around the periphery of the city in an attempt to move residents in accordance with the government’s development agendas. Official reports boasted of better living conditions in the new towns, but in fact most amenities were rudimentary, and the majority of residents made a living through informal work sectors due to a lack of steady employment opportunities and relatively isolated locations (Seekins, 2011). According to a 1987 report by Naing Oo on living conditions in Rangoon’s satellite towns: Many residents, almost three decades after the new towns were established, still earned their income from street vending and other informal-sector activities (construction work, stevedoring) in the city center, but found it difficult to commute there because of the high cost and scarcity of public transportation. Furthermore, the street vendors were vulnerable to government attempts to shut them down: “Their daily existence is such that they had to play a game of cat and mouse with municipal authorities along downtown streets. The municipal[ity] naturally considered them a hindrance to capital city beautification and a nuisance to the people.” (Naing Oo, quoted in Seekins, 2011, p. 89) These relocations occurred during a time when the Burmese government was attempting to establish itself and the nation as a legitimate entity. By removing people who were seen to be undesirable, the Caretaker Government established control over the country’s capital city. Development projects commenced shortly after the relocations. Tun Sein’s “Sweat Scheme” was a weekly cleaning campaign focused on beautifying Rangoon. While on the surface this initiative appears to be a positive measure, it was achieved largely through the use of “volunteer” work which ultimately amounted to forced labor, since those who refused to partake were punished or required to pay bribes to military and government personnel (Burma Department of Information & Broadcasting, Is Trust Vindicated?). As Seekins explains, maneuvers such as the “Sweat Scheme” and other cleaning and beautification efforts by the Caretaker Government represent the beginning 25