Myanmar Junta - Living in a World of their own

The recent wreaks of nature lead to catastrophic results in Myanmar (Burma) and China.
The former bore the brunt of one of the worst storms in the region's history, and the latter had a part of its heavily territory reduced to ground by way of an earthquake. But the similarity ends there, a gruesome one, however.

The Chinese showed exemplary disaster management skills and several thousands of troops were mobilized to the effected areas in order to provide the much necessary relief supplies. The troops helped in evacuation and the engineers along with the troops worked hard hours for over a week, recently, to prevent another disaster that loomed to drown several hundreds of people owing the formation of a 'quake lake'. (A quake lake is a lake kind of formation that comes into existence when the debris from landslides prevents the flow of a river further downstream, and water keeps seeping in from the upper course of the river).

The Chinese even accepted offers of help from other countries in the rescue and rebuilding mission. We have to bring to fore the fact that the Chinese do not allow much foreign participation in internal matters. But the situation demanded that the help must be accepted to ease the pain and agony of those who have lost everything. Home. Family. Children. All they have is a strong will power to survive.

On the contrary, not far south of China is Myanmar. The country has been under military rule since 1962. The thought of democracy stinks of rebellion to the ruling generals. The fact that the country was ravaged by e devastating storm did not deter the Generals to hold a referendum to give legitimacy to the new Constitution that they have proposed. We need to pause and ponder for a moment. We are talking about holding a referendum in a country at a time when there are rotting corpses littering the highways and over 1.5 million people with nothing over their head and no food in their already famished bellies. we are talking about a catastrophe that has just resulted in instant deaths for almost 45000 people. And what do the Generals decide, instead of the relief effort, hold a bloody referendum!
It is an international crime in my eyes to deny the possibility of survival to a human being. The Generals declined any help from the international community. They wanted to show the world that they are a great nation and can take care of themselves. Grow up for God's sake! You are living in 21st century! There are people dying, YOUR people.

The thorn of the matter is the ideology that has been bred into the Generals over time. The fact that they have access to the riches that an ordinary Myanmarese can't even dream of, is attributed to the hold they have over everything. Media liberties are curtailed. There is a reign of terror. No one can rise against the 'JUNTA'. The leader of the Myanmarese government is Senior General Than Shwe. A person who appears to be there for the masses, but the opulent wedding of his daughter brought the reality out in the open.

Have a look at this You Tube clip that shows the Senior General's daughter's wedding reception.
The world has to get rid of people like Than Shwe. They are a blot on the face of the world. There have been an estimated 60000 deaths as a result of the shoddy handling of the relief efforts following Cyclone Nargis.
There has to be accountability and there has to someone to take responsibility for the horrendous way the situation was handled.
Than Shwe told the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon : This is the most candid talk I have had with anyone from the outside world.
Wow! No wonder he gave such a statement. The statement reflects the mindset of that person, who considers Myanmar to be a separate entity. Not part of the global village we live in. Well, he didn't complete his high school studies, but that's a different story, isn't it?
And lastly, one of the few countries who have diplomatic relations with Myanmar is India. No comment from the Indian Government on the poor handling of the situation in Myanmar.
India's Foreign policy. What's that? Anyone heard of it?