Bhopal, India, 1984. Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986.
And now Myanmar, aka Burma, 2008.
Whether it is fool’s pride or undiluted evil, it is maddening to witness tens of thousands of people die in the former Burma as the government enables the mounting body count.
Through neglect as governance, many more people have died than the thousands in both 1980s incidents because of greed and incompetence.
The Asian dictatorship under the spotlight is too control freaky to let international relief in. Those leaders are essentially saying, what is the loss of 100,000 citizens after a cyclone?
Well at least the Myanmar strongmen have their priorities in order.
Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to enforce a mandatory election, a referendum on a new constitution, so the existing rulers can tighten their stranglehold on power.
Put that rice bowl down and vote damn it, or we’ll shoot you, the leaders might as well be saying. We’re doing you citizens favors. The bullets are quicker ends than the cholera resulting from unsanitary post-cyclone conditions that’s gonna get ya slowly.
Yes, this regime is brutal.
This is the dictatorship that upon learning that one of its citizens won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize rewarded her by placing her under indefinite house arrest.
So, 100,000 Burmese are believed dead since the flood virtually poured a lake on top the entire country. Furthermore, 1.5 million people are believed displaced and starving with no clean drinking water.
And the people’s government is haggling with aid workers and nations that want to help.
Myanmar officials especially do not want U.S. workers inside the country. [After this column was filed, The New York Times reported that the government promised to allow the first foreign aid air shipment on Monday, but aid workers were still restricted.]
Hell, us nosy, arrogant Americans will ask questions, and maybe lecture them.
Other American instincts are optimism, a we-can-do-anything spirit and good will in times of disaster, but this time Myanmar’s leaders are determined to turn help away in order to keep their oppression a state secret. While driving to work, I was stung by the BBC report in which Myanmar warned that international air drops of food and health supplies would be interpreted as “incendiary acts.”
Fine. A lot of Americans are feeling less charitable anyway because of $4 per gallon gas here and a chippy democratic election.
Anyway, most citizens probably didn’t know there was country that was renamed and now sounds like marshmallow-chocolate treat. Tragically, nothing sweet is going on.
So if the Burmese leaders want to go down in history as the people who did way more harm than those who killed thousands in two 1980s industrial accidents, many of us have no choice but the sit by helplessly and watch in horror.
