IID's statement on ASEAN's acceptan

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Subject: IID's statement on ASEAN's acceptance of Burma

>From Initiative for International Dialogue, via altsean@xxxxxxxxxx

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ASEAN'S ACCEPTANCE OF BURMA




    The INITIATIVES for INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE (IID) is shocked and
views with grave disdain ASEAN's acceptance of the murderous SLORC
regime of Burma as a full member.
	
    We are not at all surprised at the approvals of authoritarian
regimes in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; however, for the
Philippines to do so is not only legitimizing the violations and
suppression of rights in Burma but is an insult to our very freedoms
and liberties which we have fought and struggled for so long against
the very types of dictatorship as is now firmly entrenched in Burma.

     Once again, ASEAN is becoming more and more a haven for despots, or
"little boy's club", whereby tyrants, either emanating from the military
apparatus itself or those molded in the same mind-set, have now become
the norm in ASEAN rather than its exception. We are recently reminded
of how the administration has likewise wined and dined Peru and its
overstaying President who manipulated its own Constitution in order
to be re-elected again and again, despite its Constitutional provision
prohibiting the same.

     How General Suharto himself was re-elected foran unprecedented
sixth five year term in Indonesia with his party garnering over almost
ninety percent (90%) of the contested seats in the face of repression
and intimidation of its opposition; thus, earning the infamous credential
of being only the second longest surviving tyrant in the world.

    We are also familiar with that old refrain sung by ASEAN's foreign
ministers, mimicked by uor own Secretary of foreign Affairs Domingo
Siazon, to the effect that rather than isolate it, it is much better
to constructively engage Burma in the region in the hope that ASEAN
may be able to soften its narcisistic tendencies and influence it to
move towards democracy faster.

     What is however wrong about this policy is that it has never
worked here nor in any part of the world. In fact, in many instances
it has only resulted in worse repression and aggravated the venalities
committed against their very people. In short, stripped of its bare
essence, what this convoluted logic brings is nothing but a legitimation
of the dictatorship and a condonation of the brutal treatment of its
own populace.

     Akin that in Indonesia where the Suharto regime is continuing
its virtual genocide against the East Timorese people, the Philippine
government has become willing collaborators to the continuing bloodbath
by SLORC as surely as if we have given it the bullets to arm their
weapons of destruction.

    We are also tired of the worn-out argument that it is not for us
to criticize, and question, a sovereign government's policy, or its
violation of internationally recognized human rights for to do so is
to interfere unecessarily in the internal affairs of that particular
state. Our government however forgets that this pre-supposes that the
regime in place in Burma is legitimate to begin with.  If the barbarous
cabal in Burma could not claim to being one before, how could they
do so now or at anytime in the future?

    Less we forget, Burma conducted an election last 1990 whereby a
clear majority belonging to the National League for Democracy (NLD)
headed by Nobel Peace Prize Awardee Aung San Suu Kyi, won over eighty
percent (80%) of the contested positions in the legialative chamber
which to this very day, the SLORC has never recognized or honored.

     SLORC therefore is nothing less than a usurper of power, a despot,
and an illegitimate government. No self-respecting country, except
unfortunately in ASEAN, should therefore recognize, much less grant
it legitimacy as that of a full member of the organization come July
of this year.

    Aside from its record as a human rights violator, we are also
mindful of the role of the SLORC leadership in the international
trafficking of drugs or narcotics not only in Asia but of the world.
This lecherous group of military rulers have  become a center for
the production and transhipment of deadly drugs which have caused
untold misery and widespread suffering in the Philippines, the
United States, and numerous others.

    We also cannot comprehend why at this time the Philippines
even plays a great role in practically sponsoring Burma into the
ASEAN fold knowing that the latter is supposed to be an economic
group belonging to the non-aligned movement of the world. Everyone,
as we hope the government also realizes, knows that the Burmese
murderers are no more than patsies or puppets of their main patron,
Mainland China. Why, at this time, when China violates our territorial
integrity and provokes us to confrontation, do we allow Burma when
its entry would undoubtedly tilt the balance of the region towards it.
If we cannot get enough support from our regional partners within
ASEAN even at this contentious altercation, can we hope to do so
with the entry of its vassal?

    The above is but a portion of our response to the grave
injustice and criminal act perpetrated by our own government against
the people of Burma. While we pledge to continue supporting the
freedom loving people of Burma; we also realize that our own government,
particularly under the administration of erstwhile General Fidel V.
Ramos, has by its willing consent become themselves part and parcel
of the continuing oppression committed by SLORC against its own people.

     With the very blood of the Burmese populace on their hands,
we hope they would further reflect on the matter and have the courage
and will to reverse themselves, lest they be made to answer for the
very crimes and grave injustice perpetrated by a brutal dictatorship
sometime in the near future.

    There is still time to rectify; but we must do so NOW.


(SGD) ALEXANDER A. PADILLA
Chairperson, IID
Initiatives for International Dialogue
04  June  1997   

Telephone No:  (632) 411-5753
Fax No:        (632) 410-0998
email:         <iidmnl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>