Disaster challenges Burma dictators

Initial assessments of the scale of death and destruction caused by the cyclone that tore into Myanmar on Saturday already signal that it is the worst natural disaster to strike South East Asia since the 2004 tsunami. The secretive military dictatorship has even acknowledged that the death toll could rise to more than 10,000. Furthermore, the generals who are in charge of Myanmar — better known as Burma — have indicated that the human suffering is of such magnitude they may be willing to accept foreign aid.

The brutal rulers of Burma clearly have been overwhelmed by the death and destruction the cyclone left in its wake and are unable to cope. As a consequence, the tragedy of the cyclone may open up one of the most oppressed countries in the world to outside help.

Despite its secrecy and repression, the cruel nature of the Burmese regime is well known to the world. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest nearly two decades after winning more than 80 percent of the seats in parliament.

Notable among those who have made Burma their cause is first lady Laura Bush, who wrote an op-ed column for The Wall Street Journal last October under the headline, "Stop the Terror in Burma." She spoke yesterday from the briefing room of the White House to urge the military rulers to accept a U.S. relief team and other offers of international assistance. She also mentioned what may well lead to the downfall of Burma's military despots.

The Associated Press quoted her as saying, "It's troubling that many of the Burmese people learned of this impending disaster only when foreign outlets ... sounded the alarm. Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path. The response to the cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta's failures to meet its people's basic needs." From Yangon, formerly Rangoon, the AP reported a grocery store owner complaining, "The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared."

Members of the Burmese military have concentrated efforts on crushing democracy and retaining power to enrich themselves. So far, they have been ruthlessly successful.

Confident of their ability to control the Burmese people with an army they have built up to half a million, the generals called a referendum on a draft constitution — scheduled for Saturday — that is devised to perpetuate them in power.

The referendum, which has been described by experts on Burma as a farce, held out no possibility of positive change.

It would not be the first time that a natural disaster has revealed the vulnerability of a dictatorship and led to its eventual collapse.