Myanmar’s Military Despotism

In all my years as
a teenager and then as an adult, the name of Aung San Suu Kyi has cropped up
from time to time in the news, a brave woman non violently battling the might
of the Burmese military junta ceaselessly now for decades. It was when she won
the Nobel Peace prize in the early 1990s that the whole world finally took
notice of her struggle. Under house arrest for most of the last two decades,
she has neither been allowed to leave her country even to be with her family
nor has her family been permitted to come and visit her. As a result she was
not allowed to visit her husband even when he was diagnosed with prostate
cancer and who later died without her being able to be by his side in his final
moments.

What has recently
refocused world attention on Myanmar’s
military junta is the farcical referendum held in the midst of the death and
devastation wreaked by cyclone Nargis that left a staggering 60,000 or more
dead or missing. The referendum held on 10 May sought public approval of a new
constitution sought to be put in place by the Military dictatorship that has
ruled Myanmar with an iron hand, which critics have opined will do nothing
except strengthen the ruling military’s might and further undermine any
democratic process. In any case anyone voting against the referendum is hardly
an option for the citizens.

The violent and
destructive cyclone that hit the country did not detract the authoritarian
regime from going ahead with the referendum. If fact what the Burmese
government has done is take advantage of the situation by using the cyclone
relief process to drum up propaganda for their own agenda. The aid that has
been coming in from around the world has been stamped with the ruling generals’
name and then distributed among the affected people. The military junta takes
over all aid that arrives and doles it out to the suffering public like
largesse of its own volition.

The human rights
violations continue to be rife in the troubled nation of Myanmar. I
wonder why the United States
does not go in and try to liberate the Burmese people? It certainly purported
to do this in Iraq and Afghanistan!