POLITICS: Burma Just Not Worth It, Scream South-east Asian Press

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Apr 14 2005 (IPS) - While South-east Asian governments give mixed messages about the fate of regional member Burma, there is little confusion about where leading sections of the region’s press stand with regard to the debate about that military-ruled country.

The just concluded meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), in the Philippines, triggered an unequivocal view in the region’s newspapers that conveyed a shared rage over Burma’s stubbornness to pursue genuine political reform.

In the Philippines, Teodoro C. Benigno wrote a column whose headline summed up the thinking at present within the editorial offices of newspapers in ASEAN’s developing democracies. It read: ”Kick out the scoundrels.”

”(ASEAN) should call a spade a spade, stop fraternizing with generals who stink worse than a rat hole, evict Burma from membership if need be and kick the scoundrels into limbo,” raged Benigno in his column published in Wednesday’s edition of ‘The Philippine Star.’

In Thailand, Saritdet Marukatat was more reflective, but clear, in his opinion about the political liability Burma had become for ASEAN. ”The real pressure is not on Burma. It is on the other ASEAN members and how they deal with the junta before they decide whether Burma deserves to succeed Malaysia as chairman (of ASEAN in 2006),” he wrote in his column in Wednesday’s ‘Bangkok Post.’

And Indonesia’s leading English language daily remarked in a commentary on Tuesday that Burma’s military regime should not be given the license to destroy ASEAN’s image in order to perpetuate its dictatorship at home..

”If abuse persists despite soft reminders, then tough words should be used,” a commentary in ‘The Jakarta Post’ noted. ”If (Burma) wishes to continue its belligerence then it should do so on its own terms, by itself. It should not continue to taint the good name of ASEAN and its members’ relationships with respective dialog partners.”

The debate over Burma chairing the 10-member South-east Asian grouping in 2006 has gained in intensity over the recent months. That largely stems from legislators in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore demonstrating unprecedented solidarity to prevent such an eventuality.

This regional coalition of parliamentarians and senators are also pressing for political reform in Myanmar, the other name the junta has given for Burma. Such reform includes freedom for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, currently under detention.

That some of the region’s governments feel sympathetic to such a campaign came out in the run-up to and during the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting over the weekend in Cebu, the Philippines.

Among them is the administration of Filipino President Gloria Arroyo.

”Of all the ministers, I understand, Philippine foreign affairs secretary Alberto Romulo has taken the strongest stand against Burma, and well he should,” wrote columnist Benigno.

Singapore, one of the leading foreign investors in Burma, had expressed its displeasure about the military junta ahead of the weekend’s meeting. However, the city-state’s foreign minister, George Yeo, opted for the safety of fence-sitting over the weekend by declaring that ASEAN should not pressure Burma over its internal affairs.

”We reaffirmed that Asean cannot interfere in the domestic affairs of Myanmar. Indeed, whatever steps Myanmar decides to take, it will be the Myanmars themselves who will bear the consequences, be they good or bad,” Yeo was quoted in Singapore’s pro-government ‘The Straits Times’ newspaper.

ASEAN’s communist-ruled twins, Laos and Vietnam, and Cambodia, under the thumb of autocratic Prime Minister Hun Sen, are also averse to such interference, which is a principle long held sacred by the regional grouping.

This troika is also against Rangoon being deprived of the ASEAN chairmanship on the grounds of human rights violations, since it would create a precedent.

Having listened to the concerns, Burmese Foreign Minister U Nyan Win told reporters that Rangoon will decide its political fate, since ”we are an independent country.”

He used the weekend’s meeting to project a defiant stance, asserting that Rangoon will not heed to the pressures being imposed by the U.S. government and the European Union (EU) to deny Burma the chairmanship of ASEAN.

ASEAN’s 10 members are Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The chairmanship of the group changes every year, with Laos currently in the chair, to be followed by Malaysia.

The United States and the EU, both of whom have imposed sanctions on Burma, have threatened to minimise contact with ASEAN if the junta takes the helm in 2006, a fact that could affect the region’s collective economy.

But Burma appears to be in no hurry to push for political reform. This was evident when Rangoon decided to suspend discussions at the National Convention, the body hailed by the junta as the one appointed to shape political reform. The reason given for this abrupt halt at the beginning of April was the weather.

The current debate in the region over Burma’s suitability as the ASEAN chair is due to emerge more passionately when ASEAN foreign ministers meet in July in Laos, when Malaysia begins its term as the region’s leader.

Burma cannot ignore the rising political temperature in the region, warns ‘The Jakarta Post’ commentary. ”(ASEAN) should also carefully consider which causes are worth fighting for. Myanmar, simply put, is not worth it!”