the making of another myanmar

Indeed, Myanmar is a land of devastation literally and figuratively. The world has recognized one of its citizens as an icon of global peace, and yet she is in house arrest, virtually paralyzed in promoting the gains of her advocacy. Then, as if the frustration of the people over the military junta wielding a national cloak of terror is not enough, it suffers yet another blow with the natural disaster of a cyclone that caused the loss of lives and property. It will take a longer time than imagined when the country may reconstruct itself again.
The scenario is not too far from the Philippine picture owing to the natural calamities wreaking havoc year after another disastrous year. For the more superstitious Catholics among us, these catastrophes are divine wraths that we anguish from because of our spiritual wickedness. But surely the more modern of us will argue that these phenomena of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and the like present opportunities for us to explore in order to advance scientifically. Whether traditional or modern, every one of us must be wary that these disasters may further be exacerbated when the government finally succumbs to the susceptibility of turning into another martial Burma. Given the corruptive and exploitative nature of political power, the unceasing insurgency throughout the country, external pressures like global product crisis and neoimperialism, and the seeming orchestrated destabilization plots against the administration, we may find our plight being aggravated by the ominous reality of emergency rule. Should the country become another Myanmar, the country will suffer anew in political anachronism in which the people have endured Marcos’ horrifying regime, and then another regime is taking root in the current administration. It is baffling which is more preferable between that destruction and that brought by nature.