Of earthquakes and cyclones (1/2)

I don't suppose anyone in Singapore (bar the absolute recluse) would not know that there have been a spate of unfortunate natural disasters that struck several countries in the Asian region. For those who really don't know, here's a simple report on what happened to our SEA neighbours as well as in China.

Cyclone Nagris versus Myanmar's military junta

In Myanmar and some parts of SEA, a Cyclone, named Tropical Cyclone Nagris, moved at high speeds into the northern part of Myanmar, causing widespread destruction that has at present (and according to official figures) caused the deaths of tens of thousands. You know the benevolent nature of the world and our NPOs, almost as if we're actually kiasu to all rush to Myanmar and help.

That's when the government steps in and spoke out proudly and adamantly: "We don't need your help, world, thank you very much, we can handle this by ourselves!"

Perhaps there was the usual dramatisation, but somehow I felt this all wrong. Hurricane Katrina, the tragedy that struck the States not too many years ago had caused so much destruction to
more than just a few states, warranted public apologies from President George Bush Jr. because he "mis"underestimated the impact of the disaster and provided relief at crap slow rates. Yet right now, with this experience in hand and with NPOs rushing to help, Myanmar is saying no to foreign aid?

I'm sure this would more or less have political elements involved - anyone forgot the dissent created by Burmese monks not too long ago, excuse me, by civilian elements unhappy with hikes in prices when their situation in life is miserable enough? By denying its people help from world government agencies, I can draw an analogy that goes like this.

Let's say we have a meek child and a strict parent. The strict parent puts pressure on the child to score well so the parent can show off to other parents that the child is doing well despite the strictness, and the child has no choice but to perform. Suddenly, the parent decided that the child isn't doing enough and demands that the child perform 2 times better. Frustrated, the child yells and shouts and protests at the parent, only for the parent to beat up the child for disobedience. Other parents protest, but the strict parent does not care.

As this episode dies down, a few months later a wild dog walking on the street randomly pounces on children, including this meek child. On the brink of death, the child cries out for help as blood flows freely on the road, and the parent noticed the child - yet did nothing much than just stay by the child's side. Many other concerned parents and their children all offered to help at the first sign of trouble, but the strict parent disallows help from the other parents, saying that the damage was manageable when it wasn't.

From here on, there are two situations. Either the child dies of excessive blood loss, or the child recovers and grows to resent the parent for ill-treatment. By this analogy, it is obvious that the child cannot die (because the child represents the nation's people), but that resentment will only grow further and further as time passes by. Eventually, the strict and unreasonable parent would be forced into an ultimatum - treat the child nicely or beat the child further as warning never to show dissent.

Outside of the analogy, it is obvious what is happening in Myanmar now is but a repeat of previous such conflicts in other nations. "Bullying" its own people into submission (right now, I see this as a government message which goes like this: "See, I don't agree with what you did last year. Therefore this year the foreigners cannot give you help, BECAUSE I SAY SO!") is a short-term tactic that, appropriately so, may work for the short term, yet at the same time it is alarming that the military junta of Myanmar seemed to have ignored the consequences of such actions in the form of their almost-immediate neighbours - Sri Lanka. Despite different motivations, the LTTE was a malign formation of what could very well have been something avoidable. By extension, Sri Lanka may also have ignored what happened in Yugoslavia as well as Northern Ireland. And by further extension N. Ireland forgot what happened during WW2, and so on and so forth.

Quote from Mr David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary:
"A natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions in significant part because of the malign neglect of the regime."

How true. Moving on to China in the next post.