The Myanmar Times, January 20-26, 2003

Even for an 87-year-old Rockefeller Myanmar shines

By Kimberly Fielding

             DAVID Rockefeller, the 87-year-old former chairman of the board and CEO of Chase, one of America's leading banks, left Yangon last Tuesday after a to-day private visit.

             During his trip he and his entourage met with government officials including Secretary-l Gen Khin Nyunt, Minister U Tin Winn, Minister Abel, and members of both the foreign and local business communities, among others.

            In an exclusive interview last week in Yangon, Mr. Rockefeller told the Myanmar Times that after his long-planned trip, he found the "partial liberalisation encouraging".

         Rockefeller expressed his encouragement for the government to move ahead with structural reform particularly in the legal and investment sectors.

        Saying that changes are "apt to move slowly," he stressed that "the rules of the game, and adherence to these rules" are very important, a sentiment echoed by Peter Johnson, one of Rockefeller's associates, who helped him write his recently published autobiography, Memoirs, and sat in on last week's interview.

        Johnson said that increased investment and increased liberalisation must come hand in hand, citing South Africa's transition to post-apartheid government as an example of how global competition for businesses can change a regulatory environment.
 

        Rockefeller, who has long supported contact with such nations as Cuba and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, said that when he went back to the United States, he would probably make a trip to Washington, D.C.., and talk to people in the US State Department, as well as members of the banking community.

        Concurring with a view that engagement with Myanmar could be beneficial to progress, he says he is firmly convinced that "contact with people, even if one disagrees with them, can be useful: there may be less disagreements than anticipated [and one] may even have some influence," adding that "there is more ignorance than hostility," toward Myanmar in the United States.

        The visit of Mr. Rockefeller may raise eyebrows in the United States, where the name has carried a special weight for more than a century, borne by one of America's most wealthy and powerful families.
 

        Mr. Rockefeller is the grandson of Standard Oil titan John D. Rockefeller, known as the founder of the oil industry and one of the richest men in the United States. A graduate of Harvard College, London School of Economics and the University of Chicago, he worked for New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia before joining and working his way to the top of Chase bank.
 

        With a long-standing interest in international affairs, Rockefeller has of- ten acted a private emissary of  American values, making contact with figures as varied as former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel  Nasser. Last Tuesday marked the end of his first trip to Myanmar.