Try to Promote Dialogue in Burma

[chan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Try to Promote Dialogue in Burma
Paris, Tuesday, July 27, 1999

By David I. Steinberg International Herald Tribune

WASHINGTON - Nowhere else in the world does the use of a
country's name so indelibly send polarized signals. Using ''Burma''
favors the opposition, using ''Myanmar'' favors the military
government. But the name issue also reflects deeper, continuing
political problems.

This week foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian
Nations are meeting in Singapore with their counterparts from the
United States, China, Japan and other countries that have close
ties with ASEAN. Burma/Myanmar should be an issue of major
concern.

>From a backwater of little interest, Burma has become a regional
problem. It is the troublesome source to its neighbors of refugees,
illegal labor migration and narcotics. A growing Chinese influence in
Burma has potential security implications for the region. Political
paralysis prevents resolution of these issues.

Last month brought the 10th anniversary of the house arrest of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released some time ago by the
military rulers after six years in prison but is still subject to close
official surveillance and restricted contacts.

Last month also brought the anniversary of Martyrs' Day, the
commemoration of the 1947 assassination of her father, Aung San,
and the incipient cabinet of the country that was to become
independent on Jan. 4, 1948. 

This juxtaposition symbolizes much of what has stultified political
development in Burma.

General Aung San, the father of independence, was killed in a hail of
bullets by a disgruntled rival politician. His memory and heritage
strongly affect Burmese society today.

He was extolled as the George Washington of Burma until a decade
ago. Quotations from his writings and speeches, carefully selected
to enhance whatever point the military rulers wanted to make, were
constantly reiterated in the controlled media. 

Today his pictures and quotations are gone. Even the
commemoration of Martyrs' Day has been subdued.

The reasons are obvious - the rise in popularity of his 
strong-willed daughter. The military junta has played down his role
as she has played up the connection. 
The Burmese do not have surnames; each person has his or her
own individual name. But Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has prefixed her
father's name to hers to make obvious the relationship and to

project the aura of someone who has become almost mythic in
Burmese history.

To the chagrin of the military, this has been eminently successful.
The junta claims that elements of British intelligence were behind
General Aung San's assassination. Since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was
married to an Englishman, Michael Aris, who died in March, the link
is stressed.

The military propaganda machine charges that foreigners have
attempted to destroy the country's unity by the murder of General
Aung San, and diluted the race by the marriage of his daughter to a
native of Britain, the former colonial power.

It is unclear how far this effort has influenced the public. What is
painfully obvious, however, is that the stalemate between the
opposition and the military junta continues and somehow needs to
be broken. ASEAN and its partners have a role here. They should
use their influence to encourage dialogue in Burma. 

Otherwise the country's potentially rich but disastrously poor
economy will worsen. Inflation and cuts in government spending will
increase, and foreign investment will dry up altogether. 

Political frustration is already evident. Many influential Burmese are
calling for a plague on all parties. Human rights continue to be
grossly ignored and the media stifled.

The junta is evidently determined that it will continue to hold the
key levers of power, either openly, as today, or under a civilianized
administration, whatever cosmetic dialogue with the opposition may
eventually take place.

Political stasis thus continues, while the cauldron of potential unrest
and instability bubbles. In effect it is Burmese of all ethnic groups
who are now the martyrs.

The writer, director of Asian studies at Georgetown University,
contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune