Statement by BYVA-J

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxx]

Statement Regarding the Admission of Burma to ASEAN

by Burma Youth Volunteer Association (Japan)

July 24, 1997

Today we are protesting the decision by the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) to admit SLORC as one of its members.  We say "SLORC" rather
than "Burma" because share Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's view that ASEAN membership
will benefit only Burma's military elite and thereby increase the economic
burden on the vast majority of the country's 45 million citizens.
Furthermore, we believe that conferring ASEAN membership at this time will
give the junta a license to step up its persecution of the pro-democracy forces.

We have good reasons for our beliefs.  In the time since ASEAN announced on
May 31 its intention to admit SLORC, the military junta has shown no
inclination whatsoever to cooperate with ASEAN's aim of encouraging peace
and stability in Burma.  Among other things, it has rebuffed ASEAN's request
that it initiate talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, and it has increased
persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State, sending yet another influx
of refugees in Bangladesh.

The decision to admit SLORC is especially galling considering ASEAN's
reversal of its decision to admit Cambodia following the coup by Hun Sen.
The foreign secretary of the Philippines explained that the ASEAN countries
"would not be happy seeing the results of those elections set aside,
especially by the use of force."  Yet those same countries are embracing a
regime that came to power and annulled free elections at the cost of far
more lives than the recent Cambodian conflict.  How do the ASEAN members
explain the double standard?

Having registered our protest, we now vow to hold ASEAN to its promise to
promote democracy in Burma.  Furthermore, we support Malaysian opposition
leader Mr. Lim Kit Siang in his call to mark ASEAN's 30th anniversary with
the establishment of an ASEAN Commission of Human Rights to "ensure that
with Burma's admission, Rangoon does not set the benchmark to become the
region's lowest-common-denominator on democracy and human rights."  ASEAN
has now accepted greater responsibility for the fate of Burma.  We will make
sure they take that responsibility seriously.

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Information Committee
Burma Youth Volunteer Association ( Japan )