Most observers would characterize the military rulers in Burma as isolated, deeply paranoid and disconnected with their own people and the outside world. But few expected the junta to be so disconnected to the point of failing to appreciate the extent of the humanitarian disaster caused by Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta, causing an estimated, staggering death toll of up to 100,000 people.

The junta’s perception of reality could only be described as one lying in the perpetual twilight between fact and fiction, a state in which the sun never rises nor sets to separate truth from fiction. For the junta, facts are treated as mere obstacles to overcome and denial is the standard operating procedure. So, it is not surprising that the very junta that brutally cracked down on Buddhist monks peaceably protesting should ignore the Buddhist teaching of “right perception” in seeing the crisis before them.

A case in point: Days after the cyclone hit the Irrawaddy Delta in which the international media reported that death tolls could reach over 10,000, the Burmese state-run media continued to air regular entertainment programming as though nothing had happened. A week after the humanitarian disaster and against the urgings by the international community, the junta poured their resources on proceeding to hold a referendum on the constitution in the midst of the humanitarian crisis. Not wanting peering eyes into the state of their country by the international community, the junta insists that they can still distribute the aid to their own people as long as the aid is handed over to them. However, the military government has neither the resource (because some of the trucks were being used for the referendum process) nor the expertise to carry out such a complicated humanitarian relief operation.

Aid organizations remain hopeful that the junta will eventually see the light and permit aid workers to enter the country to do the hard work of bringing food and water, medical aid and shelter to disaster victims. As negotiations with the junta for access are in the balance most observers agree that the recent untimely denunciations of the junta by First Lady Laura Bush were not helpful. Let us hope the junta does come out of their twilight soon enough to allow the international community to provide the cyclone victims their much-needed aid.