The Nation : Suu Kyi and others m

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The Nation 
July 30 1998
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Suu Kyi and others must be firm
BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN 

SOMETHING very extraordinary is happening at the international front
concerning Burma. 

For the first time, the seven most powerful countries have put joint
pressure on Burma, urging the military leaders to enter into a dialogue
with the opposition groups headed by Nobel Peace Prize Lureate Aung Sann
Suu. They have also urged the Burmese junta to allow her more freedom of
movement. 

Foreign ministers from Australia, Canada, EU, Japan, New Zealand, South
Korea and the US made the points during the meeting with Burmese Foreign
Minister U Ohn Ghaw in Manila early this week. Later on, United Nations
Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson also called on the junta to respect
the human rights of all its citizens and to allow Suu Kyi to travel freely.


The US, Australia and Japan, the three most active countries in engaging
Burma, have finally started anew their collaborative effort to help end the
crisis between the military junta and Suu Kyi, who is still inside her car
for the sixth day at a military checkpoint, 40 kilometres northeast of
Rangoon. 

In the two past years, while Washington has maintained a tough position
against Burma, both Canberra and Tokyo have been adopting a ''softer''
approach towards the regime there. They hope that it would encourage the
military junta to open up and engage in a dialogue with the opposition. 

Australia last year dispatched senior diplomats to Rangoon to find ways to
persuade the junta leaders to hold talks with the opposition. So did the
Japanese. They have pledged to respond positively in terms of assistance to
any new undertaking by the regime that would positively contribute to the
national reconciliation policy. But their efforts have failed. 

Tokyo has been the most forthcoming in treating the Burmese, hoping that
its approach would bring about positive changes inside Burma. Japan, the
largest aid donor to Burma, decided to resume the official development aid
last year and is now reviewing its policy which could severe all official
aid, barring humanitarian help. 

However, the event in the past week, especially the welfare of Suu Kyi, has
already become the most important issue and indeed has become a rallying
point for the Asean dialogue partners to bridge the gap between them. It
has an immediate effect of increased solidarity among the international
community against the junta as long as the pro democracy leader is not
allowed to travel freely. The picture of her car with her trapped inside
has now been transfixed in the mind of all justice-loving people. 

Strange enough, the Burmese leaders have accused her of staging a publicity
blitz. If that is the case, the whole media attention and the international
concern will disappear if her car is not stuck at the checkpoint. The news
of her free access would improve the much-needed image of the Rangoon
leaders. 

The Burmese regime has said that there is no travelling restrictions on Suu
Kyi and she could travel anywhere. But this is the third time she was been
stopped from going to see her supporters. It has become an established
pattern of the regime's strategy to threaten her on and off. 

At the Asean Regional Forum in Manila, US State Secretary Madeleine
Albright was first to throw in the gauntlet when she attacked the Burmese
regime and subsequently called on its leaders to open talks with the
opposition. She and other foreign governments have said they hold the
Burmese military responsible for Suu Kyi's well-being. 

Derek Fatchett, the British Foreign Office minister, demanded that foreign
ambassadors in Burma should be granted immediate access to Suu Kyi. But
Rangoon has rejected all the requests. 

This is an important development because it occurs at the time when the
region is at its lowest ebb as far as economic development is concerned. At
the same time, the just-concluded Asean meeting in Manila was unable to
defend Burma and its dismal records on human rights and democracy. Worse,
Rangoon's economic difficulties are increasing from day to day. 

In its six-month review of conditions in Burma recently required by the US
law imposing sanctions against the country's military junta, the US State
Department reported that the Burmese economic situation is grim and appears
to be worsening. It added that the regime is virtually bankrupt with regard
to foreign exchange reserves. 

As a result of sanctions and the on-going financial crisis in the rest of
Asean, new investment in Burma is not forthcoming, causing it to nosedive
into a financial mire. The quality of life of the average Burmese citizen
has continued to worsen, according to the report. 

In addition, for the past one year, Asean has failed to use the so-called
peer pressure to bring about positive changes in Burma as it has been
arguing. That is not the case because in the past one year Asean has become
embroiled in their own economic quagmire and had no time to go beyond these
issues. 

For Asean, it was Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon who saved the
day. Just fresh from stepping down from the Asean chairmanship, he minced
no words in urging the Burmese people to emulate a bloodless uprising as in
the Philippines that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. He also
asked educated Burmese who studied abroabd and are currently living
overseas to return home and carry on the democratic revolution. 

Siazon's views reflected the dilemma of the Burmese peoples, Asean and the
international community. For the past eight years since the military
takeover, thousands of students have fled the country. The majority of them
are now in the industrial world and are receiving the best education. At
the same time, a little over a thousand students are now residing in
Thailand hoping that they would be able to return to their homeland one
day. 

Maybe, the stand-off this week indicates that the time has come. Both the
international community and the Burmese people have to act in concert in
standing up against a rouge regime. 



BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN 



The Nation