.

Our BBC team,
professional to the end

had produced a fire blanket,

which we can all shelter behind.

We'll protect the camera
and the footage,

and, of course, Jonathan.

THEY CHANT IN OWN LANGUAGE

As I learned, even on
the first leg of my travels here,

Burma is a very troubled country.

I headed deeper into Shan State,
where there are conflict zones that

are sealed off by the Burmese army,
to prevent outsiders -

especially TV crews - from entering.

The area I'm heading into now
is in a state of long-term crisis.

There has been conflict here
over decades,

and right now,
it's starting to get worse.

The world's now aware

of the Burmese military's
long-term human rights abuses

against Rohingya Muslims -

recently attacked
and driven out of Myanmar,

in a campaign the UN
has called ethnic cleansing.

The Rohingya are not alone.

Across Burma, there are numerous
conflict areas,

where ethnic minority groups have
been fighting the Burmese state.

There's been war in the Shan area -

near and along Burma's eastern
border,

and my best chance to get
into the conflict zone there

was to head to neighbouring Thailand.

From Thailand I planned to double
back across the border into Burma.

But the Thai authorities aren't
always keen on outsiders crossing

into restricted areas of Burma,
so I needed to keep a low profile.

We're in a sort of rural part.

Now I'm going to stick out
like a sore thumb,

so we need to keep the windows up.

And I think this is where we're
going to do the transfer from one...

from our car to the others.

OK. There are Thai army checkpoints
all along the road towards Burma.

If they knew where we were going,

we'd be stopped
and quite possibly arrested.

It was time to change vehicles.

It's quite nerve-racking, actually,

because people are taking risks
to get us into the Shan area.

They're risks that they're saying
they're willing to take,

they want to take, not for us

but to show you
what's going on there.

We've just gone through a checkpoint

and, um, it was OK.

They seemed to know our guy.

We were pretty much waved through.

If the best thing to do is to walk
around, then we should walk.

There's another checkpoint ahead and
we're not sure we can get through it

in the car, so we're going to have
to try sneaking around it on foot.

We were just a stone's throw from
the border with Burma.

So from here we've got to walk.

I really don't like this.

We've had to abandon most of our kit
in the vehicle that's gone ahead,

and apparently they're going to be
able to get that past the checkpoint

as long as we're not in the cars,

but we've been left
with basically nothing.

We just had to bail out in a rush.

But we've got to be pretty quiet,

because the army base
is just over there.

We can't use any lights, because
apparently they have cameras

watching for movement, and...

they'll find us,
they'll catch us, basically.

There's a vehicle coming.
Get down, get down, get down!

They're saying, "Get down."

OK.

So just here, we're crossing from
Thailand into Burma, into Myanmar,

and into Shan State.

There's somebody here.

There's somebody walking towards us.

OK. So it's a friendly face
who's come to meet us.

After a short trek through
the forest, we finally joined up with

our vehicles on the Burmese side
of the border.

So we've made it across
into Shan State...

Oh, God, I think we've actually
arrived.

We've just come out of the darkness

into what looks like
a military camp.

I'd arrived at a place
called Loi Taleng.

Waiting for me was Charm Tong...

Hello, hello!

..a teacher
and Shan human rights activist.

We are now in Shan State.
Yes, you are.

Phew!

She was there to welcome me to
the headquarters of a rebel army.

When Burma won independence
from Britain in 1948,

some ethnic minorities had been
promised a degree of independence,

but the promises weren't kept.

Ethnic groups took up arms.

Then, in 1962, the Burmese military
seized power in a coup.

They occupied or invaded
many ethnic areas,

to keep tight control
over the country.

And the world's longest-running
civil war really began.

There's at least six different
ethnic armed organisations

fighting with the Burmese military
in Shan State.

We are with
the Shan State Army South.

Oh, bloody hell.

This is a guerrilla group

that operates in the mountains
and jungles of eastern Burma.

It's a guerrilla group,
but it's an army.

Lieutenant General Yawd Serk
commands roughly 8,000 troops.

These guys are completely hard-core.

They've been fighting now
for decades.

COMMANDS GIVEN IN OWN LANGUAGE

MILITARY CADENCE

Running an army costs a fortune.

The Shan area is rich in timber,
gold, and gemstones - like rubies.

But this is also
the infamous Golden Triangle,

where a quarter
of the world's opium is grown.

MILITARY CADENCE

Both the Burmese army
and resistance movements

have been accused of involvement
in drug trafficking -

a charge the Shan State Army South
denies.

That's how you do it.
HE LAUGHS

WHISTLE BLOWS

What are they doing now?

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

More than 12 million people in Burma
live in areas affected by conflict

or tensions between the government
and ethnic armed groups.

Because of fierce fighting,
there are nearly 500,000 displaced

people along the Chinese
and Thai borders.

Here, the Shan State Army South

protects thousands of Shan civilians
who fled, seeking safety.

My guide, Charm Tong,
took me to the local school,

which is educating around 700
children in their own Shan language.

THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN SHAN

Many children here have had to leave
their families to escape fighting.

Some are orphans.
When Charm Tong was just six,

her parents sent her out
of the war zone.

She grew up in an orphanage,
in shelters like this.

How do you come to be here?

How many times have you heard
stories like this?

Every time. Still like this.
SHE SOBS

It's just gone on too long,
hasn't it?

The depth of the suffering here

and how endless it's been.

Do you feel like
quite a traumatised people?

Yeah, I think
it's just impunity that the...

