BURMA: Malaysian Caucus Leaves Junta with Limited Choice

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Analysis - By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 9 2004 (IPS) - By expressing dissatisfaction with the slow pace of Burma’s democratic process, a group of Malaysian parliamentarians have indicated, quite blatantly, that the Burmese military regime could cause untold political damage to the international reputation of the region.

The stark message from Kuala Lumpur to Rangoon this week gives the junta little room to wriggle out of, since the Malaysian parliamentarians have faulted the Burmese regime for failing to abide by both the international and regional norms of human rights and democracy.

The parliamentarians are calling on Rangoon to ”respect ASEAN and international opinion and return to the mainstream of responsible international norms and behaviour,” declared a statement released Tuesday.

The Association of South-east Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is a 10- member grouping of countries in the region. They include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The reference to ASEAN is with reason, since Burma, which the junta has renamed Myanmar, is expected to assume the chairmanship of this regional body in 2006.

”If Myanmar has not changed by then, it could prove very embarrassing for ASEAN, because its partners in the West would not attend the ASEAN meeting,” Asda Jayanama, a former Thai diplomat who served in Burma, told IPS.

According to Sunai Phasuk, the Thai representative of the global rights lobby Human Rights Watch, the message from Malaysia amounts to an open acknowledgement that an unreformed Burma will be a ”political liability for the region.”

”ASEAN will run the risk of being branded as a collaborator of a pariah state,” he explained during an interview.

What lends weight to the Malaysian appeal is the composition of the lawmakers.

They come from both the government and the opposition ranks.

The statement was the first of many measures expected to come from these parliamentarians who formed a bi-partisan committee this week to campaign for democracy in Burma.

This appeal comes shortly after Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was reported to have told his visiting Burmese counterpart, Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, that ”the future is democracy.”

Khin Nyunt’s visit to Malaysia on Jun. 1 was the first he took to a neighbouring country since Burma’s began a heavily criticised process, called the National Convention, to draft a new constitution for the country.

This political exercise, which got under way May 17, is being bandied by the junta as a key feature towards political reform in the country. Over 1,000 delegates chosen by the military government are involved.

But the constitutional convention has been deprived of credibility from its inception, since the junta refused to revoke a law that prohibits individual delegates or political parties from criticising the convention’s format.

The regime also denies participants the freedom to conceive a constitution that is an alternative to the one drafted by the military.

The violators of law No. 5/96, which includes other harsh restrictions, could face prison terms ranging from five to 20 years.

Further, the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is boycotting the event, since its leader, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest along with other members of her party.

Suu Kyi’s arrest and the hundreds of political prisoners in Burma have not been lost on the Malaysian parliamentarians either, since they urged the junta to release all political prisoners.

Such a rebuke from Malaysia towards a regional neighbour comes almost a year after former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad lashed out at Rangoon’s oppressive policies at last July’s ASEAN summit meeting in Indonesia.

Mahathir, who was the most senior government leader of ASEAN at that time, even threatened Burma with expulsion from the regional body if it failed to release Suu Kyi, who was arrested after she and her party members were attacked by gangs linked to the junta on May 30.

”Mahathir’s criticism and the one made this week stem from the sense of moral obligation Malaysia feels to bring about change in Burma, because it was Malaysia that took the lead to invite Burma to join ASEAN,” said Asada, the Thai diplomat.

And following Burma’s entry in 1997, Mahathir took on an added role to shield the Burmese regime from criticism over its notorious human rights record. That was achieved by the Malaysian leader describing Burma’s problems as an internal affair, which foreigners should keep out of.

Thereafter, ASEAN talked of ”constructive engagement” polices and ”enhanced interaction” as ways it was pursuing to push the junta towards political reform.

Malaysia’s level of engagement acquired another characteristic following the appointment of a former Malaysian diplomat, Razali Ismail, as a special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to initiate political change in Burma.

”Burma’s military leaders have regarded their relationship with Malaysia very seriously,” Soe Aung, director of external affairs for the Network for Democracy and Development, a group made up of Burmese political exiles, told IPS.

”That was reflected in the choice of countries Khin Nyunt visited after the National Convention began,” said Soe.

”Malaysia was the first stop, then came Thailand,” he added. ”So this week’s strong message from Malaysia will be hard for the regime to ignore.”