Myanmar
A single glance through recent headlines should bring sobriety. There is a stark, sad contrast between our dry beds, warm homes, groceries... and the lives of Myanmar’s people as they try to survive after the disaster that began the month of May.
In the wake of all this we have seen an outbreak of rage against the ruling regime of Burma. The corruption and paranoia of this country’s rulers has resulted in only a bare token of aid offered to its citizens. Only this technically prevents us from saying that the government has done nothing to help its people.
Not only has the government failed to help its citizens, but it continues to strangle any other form of aid, both local and international. It fears that those sheltering in monasteries will be influenced against its rule and a result the monks who have been helping those affected have been told not to accept foreign aid and to clear out those who have come seeking refuge. Foreign workers are refused visas, news media sent away and international supplies and helpers kept outside Burma’s borders. The people suffer and die as their government clings to its last shreds of stability.
How appalling and inhumane, particularly when seen through our
Western eyes. We have ideals of individual rights and governments that
serve their people. Yet Myanmar is not the only country with such a
squalid bundle of politics. There are many, many other places in the
world that are not brought to the attention of our media, yet their
all-pervasive corruption makes it a wonder they function at all.
Worse, these blighted government systems are not atypical on the
world stage – countries with relative integrity such as our own are
actually an endangered species globally. The 2006 Transparency
International Corruption Perceptions Index reviews political and public
office corruption in 180 of the world’s countries, on a scale from
least to most corrupt. Of those ranked, only 48 achieve a score of 5.0
or higher, out of a possible 10. A rank of 5.0 is listed as being the
border between those nations that are problematically corrupt and those
not. This means that of those listed, barely a quarter of countries
avoid the label of problematic corruption.
Does it come as a surprise that no perfect scores were achieved in the index?
I am troubled by the hellish plight of Myanmar and its people. I am
also grateful to live in a country such as New Zealand that attempts to
care for its citizens. But I can’t honestly hold our own governmental
system in high esteem. We may have a comparatively uncorrupted
political sphere, but that isn’t much comfort when seen in light of the
countries we rank comparatively better than.
Winston Churchill once said: “Many forms of Government have been
tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends
that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that
democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms
that have been tried from time to time”. Let us support and grieve for
Myanmar. But let’s not stand and criticize the nation’s government
without bearing in mind that we stand on the unsteady political high
horse of our own.
