• 
• 

The US did not give Thailand even a single dollar in its time of need. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was very cautious in bailing out Thailand. But it eventually acted in concert with other friendly countries to lend Thailand a support package, including $4 billion from its own pocket.

It was a very humiliating situation for Thailand, which learnt a hard lesson that it must never pursue a bad macroeconomic policy again.

Now Burma is facing the daunting task of rehabilitating the country after the catastrophic cyclone that left at least 78,000 people dead and another 56,000 unaccounted for.

In financial terms, the damages are similar to those incurred by Thailand in the 1997 crisis. The irony is that instead of reaching out for the international community to help it, the Burmese generals are playing games.

The junta has blocked international aid workers from getting into the country, although these workers are anxious to help evaluate the damage and take part in the relief efforts.

Japan led the pack of neighbouring countries that provided Thailand with a bailout fund, which reached $16.7 billion during the initial stage of negotiations in August 1997.

Lining up behind Japan were China, which offered $1 billion; Hong Kong, $1 billion; Singapore, $1 billion; Malaysia, $1 billion; Indonesia, $500 million and South Korea $500 million.

Australia's geopolitical interests made it impossible for it to stay out, so it decided to match others in the region by pitching in $1 billion. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank put forward $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion respectively to participate in the largest bailout fund since that of the Mexican peso crisis in 1992.

Yet this package came with a bitter pill to swallow. Thailand had to follow conditions for financial and economic restructuring set forth by the IMF that were mostly painful.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win has reportedly said his country needs $11.7 billion in fresh funds to rebuild the country, including more than 100,000 housing units for the homeless. Rangoon has been trying to impose conditions on donor countries rather than the other way around.

Asean said, "Wait a minute. We don't know what's going on inside your country. How can we give you aid?"

The Burmese junta has been slow to react to the disaster hurting its people. It has played games with Asean over how aid should be channelled into Burma at the expense of its people. Apparently, the Burmese junta is afraid to let the whole world know how inept it is in running the country.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that the Burmese junta had agreed to allow all aid workers into the country to help cyclone survivors. Let's hope he is right.