BURMA: JUNTA LEADERS POWER-HUNGRY AS PEOPLE STARVE

By Zin Linn and - - Reprint | | Print |

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BANGKOG, May 13 2008 (IPS) - Rather than lessening the misery wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese military regime has made things worse. Burma\’s xenophobic military chief continues to hold up issuing visas for UN teams and other foreign aid workers, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee in Burma and now, in exile, the media and information director of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma. In this article, Linn writes that because of the unfairness of the May 10 referendum on the new constitution, the political scenario is quickly changing. The people have clearly seen how the junta operates. The regime is attempting to legalise military dictatorship with a sham Constitution and multiparty elections. Further political unrest may be unavoidable due to the military-privileged sham constitution. Burma\’s newer generations learned of the junta\’s inhumane and irresponsible behaviour on the Internet and have made up their mind to overthrow the regime at any cost. Protests are sure to happen before the 2010 elections.

Eyewitnesses tell of unburied dead bodies everywhere, contaminating water supplies. Outbreaks of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and cholera have already been reported, and people are starting to starve. Ten days after the cyclone, emergency aid has only barely begun to reach this suffering province.

In a telephone interview with Australia’s ABC Radio, chief executive of World Vision Tim Costello said that his local staff were returning from the Irrawaddy Delta in tears because there are corpses still unburied and people who have gone for five days without food and water since the May 2-3 cyclone.

“The greatest risk, the nightmare scenario, is waterborne epidemics as the water recedes,” Costello said. “Then you get dysentery, malaria, skin infections. If it tips over the edge into cholera and typhoid, then it really is lethal in … a population already weak and frail.”

Costello, an Anglican priest, urged the world not to succumb to frustration and abandon the people of Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962.

And yet rather than lessening the misery wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the junta has made things worse. Burma’s xenophobic military chief, Senior-General Than Shwe, continues to hold up issuing visas for United Nations teams and other foreign aid workers. He has no concern for the cyclone victims and is instead focused only on staying in power. All dissent is ruthlessly suppressed.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), the leading opposition group, has appealed to the international community to use all means available to help Burma immediately, without waiting for permission from the military regime. The NLD has called on the UN to protect civilians and take immediate steps to save lives and provide humanitarian assistance.

The junta, though, has kept its focus firmly on its seven-step roadmap to maintain power through multi-party elections in 2010. The regime is attempting to legalise military dictatorship with a sham Constitution and multiparty elections. A referendum was held on 10 May on the new Constitution, but thus far state media have released nothing about the outcome. For areas severely hit by the cyclone, voting has been postponed until 24 May.

Than Shwe says passage of the new constitution will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010, but critics say it will accelerate and prolong the ongoing civil strife.

The new constitution, drafted by the military, does not reflect the will of the political parties who participated in the 1990 elections. Nor does it reflect the political aspirations of genuine ethnic leaders and in general ignores the will of the people. The NLD criticised the charter as an obstacle to national reconciliation.

Observers and critics consider the proposed constitution unfair and undemocratic, and asserted that the authorities deliberately violated their own referendum law by using illegal practices.

Because of the unfairness of the May 10 referendum, the political scenario is quickly changing. The people have clearly seen how the junta operates. Most people see the junta’s new Constitution and the new elections as a challenge to their will. The regime continues to hold more than 2,000 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the NLD Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest on and off since 1990.

Revelations of referendum fraud have also pushed newer generations closer to the NLD and other anti-junta groups. If the stakeholders cannot afford to solve this 46-year-long crisis, violence may revive. The young generations has been losing their patience with the military dictators.

As a result, further political unrest may be unavoidable due to the military-privileged sham constitution. Burma’s newer generations devotedly seek change through the mass media and the Internet, through which they became aware of the junta’s inhumane and irresponsible behaviour. They made up their mind to overthrow the regime at any cost.

The failure of the United Nations, ASEAN and even China to prevent the inhumane deeds of the Burmese regime has made them lose face. Apart from obligation to practice non-interference, the UN and the international community ought to make a concerted effort to push for constant reform, reconciliation, and democratisation in Burma. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)