Friday, July 27, 2007

Who encourages the Burmese junta to violate human rights?


Date : 2004-06-30
Asian Tribune
By Zin Linn

Most people in Rangoon have applauded the European Union's clear-cut decision on principle towards the ASEAN that determined the fate of the military controlled Government of Burma. Burmese people feel dissatisfied with the ASEAN's lopsided engagement policy as furthering the military regime rather than a fair deal. Moreover, the ASEAN leaders stand for their own interests and neglect the democratic principles.

Two scheduled meetings between EU and Asian finance ministers in the coming months have been cancelled amid EU’s objections to the participation in the Talks the military ruled Burma for the junta’s repeated human rights violations. The decision to cancel the talks has caused acrimony between the EU and the ASEAN that make up the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Malaysia is criticizing the European Union for canceling meetings with Asian economic and finance ministers because of the inclusion of Burma’s military junta, calling the decision ‘counter-productive’. "Just because they are dissatisfied with one country, it should not cause a meeting to be abandoned or canceled, that sort of thing is not very productive," Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Seri Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

He also said that Malaysia believed in its policy of "constructive engagement" with Burma as a measure that would be more successful in promoting democratic reform in the country than any harsher stance.

But it's a pity that the ASEAN countries including Malaysia cannot read the inner mind of the Burmese senior general, who never consider of political reform but to maintain a status quo.

If ASEAN possessed a genuine reasoning power, it would clearly know the reality that a 15-year period was more than enough to carry out reforms. Instead, Burmese military regime is repeatedly claiming towards the emergence of a disciplined-flourishing democratic nation or military-controlled country through its 7-stage road map which foes not receive any popular support. That obviously means military manipulated convention will be held by fair or foul means.

The ongoing the ‘name-sake’ national convention, which was the first step of the junta's 7-stage road map, reconvened on 17 May after an 8-year lapse is a comical circus – a make-believe endeavor. The key question was when the junta failed to accommodate the major political party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, then the Burma’s second-largest pro-democracy party, Shan National League for Democracy, chose not to attend the so called national convention. The other important ethnic political parties in the United Nationalities Alliance (representing the Shan, Karen, Kachin, Chin, Arakan, Mon and Karenni ethnic groups) have also declared that in the absence of the NLD, they too will not attend.

The military regime itself has admitted in its 1/90 declaration, dated the 27th July 1990, that one of the clause stipulated in the drafting of the Constitution of the Country is the responsibility of the representatives-elect in the 1990 elections. According to 1/90, all elected representatives in the 1990 elections have the right to participate in the national convention, through which mechanism the constitution has to be drawn. But, the current junta's convention has dismissed approximately 400 members of parliament elected in 1990 General Elections and out of the 485 members of parliament, 79 had passed away as of May 17, 2004.

So, according to average Burmese people, the convention is an alienated process which is going on without either the people's approval or mandate.

The European Union has made it clear that it will exert pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to exclude the Burmese junta from the ASEM Summit in October. European Commission President Romano Prodi reiterated the European Union's call for democracy in Burma dated 22 June 2004, while explaining the cancellations of meetings with its Asian partners.

"On the European Union side, there is a principle that we work for the respect of democracy, human rights, minorities, and this is the criteria that we use for our relations with all other people," Prodi said in a joint press conference following a summit with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

In a foreign ministerial meeting earlier this month, the European Union canceled two ASEM sessions, one of finance ministers that had been scheduled for 06 July in Brussels and the other of economic ministers meeting scheduled in mid-September, in The Hague, over the inclusion of the Government of Burma's military junta.

Actually, it is the responsibility of the ASEAN which used to say applying constructive engagement it believes in taming of the rouge regime may succeed. So, Burma's current situation is proved that ASEAN has to find ways and means to get out of the miserable position. ASEAN must confess that its practice of unconditional engagement has only served encouraging the military regime to commit further acts of oppression upon its own people. In doing so, the organization itself has disempowered and weakened its own capacity. The ASEAN should take into cognizance the uncivilized nature of the Burma's junta.

If ASEAN has a good memory, it should remember what the UN has strongly urged the junta.

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other human rights instruments, the United Nations General Assembly has been urging strongly the military rulers in Burma to restore democracy and implement the results of the 1990 elections during its sixtieth session in April 2004.

The UN urges the military regime to ensure that the contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy move without delay into substantive and structured dialogue towards democratization and national reconciliation. It also urges that at an early stage the regime has to include other political leaders in these talks, including the representatives of the ethnic groups.

Moreover, the UN has repeatedly urged the Burma's regime to end the systematic violations of human rights in Burma and to ensure full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedom. The world body has also told the generals to facilitate and cooperate fully with an independent international investigation of charges of rapes and other civilian abuses carried out by members of the armed forces throughout the country.

To release unconditionally and immediately all political prisoners has become an annual usual call to the regime by the United Nations General Assembly for more than a decade.

But the rogue regime always turns a deaf ear to the voice of the United Nations.

Defying decisions made by the United Nations General Assembly, Burma's military junta continues to rule the country with a rod of iron. It is hard to understand why the ruling generals maintain such a harsh and inhumane stance that caused the country isolated from the international community. The junta should know that genuine democratic reform is the only way for Burma to gain economic recovery through international recognition.
According to people's remarks, the ASEAN is the culprit who encouraged the junta to launch the ongoing national convention unilaterally. The ASEAN backed convention is not a solution for Burma but a design to continue with the army rule in the country.

That's why majority populace of Burma welcomes the EU's decision to cancel two upcoming meetings with Asian finance and economics ministers, casting doubt on an ASEM summit scheduled for October in Vietnam. The EU has long complained about Burmese junta’s crackdown on the democratic opposition party which won landslide in 1990 General Elections but was blocked to organize a parliament by the junta.

Burmese people are very disappointed with the ASEAN of encouraging the Burmese military regime to violate human rights as well as the laws of the civilized world. Without ASEAN's support, the junta has no courage to challenge the UN's decisions. If the ASEAN does not go along with the UN's Burma decisions, the military ruled country will be changed into a regional threat that raised a lot of questions such as - drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, refugee and mass migration etc.

Burma is going to take the ASEAN chair in 2006. The ruling generals call the current constitutional forum the first step toward the democratization of Myanmar, but critics call it a "sham and farce." It is an appropriate description because any constitutional talks that exclude opposition parties, most notably the NLD and SNLD, are meaningless.

Before Burma could disgrace the ASEAN, it should be tamed and harnessed at any cost. ASEAN should reconsider the whole course on Burma and especially, it should not be an advocate of a rouge state.

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_article.php?id=1571

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