Myanmar’s ‘flood census’ brings back memories of ‘Nargis constitution’

Sixteen years after one of the most notorious episodes in Myanmar’s modern history, the country’s military rulers are once again prioritising their political agenda over the lives of citizens devastated by natural disaster. As hundreds of thousands continue to reel from the impact of severe floods earlier this month, the junta is moving forward with plans to launch a controversial census aimed at preparing for elections next year. Slated to begin on October 1, the census will be the first in a decade. Unlike the one conducted in 2014, however, it will be carried out entirely by the regime, without any international assistance. As the two-week census period approaches, junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has ordered the closure of camps set up to assist flooding victims, forcing them to return to their homes so they can participate in the census. Many, however, have little or nothing to return to. Nationwide, the floods affected nearly 890,000 people and killed more than 300 in 65 townships across 10 states and regions, according to a September 20 report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “It is completely wrong to go ahead with this census while people are facing so many hardships,” said a flood relief worker from Tatkon Township in the Naypyitaw Union Territory, where dozens lost their lives due to the flooding from the remnants of Typhoon Yagi, which reached Myanmar on September 9. “Many people have lost family members. It’s extremely cruel to ask them to report their assets for a census when so many are now homeless,” the relief worker added. A woman in Pyinmana Township, also in the Naypyitaw Union Territory, told Myanmar Now that three of her relatives died in the flooding, which also destroyed her home. “There is nothing left of our lives now. We have no home to return to, no possessions. We’re afraid to go back—we’re not ready to see what’s happened to our house,” she said. Naypyitaw, despite being the junta’s capital, was one of the hardest-hit areas. A teacher living in the city said that many of his colleagues have suffered significant losses, and yet are still expected to carry out the census for the regime. “They don’t care about what people are going through. Even during Cyclone Nargis in 2008, they just did as they pleased,” he said. Cyclone Nargis struck the Ayeyarwady delta region on May 3, 2008, just a week before the regime then in power staged a rigged referendum on a constitution that it spent nearly two decades drafting. Nearly 140,000 people died and millions were left homeless. That constitution—dubbed the “Nargis constitution” by junta critics—paved the way for elections two years later, followed by a decade of quasi-civilian rule that ended when the current regime seized power in February 2021. Like the referendum, few believe that the upcoming census will deliver any meaningful results. In addition to those displaced by the floods, millions more have fled ongoing fighting around the country between the regime and its opponents. “The 2008 Constitution was approved by over 90 percent of voters in the aftermath of Nargis, according to the junta. The census will likely be the same—it will produce whatever results the regime wants to see,” said a resident of Naypyitaw.

Myanmar’s ‘flood census’ brings back memories of ‘Nargis constitution’

The junta is ignoring the impact of floods on people’s lives and pushing ahead with its political agenda—just as an earlier regime did a decade and a half ago

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