Burma's (Myanmar's) elite help with aid

Business leaders, some under US sanction, are delivering relief supplies.

from the June 10, 2008 edition

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"I feel absolutely comfortable with our relationship with him," says Mr. Kirkwood, adding that, before accepting Pun's offer to help, the aid agency conducted a background check and concluded there was no reason to refuse.

"He's got boats and people and warehouses, and we've got lots of aid to deliver, and together we can get stuff to people who need it," Kirkwood continues.

Pun, who is pioneering private healthcare in Burma, flew back to the country on May 11 and converted his companies' executives, as well as doctors at Pun Hlaing hospital, into volunteer aid workers.

After some quick training on how to handle emergencies and trauma, 12 doctors and a team of nurses and support staff headed deep into the delta.

They endured seven-hour boat rides amid stormy currents and rain, says Joseph Lopez, chief operating officer at Pun Hlaing hospital.

Corporate efforts: good, not enough

International aid workers and Western diplomats are quick to praise the heroic response of private groups and individuals in Burma to the disaster.

But Western diplomats say this shouldn't distract from the regime's continued obstruction of foreign aid and equipment and refusal to allow many foreign experts into the disaster zone.

"There no doubt they [the business groups] are helping people get access to aid and medicine, says a Western diplomat.

"But rather than rely on local businesspeople with no aid experience, it makes more sense for experts to be allowed to mobilize properly," the diplomat continues.

Last Wednesday, a prominent entertainer and political activist known as Zarganar, who had led private relief operations in the Delta, was arrested at his home in Rangoon.

His detention may be linked to his background and his speaking out critically against the government to foreign media, says Win Min, an exiled Burmese professor in Chiang Mai, Thailand, adding that it sends a worrying signal to other private groups.

"If Zarganar can be arrested, anyone can be arrested if the government is angered by what you're doing" in the delta, says Win Min.

Media reports have carried accounts of Burmese being prevented from driving to the delta with aid supplies and of private trucks being seized by police and soldiers.

• Simon Montlake contributed reporting from Bangkok, Thailand.

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