Myanmar and the free press

The people of Myanmar can take comfort that in spite of the isolationist policy of their military junta, they will not have to deal with the devastating cyclone that tore through their country over the weekend by themselves.

Already, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has mobilized the international community to help the impoverished Southeast Asian country deal with the disaster, which according to reports on Tuesday morning, has left more than 15,000 people dead and another 30,000 missing.

The death and destruction left behind by the cyclone are simply too big for the reclusive regime to handle. Myanmar urgently needs international help. Going by the experience of similar calamities that have afflicted countries in the region, there is no reason the world would not come to the rescue.

Past experience with major natural disasters in this part of the world, however, also shows that the tragic stories of the cyclone must be told independently. This means that for Myanmar to secure all the help it needs, the regime must open up the country to international journalists.

The tsunami that brought such destruction to countries bordering the Indian Ocean in late 2004, particularly the Indonesian province of Aceh, where more than 200,000 people died, brought out the best in international solidarity.

Assistance did not only come from obvious groups like the United Nations, foreign governments and charity organizations. Ordinary citizens were moved to help the people of Aceh, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. They came from all walks of life, including prison inmates in Hong Kong and American schoolchildren donating their allowances for children in Aceh.

The assistance did not stop with the immediate need for relief supplies, but went well into the rebuilding of villages, communities and people's lives. Aceh could not have recovered without this international assistance.

Called the worst natural disaster in recorded history, the tsunami was matched by the generosity of people around the world, which was unprecedented in terms of the amount of money pledged and raised.

There was an aspect of this unlimited generosity that was rarely mentioned. The donors had the unimpeded media, Indonesian and foreign journalists, to thank for bringing the stories of the tragedy into their living rooms.

In the case of Aceh, it was more by default than by design that the media had a free hand in looking for stories that needed to be told to the world. Foreign journalists were among the first to enter Meulaboh, a town on the western coast of Aceh that was completely isolated for three days after the tsunami.

The Aceh administration was so devastated, with a third of its employees dead in the disaster, that there was virtually no or little government to speak of. Journalists arriving to cover the tsunami not only found destruction, but also challenging terrain with little transportation, power or hotel facilities, and certainly no assistance from the government.

They had to be resourceful. Not surprisingly, some of the best journalism emerged from the Aceh tsunami, carrying powerful messages for people around the world to help in whatever way they could. Free access and unimpeded reporting certainly helped.

The international response would have been vastly different had there been the usual restrictions imposed on journalists visiting Aceh, which was then still considered a zone of conflict between the Indonesian Military and Aceh separatist rebels.

The Myanmar junta sadly has banned foreign journalists, even from well-meaning neighboring countries like Indonesia, from visiting the country as part of its repressive policies. They, or rather their people, would stand to benefit from the generosity of people around the world if the regime were more open.

The world will certainly look beyond the repressive policies of the regime in lending humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. The question is, can the Myanmar junta do the same and allow unimpeded access not only to charity organizations but more particularly to international media, to help tell the tragedy to the rest of the world.

The Jakarta Post