Aung San Suu Kyi Read Online Free Page A

the junta to open up the economy to the world at large, significant sectors had remained under the iron control of the state. All exports and imports require licenses, which entail masses of paperwork and corruption. The rice market is totally in the hands of companies that are directly or indirectly controlled by the junta. Trade with neighboring countries is rendered more difficult by the wretched state of the roads and railways, and many of the most vital everyday commodities are in shortage.
    In other words, there were strong breeding grounds for the protests of September 2007. For several weeks the whole world followed the tens of thousands of monks who went out in the streets in protest against decades of power abuse, and the whole world was appalled when the junta quickly and efficiently crushed the revolt. The violence led to massive international protests. Both the United States and the European Union increased their sanctions against the country, and for the first time ever the crisis in Burma was placed on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. Up until then China and Russia had blocked all attempts to put more intense pressure on the military junta. The Security Council demanded that a stop be put to the violence and that a dialogue be initiated between the junta and the opposition.
    But even if the junta seemed superficially prepared to have talks with Suu Kyi, nothing happened in practice. The demands of the United Nations were principally met with arrogance and silence, and the world organization had no chance of carrying the question any further.
    Barely a year later, on May 2, 2008, Hurricane Nargis slammed the Burmese coast. Vast areas of the densely populated Irrawaddy Delta were inundated by the waters. In retrospect, it is almost touching to read the Western media’s reporting on what would later turn out to be an extreme natural disaster.Even in Rangoon, which was far from the most severely hit regions, trees had been dragged up by their roots. Whole blocks had been on the point of collapse. Even 54 University Avenue, Suu Kyi’s home by Lake Inya, had had its roof torn off by the storm gusts.
    Nonetheless, both the Burmese authorities and Western media played down the damage. On May 5, the UK newspaper
Daily Mail
reported that “at least 350 people” had been killed by the hurricane. Three days later, Western mass media reproduced the junta’s own figures, which stated that about 8,000 people had perished. Some weeks later the truth leaked out. The toll had risen to at least 145,000 dead, and more than 2 million people had been made homeless.
    The military junta realized that a natural disaster of this magnitude might result in significant political consequences, and they did all they could to conceal the extent of the catastrophe. First, they refused to accept international assistance in the rescue work, then they accepted assistance but did not admit any foreign rescue workers. The military appropriated a great portion of the aid for its own use and handed out food and money as “loans” to the suffering population. Other portions of the aid were used as propaganda by the junta, which tried to steal the credit for supplying food, tents, and medical equipment. They finally admitted that their own resources were inadequate and allowed aid organizations into the country. By that time the death toll had mounted even higher, and yet even then the aid workers were not given access to the worst-hit regions. The junta were scared to death that the need for foreign aid might be construed as weakness. The population must be given the impression that the junta had provided the aid, they believed; otherwise, the disaster might lead to a popular revolt.
    Right in the middle of the disaster effort, while millions of Burmese were breaking their backs to keep body and soul together, a referendum was held about a new constitution. The junta had worked on the issue for years and