The Burmese junta continues to be more concerned about its image than about the safety of roughly 2.5 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.
Homeless people and beggars have been kicked off the streets in preparation for visits to cyclone-hit areas by the dictator, Sen. Gen. Than Shwe.
The Irrawaddy reports that soldiers arrested eight Burmese journalists Monday night for trying to cover the disaster in Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy delta. The soldiers arrested the journalists at their hotel and interrogated them all night. They released them the following morning, but only after the reporters signed an agreement that they wouldn’t return to cyclone-affected areas without permission.
A source in Rangoon also told the Irrawaddy that the junta has stepped up its strict censorship policies.
Only positive stories are allowed. Photos about refugees, victims and children are always rejected..The censorship board will only allow propaganda stories and photos, such as reconstruction projects, to be published.
The censorship has led to the growth of “cyclone DVDs,” which show images of dead bodies and destroyed villages – scenes the government has tried to control.
This is reminiscent of last fall when the junta tried to control news on the nation-wide protests and subsequent military crackdown on democracy demonstrators. Then people also responded to the censorship by producing illegal DVDs featuring the protests and ones showing monks – symbols of resistance – giving sermons.
The difference between last fall and now is that this time there are 2.5 million people in need of food, water, housing and medicine. Thousands of corpses remain in the delta water. Save the Children warns that thousands of children could starve to death in the next two to three weeks if they don’t receive aid. People in Western Burma were safe from the cyclone but now struggle to pay for basic food that has tripled in price because the storm destroyed rice fields and killed livestock and farmers.
The junta should be coordinating aid and relief, not arresting beggars or looking for sneaky reporters.