On May 3, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta and the country’s capital Rangoon. With wind speeds reaching 135 mph, the cyclone hit Myanmar hard, killing an estimated 32,000 people (later revised up to 100,000) and affecting over seven million Burmese.
Despite 48-hour advance warning from India’s Meteorological Department, the ruling military-dominated SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) did little to warn its people. After Nargis had passed, the SPDC blocked aid agencies from distributing much-needed food in Myanmar’s hard-hit areas. Several factors appeared to complicate the affair even further:
- The SPDC delayed processing visas for aid workers, in the face of an outpouring of help from the world community. (Associated Press)
- Only four out of 40 NGOs on the ground in Myanmar were permitted to work in the affected zones. (the Independent)
- Even citizens are prohibited from helping out; several prominent Burmese have been warned that any acts of charity must be done through military channels. (New York Times)
- World leaders have become sharply critical of the SPDC’s foot-dragging in a time of crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was “deeply concerned... by the inflexible positions of Myanmar's government.” John Holmes, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official, was “disappointed by the progress we've seen”, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was “outraged by the slowness of the response of the government of Myanmar to welcome and accept assistance.” (Associated Press)
- Certain quarters have called for more active involvement in Myanmar... even without the Myanmar regime’s consent. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner invoked the “responsibility to protect” principle (R2P) when he demanded that food be parachuted to Myanmar without permission from its government. Under R2P, when a government cannot protect its own people, the international community assumes this responsibility through the Security Council. China opposed this move, defending Myanmar’s sovereignty and adding that “responsibility to protect” is inapplicable to natural disasters.
So the world is at an impasse: on one hand, the SPDC is extremely reluctant to allow foreign “intervention” in whatever form. On the other, inaction will likely create an even bigger catastrophe in the future for both Myanmar and its neighbors.
Given the current situation, should countries like the U.S. and organizations like the UN persist in pushing aid into Myanmar?
The trouble is just par for the course, given Myanmar’s recent history. After Burma (as Myanmar was then known) won independence from Britain, the fledgling country’s leader Aung San was assassinated by a rival politician. A few years of genuine democracy was followed by a coup d’etat led by General Ne Win.
Ne Win’s regime cut Burma off from the rest of the world, nationalized the private sector, and allocated profitable businesses to cronies. Isolated from investment and the flow of free ideas, Burma’s economy shriveled and sank into bankruptcy.
Periodic uprisings have been met with disproportionate force. In 1988, the government suppressed nonviolent demonstrations in Rangoon, killing thousands. Protests against high fuel prices in 2007 also brought heavy-handed retribution from the military, resulting in 130 known deaths.
Through it all, the military has refused to give up power, rejecting the results of an official parliamentary election in 1990 where the opposition National League for Democracy won an overwhelming majority of 80%.
Myanmar is the real loser in this power struggle. As Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu point out in their Threat to the Peace Report, Myanmar lags or falls dead last in many important developmental indicators:
- Economic and Social Indicators: 75% of Myanmar’s 50 million people live below the poverty line.
- Health: The World Health Organization ranked Myanmar as the world’s second-worst provider of healthcare for its people, out of 191 countries – Myanmar’s dismal record was beaten only by Sierra Leone.
- Government Spending: Much of the government budget is allocated to the military, which eats up 30-50% of yearly expenditures compared to 3% for health and 8% for education.
- Communications: Only one Internet service provider exists, and about 350,000 telephone landlines and 66,000 cellular phones struggle to meet the needs of Myanmar’s population.
