PM Thein Sein wrong man for handling disasters?

One major disaster he faced during his tour in Shan State, they say, was the crash of the Myanmar Airways Fokker Friendship passenger plane near Tachilek on 24 August 1998 that killed all 39 on board including the pilot.
 
The disaster was “inevitable” as the pilot was trying to land amid poor visibility due to heavy fog and strong winds, according to them. “It wasn’t his fault that the plane crashed,” said a respected resident. “What he should have done was to alert the residents and organize search parties. But what the actually did was, I’m afraid, quite the opposite.”
_Photo:AP
While the military was dispatching its own search parties north and southwest of Tachilek, where the plane was believed to have disappeared, an order was issued in Tachilek that speaking about what was obviously an accident was strictly taboo.
 
Three days later, late in the evening on 27 August, three Lahu villagers turned up to report to the authorities that the wreck had been found, 6 miles east of Tachilek, near the village of Pangkaw. The three were reportedly beaten and jailed for violating the taboo. So were the headmen of the village when the authorities arrived there later.
 
“During the whole period, he was spending his time playing golf and having dinner each evening as the Regina (Hotel),” according to a civilian official. “We are therefore very much inclined to be skeptical when it comes to his current management of the Nargis survivors.”
 
According to Irrawaddy, Thein Sein is under severe stress after his suggestion that the country open up its doors to international aid personnel was rejected by Senior General Than Shwe.
 
The critics also claim Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways and Bagan Airways whose planes land regularly at Tachilek are refusing to carry relief supplies donated by its citizens, thereby forcing them to transport the goods by car to Kengtung and then by Myanmar Airways, that has been banned from landing at Tachilek since, to Rangoon.
 
“We’ve been all eyes and ears to the daily broadcasts of the news about Cyclone Nargis,” added a shopkeeper. “Nobody seems to be mentioning deaths from poisonous snakes. But we keep hearing through our phone calls that a lot of people have been killed by snake bites.”