Burma Related News

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military rulers held a referendum Saturday on a new constitution, ignoring worldwide pleas to pay more attention to some 2 million hungry and homeless victims of a devastating cyclone.

The junta is expected to secure a resounding "yes" vote for the charter, which critics say will perpetuate its 46-year-old hold on power.

State TV on Saturday broadcast a video of two women singing a pop-style song with the lyrics: "Let's go vote .... with sincere thoughts for happy days."

The video was apparently produced before the May 3 cyclone, but the junta has refused to alter its schedule despite the disaster that it says killed 23,335 people and left 37,019 missing.

Entire villages in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta have been submerged. International aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid even though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government also agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies on Monday, but it continued to refuse visas to foreign aid workers.

The regime's top generals distributed international aid on Saturday but tried to take credit for it by plastering their own names on the boxes, state television showed.

It repeatedly ran images of the generals _ including the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe _ handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, a rising star in the government, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."

Government spokesman Ye Htut denied it was a propaganda exercise. He said the government has set up television sets at relief camps so survivors can watch the government's efforts to provide aid.

"We also set up DVDs (for people) to listen and watch religious sermons given by revered monks. It helps storm victims morally," he said.

The junta has said it will not allow in foreign disaster experts, who have experience in dealing with a natural disaster of this magnitude _ the worst the world has seen in terms of human lives since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and 2005 earthquake in the mountains of northern Pakistan.

"Dealing with this is beyond the capacity of any government," Tim Costelloe of the aid group World Vision said in Yangon.

He said even the United States, the world's richest nation, struggled to respond to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world, can barely cope on its own, he said.

"At every level the scale of human suffering is quite horrifying," he said. Aid is only a "trickle" in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta and most people haven't received any at all, he said.

"Dead bodies are not being disposed of. Many people don't have shelter. You need to respond on multiple fronts," he said.

So far, relief workers have reached 220,000 cyclone victims, only a small fraction of the number of people affected, the Red Cross said.

The affected areas were spared the referendum exercise, which was held throughout the country except in seven of the 26 townships in the Irrawaddy delta, and 40 of 45 townships in Yangon division, the equivalent of a state. They are to vote on May 24.

But in a country where the last election was held 18 years ago, many people had little idea how to vote.

Some asked "Where do I go?" or "What do I do?" as they walked into curtained booths to cast their ballots.

The referendum seeks public approval of the new military-backed constitution, which the generals say will be followed in 2010 by general elections. Both votes are elements of what the junta calls a "roadmap to democracy."

However, the proposed constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency.

It also would bar Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained leader of the country's pro-democracy movement, from public office. The military refused to honor the results of the 1990 general elections won by her National League for Democracy party.

However, the fear of the military, which has ruled since 1962, is so great that few people are expected to mark "X" _ which stands for "no" to the constitution _ on their ballots.

Widespread rumors say the results have already been fixed to deliver an 84.6 percent vote in favor of the charter.

Altsean Burma, a regional human rights group, said authorities instructed village officials to cast "yes" votes on behalf of people who did not turn up at polling stations by 1 p.m.
Aye Aye Mar, a 36-year-old housewife, looked frightened when asked if she thought anyone would vote "no."

After her eyes darted around to see if anyone was watching, she whispered, "One vote of 'no' will not make a difference." Then she raised her voice. "I'm saying 'yes' to the constitution."

Amnesty International blasted the junta for holding the referendum at this time.

"Even as hundreds of thousands of its citizens struggle for basic shelter, food and health care, Myanmar's government has prioritized acceptance of the new constitution," the London-based group said in a statement.

It said the proposed constitution was "an effort to undermine respect for human rights and to entrench military rule and impunity."

Heavy rain forecast in the next week is certain to exacerbate the misery of the cyclone victims.

Survivors in one of the worst-affected areas, near the town of Bogalay, were among those fighting hunger, illness and wrenching loneliness.

"All my 28 family members have died," said Thein Myint, a 68-year-old fisherman who wept while describing how the cyclone swept away the rest of his family. "I am the only survivor."