Myanmar's Junta Gets a Pass from Powerful Neighbors

By Andrew Lam, New American Media. Posted May 17, 2008.

Editor's Note: On the eve of an emergency summit of Asian nations, the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise, and the cyclone-ravaged country's ruling Junta has not been taken to task by its powerful neighbors. NAM editor Andrew Lam is the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora".

San Francisco -- A few years ago in Bangkok, a local journalist shared with me this observation about Southeast Asia: "The misfortunes of poor countries are automatic fortunes of their rich neighbors. It's the law of the jungle."

Primary examples that regularly fall into the unfortunate country category would be Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and, of course, Myanmar.

Countries like China, India, Singapore, Thailand, on the other hand, are sitting pretty: "These countries pay the strongmen of poorer countries so they can come in and cut down their forests, access their mines, siphon off natural resources, tap their rivers, and invest," said the journalist. "Not to mention the benefit of having near slave wages."

This is why the lack of condemnation of the Junta in Myanmar for its inaction in the wake of the cyclone by its neighbors holds little surprise. But, nevertheless, it is jarring in the face of the deepening crisis in Myanmar.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravejended returned from his one-day visit to Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday, and more or less spoke favorably of the Junta.

Samak apparently met with his counterpart General Thein Sein and extended his consolation and sympathy to Myanmar's cyclone victims. Thailand even gave some aid. The prime minister donated $500,000 U.S. dollars on behalf of Thailand. He also gifted 50 satellite phones to the Myanmar side, as well as phone cards worth around $65,000 dollars. He expressed his wish to continue rendering assistance to the country's relief and resettlement endeavors in the aftermath.

But Samak said that the generals "are confident of dealing with the problem by themselves. There are no outbreaks of diseases, no starvation, no famine. They don't need experts, but are willing to get aid supplies from every country." This, of course, flies in the face of international media reporting as well as eyewitness accounts. By conservative accounts, less than one-third of the 1.5 million affected by the cyclone are receiving any kind of assistance.

The regime said the number of dead is around 46,000, but international NGOs think it's near 126,000 and, given the lack of food and shelter and medicine, that number is rising fast.

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Andrew Lam is an editor at NAM and the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora".

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