Myanmar junta distributes foreign aid -- with generals' names on it

Saturday 10th May, 05:05 PM JST

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13 Comments

some14some at 06:20 PM JST - 10th May

what's in a name...Another interesting quote from Shakespeare: "I understand a fury in your words,But not the words." This is what Western journalists are doing. Things seem peaceful in Myanmar and aid supply is in full swing. No reason for Myanmar to allow 'tsunami' of foreign aid workers that will only worsen the situation there.
Jyan_Bon at 06:58 PM JST - 10th May

some14some; You do not know the truth on the ground. I do, because I am one of the citizens in the country. These generals will NEVER allow any international aid to come into the country and help (in person), which the generals (shalowly) think that their incompetence will be highlighted. They (make belief themselves) that they are the only heroes of the country and no foreigners must be seen by the locals as saviours. In Arche Indonesia,the US war ships did a fantastic job in saving tens of thousands of lives on Tsunami victims. A week is ample time to save the victims. BUT This kind of large scale international rescue efforts will never be seen in Burma, THANKS TO THE BURMESE MILITRY HEROES. The heroes in Burma has gone ahead with their nationwide referendum voting despite of this unprecedented disaster the country has ever encountered in it's living memory.
Coligny at 07:00 PM JST - 10th May

Are you a former correspondent in Iraq ? Military junta, confiscation of foreign aid, distribution of said foreign aid as a propaganda tool preceding a vote about said junta. For you, this somehow manage to qualify as peacefull ?

Sorry if i don't misquote shakespeare to hide any spin...
naylin at 07:03 PM JST - 10th May

This is an outrageous robbery out of donations. What a disgrace to be using other people's donations and cheat it to be one man's (Lt Gen Myint Swe's) personal gift to the people. Shameful act but this is not unexpected from such people killers though.

Things are nowhere near peaceful in Myanmar. Even after a week, military Regime still has no idea of the actual impact of the Nargis and they are not even trying at it. Hundreds of villages are destroyed and state television and newspapers has not even able to announce any list of wiped out villages at all except for a few big townships until now. Sattelite images have proved so many villages turned to big pool of water after the cyclone.

Hundreds of thousands of survivors are piled up in townships like Myaung Mya, Laputta with no effective aid supply system. Military has no infrastructure to handle this situation at all.
An example- to supply aids to the flooded area which is not accessible by land, they don't have enough helicopters. Their soldiers(privates) themselves are poor and hungry bunch (of course while the generals are millionaires) of people who has no idea how to handle this kind of situation at all. (They are only trained to oppress the people in any way they can).

One latest news from inside of myanmar says that in Myaung Mya, military locked up the compound of tens of thousands of cyclone victims from nearby villages under the reason that they might be robbing the town since they are just hungry and homeless. Town people takes that the main reason is to make sure that they don't want the referendum to be disturbed as referendum is ON in Myaung Mya.

Bottom line is- if Military doesn't open it up for aids groups like UN to come in and help in full swing in time, the cyclone victims are going to suffer much more than they have from Nargis it self.
Jyan_Bon at 07:07 PM JST - 10th May

There is only ONE INSTITUTION which comes between the suffering, dying millions in the delta and the desperately needed life saving International Relief Aid ........and that INSTITUTION is known as ....."Myanmar (Burma) Tatmadaw (Armed Forces)".
Athletes at 07:10 PM JST - 10th May

Some14some

Myanmar government has no experience or training in disaster relief efforts. Victims desperately need the expertise of Red Cross or other reputable organizations. Beside that Public servants are so corrupted in Myanmar. About 75% of supply will end up in Black market. Super rich Generals can not be trusted too. They do not care about human lives. They only care about their swiss bank accounts.

For delivery, Myanmar is using outdated boats and manpower for distribution. Victims urgently need medical, food, tents and sewage treatment materials with Supersonic jets, Helicopters and Hoover Crafts. Not the 19th century disaster relief system.

Myanmar Government alone can not handle the such a big disaster. Why not let other to help them? It is unwise for preventing international relief effort. Why not let US Marines, Japan Marines and European Air Force to come and help? They know how to handle the suffering of the victims.

Myanmar is second only in the most corrupted country in the world. Not only backward in technology but also narrow minded and xenophobic. Let's put the victim lives ahead of politics and pride.
Jyan_Bon at 07:57 PM JST - 10th May

Things seem peaceful in Myanmar and aid supply is in full swing"

That is totally untrue. Aid supplies, only a trickle get through to the victims. I have pictures from Lapputta and the true situation is people are desperate for help . Fresh water, food ,medicine and shelters are almost gone.The UN can manage to flown in only 4 planes of supplies in 7 days.That is NOT FULL SWING .Empty military trucks driven pass the desperate villagers.The helicopters occational drop in only to pick up the VIP generals. No supplies for the starving victims. STILL AWAITING DESPERATELY.
Jyan_Bon at 08:24 PM JST - 10th May

UN is repeatedly warning that the time is running out for the millions of cyclone victims. ONE WEEK of precious time has been wasted as the junta DO NOT UNDERSTAND the scale of relief work and the DEADLY CONSEQUENCES that will follow. The junta at the moment is concentrating on VOTING PROCESS of retifying the draft constitution, which is designed to legalize the military rule. It took the generals 15 years to write this constitution, making sure that The Military is in FIRM CONTROL, legally, in country's politics.
Sarge at 08:49 PM JST - 10th May

Jyan Bon - I am truly sorry about what has been and is now happening in your country. I am at a loss for words.
Jyan_Bon at 10:11 PM JST - 10th May

Sarge: THANK YOU
smithinjapan at 10:25 PM JST - 10th May

Jyan: Are you in Myanmar (Burma) now? I'm not criticizing you at all, just curious as to how you can have so much internet access in a disaster zone, and bother coming to a site called Japan Today with so much suffering around.

Your comments are somewhat moving, and I think most people stand behind you and believe what you are saying to be the truth (it certainly appears the military is completely out of control, and clearly they are using the aid as political leverage and for their own means). I feel for you, and I most certainly feel for the people of Myanmar/Burma, and I hope this crisis can be resolved and something done to better the overall situation of the country as a whole (including in particular the government).

Good luck to you and yours.
longtalllm at 01:12 AM JST - 11th May

Jyan Bon, the whole world is watching this. The whole world sees these "heroes" for what they are. The whole world wants to help. We're all hoping that things reach some breaking point that will allow foreign aid and aid workers to flow into the country.

Off-topic: Remember when this forum used to allow users to rate other users' posts? Removing that feature (and the facility to report inappropriate, etc. posts) means that certain people can throw out flame bait indiscriminately. I hope the people who run this site will reinstate those features, and worry less about fluff like "Gravatars."
illsayit at 08:28 AM JST - 11th May

Jyan Bon, You say you are in Myanmar, and you obviously have a computor, and the time to write.....so what are YOU doing to help? Lots of people in other countries don't have a computor you know.

Undoubtedly the situation is grievious, a cyclone has hit. If we cant survive locally, then you need to work that out.

I feel the leader's roots run deep, perhaps there is issues, but I would guess the issues are the same as everywhere else, and they are starting at home, even in your home.

In order to get aid to a area, there is a need to know that area, for which the general's name is acceptable.