© Gurumurthy Kalyanaram (2007)
Gurumurthy Kalyanaram is a management consultant and a professor. He can be reached at gurumurthy.kalyanaram@gmail.com.
The situation in Myanmar is incredibly tragic. The devastation caused by the cyclone is monumental but the paranoia of the military junta is breathtaking. The world has let a paranoid military junta run the country without any compunctions or any fear of reprisal from outside world. We are not talking of a moralist society, we are just talking of some very basic human values.
Why has the military junta gotten away with such crassness? Simply because most nations just don't know or care about what happens in Myanmar -- not dissimilar to the situation in Darfur. And a few nations that may care are keeping their distance for their own interest -- there is nothing wrong this, it is just pragmatic. So a combination of indifference (because Myanmar does not provide any material or strategic or military benefits) and pragmatism has left the military junta in Myanmar wreck havoc to the society.
For United States, Russia or European countries, Myanmar offers precious little -- no great mineral sources or strategic value. One country that ought to have a serious interest -- based on history, geography and strategic value -- is India. However, since China considers Myanmar to be under its protection and tutelage India has quietly avoided confronting the regime. There is little political gain for India in a confrontation with China, and that is understandable.
In a farcical display of populism, the military junta has placed the new constitution -- with not anything new to gloat about -- for a referendum. The junta is asking the voters to approve of the new constitution in a vote just a week after tens of thousands have been wiped out by the act of nature (cyclone) and the callousness of the military junta.
What a tragedy! The tragedies such those in Darfur and Myanmar are a blot on all of us. Myanmar does not have to become a pluralistic tolerant society -- just simply shed its such shameful paranoia. Can the world -- including China -- not make this happen? India should make a more concerted (behind-the-scenes) efforts to help assuage the tragic situation. If not India, who else? If not now, when else? It is time for India to expend some of its political goodwill with China, and help coordinate the relief efforts.
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