press conference

i was at this ASEAN press conference today for the myanmar situation and what ASEAN's going to do about the nargis situation and the impasse that the junta's been putting up – suffice to say, there was a lot of waiting.

the conference was scheduled to begin at 3:15pm but the media were to register at 2:00pm. thus we waited. till 4:30pm.

it was only then that the ministers of ASEAN arrived in full. many burning questions were unanswered by the ASEAN committee, though these things are for sure:

1) ASEAN (ministereal level) is coming up with a mechanism to handle aid and quickly and efficiently distribute aid to affected areas.
2) myanmar's very first step in rectifying the situation is to accept medical personnel from ASEAN into affected regions to dispense medical assistance.
3) foreign aid will only be accepted under the condition that it will not be politicised.
4) how the mechanism works or what it is, has not been established yet, but they are going to talk about it. in fact, surin (ASEAN secretariat) will be headed over to myanmar to get the ball rolling in the next two days.


perhaps the perceived avoidance of the burning questions are practical, though it can be seen as a shielding of myanmar and therefore raise more questions and eyebrows. questions like, "is the junta going to get away with leaving so many people to die while aid waits outside of its doors?"

ASEAN almost kicked myanmar out, but did not, having been persuaded otherwise by an internal member. perhaps it did not understand why myanmar's this touchy about certain situations initially, that maybe it was afraid of political strings attached to the aid that hovers right before its nose.

dangerous, i'd agree; and equally dangerous to do nothing while your own people die and the world watches on with you. perhaps that was why myanmar hesitated for some time, not quite knowing what to do about the disaster with the poll in tow. it's easy to make murderers out of the junta, regardless of whether they are or are not, if they meant to or otherwise.

personally i think there must be sufficient reason that ultimately ASEAN did not haul myanmar's butt out the door. for today it was with a united front that ASEAN spoke, though i foresee that myanmar will continue to draw sharp questions from the media. to answer them truthfully may spell myanmar's own admission to its fear of being seen as weak, or that the junta is indeed well, militant, to say the least. or both.

it can avoid questions, saying that they need to look forward and the issue here is to save the people and report on the current developments instead of pursuing the past while they come up with palatable reason as to why the delay during such a time and situation. perhaps, perhaps. then again, that's my take.


well, now that they've thrashed it out on the ASEAN table, let's hope this works out better quickly, that people won't have to die slow diahorrheac deaths. here's praying the "mechanism" gets worked out quick (hopefully even faster with indonesia's input) and that it will quickly get implemented.