..you know, there's all kinds of
atrocities that's been committed.

It's too long. Mm-hmm.

And there's been no justice. Yeah.

Is that what...? And that's why
we want to change the situation.

We have to work harder, so that we
can change this kind of situation.

For decades international
human rights organisations

have documented horrific abuses
against Burma's ethnic minorities,

including the Shan.

Forced relocation, forced labour,
mass rape, torture, looting,

and arbitrary killings.

With the ethnic cleansing
of the Rohingya people,

the world is now waking up

to the crimes of Burma's
military leaders.

But shockingly, since
the transition to democracy

and arrival of Aung San Suu Kyi
as the national leader,

the military has actually ramped up
attacks on ethnic areas.

Burma is opening up
to the international community

for investment,

and the local peoples
don't have any right

to own any ownership of the land
and rivers and natural resources,

and the Burma military just
put more control, you know,

make the shelling, attacks,
offensive,

so that they can have more control.

Shan State is incredibly rich
in natural resources.

With Burma now free to trade
with the outside world,

there's even more incentive to take
control of the Shan people's land,

and there are regular clashes

between the rebels
and the Burmese military.

OK. Flipping heck.

Going off on patrol.

Soldiers are waiting. A unit of 60
Shan soldiers were setting out,

led by Colonel Jai Hong Can.

When your soldiers go on patrol,

presumably they always have to be
aware there's a risk of...

Of course. ..of conflict
with the Burmese military.

Sure. Sometimes, we admit,
the fighting can take place.

So we have to be very careful
all the time.

So there's always a risk?

Always.

When you're holding the guns,

you have be sure that you have
the enemy in front of you.

What inspired you or prompted you
to join the fight, initially?

Human rights abuses.

You cannot just stand back
and watch what is going on.

You, as a, as a man...

you have to find
a kind of dignity of your...

of your...how do you say,
of your people.

So that is why.
We are fighting for our dignity,

we are fighting for our cultures.

If you don't fight, you are a dog.

A dog? We are human!

They are bullying us,
they abusing us.

As a human being, what will you do?

Fight back, man.
But still you have to be careful.

We do not know when the enemy
will be coming to attack us.

The soldiers marched on,
combat-ready, hour after hour.

This is quite a good position,
isn't it?

You have an incredible
view all around.

OK. We're making camp here tonight.

The toilet is there.
You look at the sign there.

And it goes down a little bit
and you see the toilet.

It's an open toilet, sorry.
THEY LAUGH

We understand, don't worry.

It's in the jungle.
We're in the jungle.

There are hundreds
of local militias

and around 20 ethnic
armed groups in Burma.

The largest has perhaps
30,000 troops.

Oh, man!

Some are not just fighting
the Burmese army, but each other.

It's made the conflict
even more deadly.

So noodles and bean paste? Yeah.
This is the leaves from the trees.

Just eat them with the food? Yeah,
we eat them with the bean paste.

These fighters told me about a clash
with a rival rebel army.

Despite infighting
between the rebel groups,

the Burmese army remains
the common enemy.

We try our best, we are trying
to stay as a Shan, as a human.

We are not here to be a slave. Hmm.

As long as there is no political...

settlement between
the Burmese and the Shan,

as long as they still
oppress us, bully us,

the fight will continue.

Maybe I will die in the future,
on the battle. I don't know.

My children will come up again.

This is how we are going to fight.

It's an idea worth dying for?
Mm-hmm.

Certainly worth fighting for. Yes.

I think most people
could understand that. Yeah.

I think so. Yeah.
HE CHUCKLES

This is pretty extraordinary,
actually.

We are inside
the infamous Golden Triangle,

we've been out on patrol

and are now staying overnight
with a guerrilla army in Shan State.

It's been a long day.

I'm looking forward to a comfortable
night's sleep in the hammock.

It's a slight contradiction
in terms,

but I think it'll be all right.

The Burmese leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi,

has said ending the country's civil
conflicts is her top priority.

The rebel armies are no angels,

but this one and others
have signed a ceasefire agreement.

The Burmese military, however,
have continued their attacks.

Aung San Suu Kyi can't or won't
stop the military

who still control parts
of the government.

I was coming to the end
of my journey.

I went to meet the rebel leader
on the edge of his territory.

So we are now heading up
to the front line.

Oh, my God! Look. This is a trench!

Flipping heck.

So there are dozens, then,
of Burmese army bases

deeper inside Shan State, out there,
across the hills.

Does it feel like they're an enemy
occupying your land?

And what happens if
the peace negotiations fail?

Looking at the number of
guards and soldiers

that have to be here
when you're here,

because there is presumably,

there is always the risk
of an attack.

Talking to the Shan people,

it was clear the tactics
used to drive out

hundreds of thousands of Rohingya

have also been used
against other ethnic groups.

As a result this country has been
more deeply affected by civil war

than any other in Southeast Asia.

The outlook for Burma is worrying.

Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to speak
out against, let alone tackle

the root cause of so many
of the problems

facing this beautiful land.

The country may have had democratic
elections,

but clearly there is
still conflict here.

Peace has not come to Myanmar yet.

I think what I've learned here

has come as a real shock to me,
actually.

Is really obvious to me

that the biggest problem
facing this country,

I think,
is the Burmese military.

They are the biggest issue here,
but they're also a huge problem

for people in the rest
of the country as well,

who have to deal with their power,
their corruption, their abuse.

Until the Burmese military
are reformed and transformed,

I don't think Burma
can ever really truly change.

Captions (c) SBS Australia 2018