Deranged dictatorship

North Korea’s premier Kim Jong-Il’s sudden demise has thrown the country into a tizzy. Rumours suggesting it might be an assassination cover up are doing the rounds. There must be some evidence that buttresses the conspiracy hypothesis. Suspicion mounts when one considers that Kim Jong-Il was in a healthy physical state even in August when he took his famous personal train to Russia. Further, why did North Korea’s media took two days to announce his death? A section of South Korea’s media has speculated a possible assassination plot that was behind Kim Jong’s demise.

Jong-Il's sudden death did not allow affirmation of the authority of his successor, Kim Jong-Un. Young Kim is a political tyro and a number of senior family members are in vital and powerful positions. At present, in addition to Kim Jong-Un, his uncle, aunt and a senior general named Ri Yong Ho are dominating the power equation. Such a cartel generally leads to internal power struggle which cannot be ruled out in this case too.

Interestingly, it has come at a time when most of the major dictators of the world are nearing their ends or have already been eliminated – Gaddafi has died, Hugo Chavez is fighting cancer, and Fidel Castro is frail.

Such a grim state of dictatorship around the world has perhaps prompted the North Korean authorities to impose some absurd laws like banning the use of cell phones and restricting the use of Internet! The North Korean authorities have virtually cut-off the common people from the rest of the world in a bid to keep them unaware of the anti-government protests that have recently erupted in a number of countries in Middle East, lest they should get influenced by the fall of dictators in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya.

Cell phone use is prohibited for the 100 days mourning period as there is a possibility of behind-the-scenes rift between Kim Jong-Un and his uncle Jang Song Thaek. The North Korean authorities are extremely serious about this enactment as defiance can lead to treating them as war criminals.

This law is akin to some other absurd laws imposed upon the common people in some dictatorial nations across the world. Cuba is notorious for its repressive laws that are ridiculous too. According to one such law,  authorities can deem a person "dangerous" – one who has proclivity to commit crimes – and can imprison him for upto four years even though the person has not committed any crimes at all!

In Swaziland, its authoritarian king has passed several bizarre laws to extend his control over the people. He tried to establish a patriarchal society where voices of women would be stifled, so much so that women are not allowed to wear men’s clothing like pants. On doing so, such clothing would be ripped apart and the woman would be humiliated by the soldiers. Similarly, Joseph Stalin of Soviet Union enacted a law in certain areas of the country where young boys were required to have Stalin as their middle name. Dictators can really go crazy at times.