/REPEATING/POLITICS-THAILAND: Government’s New Burma Policy Derided

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Sep 7 2001 (IPS) - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s attempt to pen a new chapter in his country’s foreign policy towards Burma is being derided by champions of democracy here.

They took the prime minister to task following the warm and effusive manner a high-ranking official from Rangoon was treated during a three-day visit, which ended here Wednesday.

For them, this visit by Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Burma’s military intelligence chief, is providing more “disturbing” clues about the turn in Thai foreign policy towards its northern neighbour – one that places greater emphasis on building warm and friendly ties than being a trenchant critic of its dismal human rights record.

“It is very disturbing. Now the military guy from Burma is being given a red carpet welcome as if he comes from a respectable government,” Thepchai Yong, group editor of the independent daily “The Nation” told IPS.

“They have been longing for this handshake, this mark of respectability from Thailand,” he added. “The generals in Rangoon will get the wrong signal from this — legitimising the military junta.”

For Sunai Phasuk, it marks a departure from the way the Burmese military junta was viewed by Thaksin’s predecessor, Chuan Leekpai. “Chuan was a trenchant critic of the military rulers in Rangoon and always raised the human rights issue,” said Sunai, a senior researcher at Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a Bangkok-based rights watchdog.

The Chuan administration’s stance towards Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) was also evident in a suspension of visits between government leaders of the two countries.

“By not going, Chuan sent a strong message to the military leaders about what he thought of their policies,” added Sunai.

Western as well as some Asian governments have put Burma at arm’s length because of its repressive policies and poor human rights record.

And althouth the military junta and opposition leader, the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have held talks on possible political reforms, many believe it is too early to say that the military government will indeed end its tyrannical rule.

By contrast, the Thaksin administration struck a cordial note with Khin Nyunt, the third senior member of the SPDC, on a range of bilateral issues that needed ironing out – like stamping out the drugs trade, illegal labour flow into Thailand from Burma and border disputes.

This level of cordiality was also evident in the treats offered to the general, including a dinner party on board a luxury river boat hosted by General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Thailand’s defence minister. On that occasion, Chavalit described Burma as Thailand’s “best friend.”

Khin Nyunt was also given an audience with Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a rare privilege, one normally given to heads of states

Signs of this shift in Thailand’s Burma policy surfaced back in June, when Thaksin visited Rangoon as a demonstration of his will to improve relations with Burma. That visit came only a few months after border clashes between the troops of the two countries.

The justification for such a visit, in fact, had emerged by March. The Thaksin administration said it was seeking “forward engagement” with Rangoon, which meant the government was prepared to seek informal ties with their Burmese counterparts.

This was different from “constructive engagement,” a term used by some South-east Asian nations to describe the way they deal with governments they want to persuade to adhere to international norms.

The path Thaksin has chosen, however, has come in for some praise, too. This week, Burma specialists here welcomed the developments that have evolved from Khin Nyunt’s visit. “I can’t say I am impressed with the visit, but I am pleased with the outcome and approach,” Pornpimol Trichot, a Burma specialist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, was quoted in the “Bangkok Post” today.

What was significant to her was an unprecedented development: “the first time the two countries had put on the table all contentious issues, like illegal labour, refugees, border disputes and border demarcation, and agreed that they were shared problems.”

“This time both sides went directly to these points,” she said, unlike before, where the Burmese leaders had refused to acknowledge such problems existed.

But such achievements do not impress a Burmese journalist, who did not want to be identified. “It doesn’t surprise me at all, the ‘good news’ coming out of this week’s talks,” he told IPS.

“Thanks to Thaksin’s foreign policy, the rulers in Burma will feel that the relationship between the two countries is friendly and normal again. It will help them claim legitimacy in the international community after being ostracised and treated like a pariah,” he explained.

And the irony of this was not lost on Sunai, the FORUM-ASIA researcher. “Thaksin is an elected leader and one who won with the biggest majority in a Thai election. But he is ignoring his democratic credentials to flirt with an oppressive regime.”

Furthermore, this policy is also undermining Thailand’s reputation as a vibrant democracy in the region, he added. “It says we don’t care much about the plight of people who lack rights and don’t enjoy democracy. Or they are secondary matters.”