MYANMAR AND ASEAN

[aungsan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

This article is excerpted from Aging leaders, politic and 
torture by Harvey Stockwin, in Hong Kong, comment on the 
recent political developments in South-East Asia.
 
Myanmar and ASEAN
The Times of India, 25/8/96.
 
The government of Myanmar, better known as State Law and 
Order Restoration Council (SLORC), has lost no time 
providing the obvious: that the ASEAN policy of 
"constructive engagement" is neither constructive nor a 
meaningful engagement.
 
Rather than moderating SLORC policies and assisting in the 
development of a more democratic Myanmar, "constructive 
engagement" has merely strengthened SLORC's political 
hardliners. So, within weeks of becoming a full member of 
ASEAN, the SLORC has set about the task of further internal 
repression with gusto.
 
The SLORC started repression when it refused to accept the 
result of the elections organised by SLORC has been trying to 
harass and eliminate the clear winners of that election, the 
National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu 
Kyi.
 
Eleven NLD members have been given seven-year prison 
sentences. At least five of them, including Suu Kyi's aide Win 
Htein, have been imprisoned for daring to state that the 
nation's harvest was not good as the SLORC claimed. The 
fact that they took videos of barren fields was also held 
against them. Foreign sources claim that 19 more NLD 
activists have been detained.
 
The policy of Myanmar's rulers is to isolate Suu Kyi, Other 
aides have also been detained. At least 30 of the 260 NLD 
leaders picked up before recent NLD meeting have not been 
released. Many of those released have had to renounce their 
NLD membership first.
 
The ASEAN failure to attach any conditions to Myanmar's 
regional acceptance is thus having its inevitable result. 
Tyrannies everywhere are usually adept at recognising and 
exploiting appeasement to their own advantage.
 
Surprisingly, Indian leaders have also decided to keep quiet 
about the latest crackdown. The only nation making a few 
distant protests remains the US.