Comprehension: Frustration Foments in Yangon's Slums Despite Reforms

Myanmar's trumpeted reforms are yet to trickle down to Yangon's poor, rubbish-strewn slums where experts say residents' frustrations could turn ugly if the benefits of change are not felt soon.

Watch the video and answer the questions below. Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. The women are well provided for by the state. 

a. True

b. False

2. The people of Myanmar do not have the right to protest.

a. True

b. False

3. Myanar had military rule for half a century.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

In this Yangon slum, a group of women have taken charge of their own destiny. Each week they put aside a few dollars, hoping to one day start their own business from the savings. With the state failing to provide a safety net, it may be their only route out of poverty, and a neighbourhood that floods each month during the high tide. 

"We have not felt the change everybody is talking about. I think it has happened among the upper level of society". 

Government reforms over the past year-and-a-half have so far failed to reach the quarter of Myanmar's population that survives below the poverty line. Authorities want to reduce the poverty rate to 16 percent by 2015, and hope a new law encouraging foreign investment will drive job creation. 

"They need income. So they need more job opportunities. For that, foreign investment needs to come. Business can create the jobs that people need." 

How the government manages the hopes of Myanmar's poor, who now have the right to protest, is essential to the progress of reform. Last spring, demonstrations against chronic power cuts brought hundreds of people to the streets. And after 50 years of military rule, those left behind as Myanmar opens up will be tempted to stake a claim to the opportunity that many see in the country's future. 

"We think we have to manage those expectations, because things do not happen in a hurry." 

At this illegal slum settlement near the centre of Yangon, residents eke out a living, waiting for reforms to trickle down to their community. Cut adrift from the euphoria of progress being enjoyed by Myanmar's elite, their prospects remain bleak. 

Answers:
1. b
2. b
3. a

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