Posted on 05/30/2008 4:41:48 PM PDT by rontorr
Rangoon - The military junta began evicting destitute families from cyclone relief centres on Friday and rejected foreign food aid - because people can survive perfectly well by hunting "large, edible frogs."
The New Light of Myanmar "newspaper", a government mouthpiece, also warned that foreign relief workers would snoop inside homes, and condemned donors for linking aid money to full access to the hardest-hit regions in the Irrawaddy Delta.
The tirade came as the junta tightened its political grip on the country, extending democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest and announcing that its new constitution has been enacted.
The regime says the charter will pave the way for democratic elections in two years, but dissidents say it will enshrine military rule in a country ruled by generals since 1962.
"It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable," a government official said at one camp where people had been told to clear out at short notice. "Here, they are relying on donations and it is not stable."
Locals and aid workers said 39 camps in the immediate vicinity of Kyauktan, 30km south of Rangoon, were being cleared as part of a general eviction plan.
"We knew we had to go at some point but we had hoped for more support," 21-year-old trishaw driver Kyaw Moe Thu said as he trudged out of the camp with his five brothers and sisters.
They had been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins to help rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta, where 134,000 people were left dead or missing by Cyclone Nargis on May 2.
"Right now, we are disappointed," Kyaw Moe Thu said. "We were promised 30 poles by the government. They told us we will get rice each month, but right now we have nothing."
Why would they want rice? wondered the military regime.
After several days of praising the work of the United Nations and charities, the regime's official newspaper renewed its attacks on foreign aid and insisted Burmese could survive without outside help.
"The government and the people are like parents and children," the paper said. "We, all the people, were pleased with the efforts of the government."
"Myanmar (Burmese) people are capable enough of rising from such natural disasters even if they are not provided with international assistance," the newspaper said.
"Myanmar people can easily get fish for dishes by just fishing in the fields and ditches," the paper said. "In the early monsoon, large edible frogs are abundant."
"The people (of the Irrawaddy delta) can survive with self-reliant efforts even if they are not given chocolate bars from (the) international community," it added.
No aid agencies are known to have provided chocolate bars to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The United Nations estimates that about one million people in the delta are still without emergency aid. (Agencies)
Does this mean that we can no longer get any Crab Rangoons???
Call me crazy but why do I get the feeling many of those “edible” frogs were killed in the typhoon?
Seems to me that one anonymously dropped JDAM on the ruling junta’s government house (whatever it’s called) while in session would immeasurably improve the people’s lot in that poor nation...
Why the government there is opposed to the world helping those people is beyond me.
Because the citizens would see better quality food and supplies and support from outsiders than their own government, and wonder why the enemy’s “throw aways / give-aways” are better than what they can do on their own.
The aid would make locals question local leadership.
A society which accepts what this one does in terms of governance is a loser; and its government will be in due time. Not much can be done to help people who don’t know either that they need help, nor want any.
This tragedy was the U.N.’s chance to shine. They failed miserably. The U.N. needs to be dissolved. It is nothing but a cesspit now.
If a nation is deeply Bhudist, possibly they are easy prey to an armed government.
In any case, I’d doubt any “survey”, “poll”, etc. which claimed to show the victims of a disaster did not want any help they could get.
Culture defines everything; these people could overthrow their government, and always could have. They didn’t, and they don’t. Culture makes them wimps. We could overthrow the government there, feed and clothe them for a few years, and maybe even suggest a better way of being-in-the-world than what they adhere to. However, immediately in our own society and throughout the realm of western civilization as it currently presents itself, the multiculturalists would protest and the media would cry outrage. Their culture is helpless, and our culture is gutless, so the Junta rules. Maybe BO can talk to their leaders. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
“Their culture is helpless, and our culture is gutless, so the Junta rules.”
HEAR! HEAR! We have a WINNER ! ! ! !
“Why the government there is opposed to the world helping those people is beyond me.”
From what I can tell, Burma/Myanmar is supposed to have 57mm people. If 2mm die as a result of all the recent events, which is roughly 3.8%.
Were there any situation of such dire consequence in a certain country of 330mm people, a 3.8% death rate would certainly result in revolution, even if people threw rocks.
Alright, you're crazy.
The Burmese people are hardly wimps. When a few words against the government get you thrown in jail, it’s difficult to keep up the momentum of dissent. When you can’t have a couple of people come to your house without being investigated by the town snitch, it’s difficult to organize. When taking to the street with a sign can get you shot, many don’t take the risk.
The Burmese made a big attempt at ousting the junta in 1988 which was brutally put down and an estimated 3,000 were killed and many more “disappeared”. Then again last fall thousands of people took to the streets at great risk and many died in the cause of freedom.
Just like the pro-democracy students in Iran, what the Burmese people need is support and solidarity, not trivializing their efforts.
Stand by for the “Biblical Plagues of Egypt” being visited on Burma due to the unsanitary conditions, not by Moses this time but by insane, dictatorial, power mad rulers.
I am glad to see a couple of people that replied to this thread are in touch with reality. I’m a little slow, been outa touch with the internet since a few minutes after I posted this.
glad to see someone is proud of an Airman, I am an AF Vietnam vet living in Thailand myself, I have to sometimes turn off my cpu when some of the people at FR get sarcastic about the Burmese people, I know a lot of the refugees from their “government”.
Thank you for the response, and for your service :)
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