Get to play with colours
The ones who die
Pass into memory.
– Traditional fagu hymn of Mithila
With their quick, comprehensive response to the earthquake in Sichuan, the Chinese authorities have shown that they know what it takes to turn a natural calamity into an opportunity for image building. In the blink of an eye, the international press has stopped talking about the human-rights record of the Beijing regime. Ruthless suppression of dissent in Tibet has disappeared from the newspaper headlines. Instead, paeans in praise are being sung to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, as appreciative reporters send pictures of colourful tents and gloved soldiers rescuing children from the debris of shoddily constructed school buildings. The Western media seems to be saying, Trust China to hold the Olympics on schedule. The Chinese authorities did suspend the journey of the Olympics torch for a few days to mourn the dead, but Beijing now seems determined to demonstrate that the greatest show on earth must go on – as indeed it must. The living must not grieve too long for the deceased. But the gung-ho tone of the Chinese leadership distracts from the gravity of the situation in earthquake-affected areas, and from the importance of disaster preparedness.
The Chinese premier cutting his arm while tripping over the rubble of a collapsed school building, refusing immediate medical assistance, and shouting to children trapped in the debris that he was their "Grandpa Wen Jiabao", dedicated to saving their lives – such scenes make for an arresting story. But they do little to hide the fact that the president and the premier had to lead the rescue efforts themselves. The system built by the Chinese leadership is probably incapable of responding without the intervention of the highest authority – certainly a poor reflection on the governance of the world's most populous country.
In stark contrast to the coverage of devastation in China, the Burmese junta has received well-deserved flak for rejecting international assistance. It was said that the head of the Burmese military, General Than Shwe, initially refused time and again to even take the call of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN officials and representatives of other countries were "granted the permission" to visit the Irrawaddy Delta, the area most devastated by Cyclone Nargis, only after leaders of ASEAN accepted the conditions set by the Burmese regime during an emergency meeting in Singapore. But there are limits to which a country under crisis can be condemned.