BURMA'S junta announced yesterday that its new, pro-military constitution has won overwhelming support in a referendum held while the country was reeling from a devastating cyclone that may have killed up to 128,000 people.
State radio said 92.4 per cent of the 22 million eligible voters approved the constitution and gave voter turn-out as more than 99 per cent. Voting was postponed until 24 May in the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon areas, both battered by Cyclone Nargis
. But state radio said results there could not mathematically reverse the approval.
Human rights groups have dismissed the vote, which was held on 9 May, as a sham because, in a country ruled by the feared military since 1962, few would have dared reject the constitution. The voting was also marred by widespread complaints of intimidation and rigging.
The junta says the new constitution will lead to a general election in 2010. But it guarantees 25 per cent of parliamentary seats to the military and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in an emergency.
"They (the generals] don't even care about dying people, you think they care about democracy for living people? I don't care about the referendum. It doesn't mean anything," said a food store owner in Rangoon, whose name The Scotsman is withholding.
Burma's government says 38,491 people are known to be dead and 27,838 missing after the 2-3 May cyclone. But the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated the death toll at between 68,833 and 127,990 people.
But a spokesman stressed the figures were only estimates, to give Red Cross donors and partner organisations an idea of the numbers being discussed within the aid community. The United Nations says more than 100,000 may have died.
The UN and the Red Cross say between 1.6 and 2.5 million people are in urgent need of food, water and shelter. Only 270,000 have been reached by the aid groups.
The Hawaii-based Centre for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance said seven UN agencies, more than 60 non-governmental organisations and about 45 nations or regional blocs are directly or indirectly involved in the aid operation.
But the junta has issued only a few visas to their staff, and the few allowed into the country have been forbidden to leave Rangoon. Police have turned back foreigners from checkpoints at city exits.
"There is a visible fence around Rangoon that we don't dare cross," said Tim Costelloe, of the aid group World Vision.
He said the group has delivered aid to 100,000 people in spite of the "narrow parameters". But there were tens of thousands more who had not received help because of heavy rain and lack of helicopters and expert staff.
The regime insists it can handle the disaster on its own – a stance that appears to stem not from its abilities but its deep suspicion of most foreigners, who have frequently criticised its human rights abuses and crackdown on democracy activists.
In a clear sign that politics is playing a role, the junta granted access to 160 relief staff from India, China, Bangladesh and Thailand, which have rarely criticised Burma's rulers.
With professional aid workers in short supply, ordinary citizens – including businessmen, housewives, monks, Christian priests and students – have rushed in to provide help.
But even Burmese citizens are being restricted by the security forces, said a medical student who visited hard-hit Bogaley town on Wednesday. "They (the military] don't want us to stay and talk to people. They want us to leave the supplies with them for distribution," she said.
"But how can I treat them if I can't talk to them? How do we administer medical care if we can't touch them, feel their pulse or give them advice?"
The full article contains 654 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
