The Editorial

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The Times of India: Malaise in Myanmar
The US begins to talk though
June 2
By A S Abraham
The arrest of hundreds of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters on the eve of
celebrating the 7th anniversary of her National League for Democracy's
coming to power in the last elections and in the face of stiff American
opposition is a piece of  false bravado that the State Law and restoration
Council (SLORC) could  indulge in only at great cost to Myanmar stability.
America has, of course, done the right things by banning new investment in
Myanmar. SLORC has been conducting a repressive campaign against those of
its citizens, actually representing the majority, who openly favour and
strive for restorating democracy.
 
It's authoritarian wrath its reserve especially for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi
who it continues, in the face of international criticism, to keep as a
prisoner confine to her home in the capital Yangon and to harass her and
her supporters watching their every movement and swooping down on them
with sickening regularity.
 
Ever since Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, won a massive
victory in the first free elections held in the country since 1962, on the
army under Gen. Ne Win first grabbed power, the junta has denied it the
office that belong to it by virtue of that result. Instead, it has gone on
the offensive against the NLD by making out that Ms. Suu Kyi and her
followers are traitorous "Anti-nationals" in the pay of foreigners. 
 
In addition, Myanmar has been charged by western human rights groups with
a number of crimes ranging from the use of forced-labour to turning a
blind-eye to, if not actually encouraging, the passage of drug notably
heroin, to the west.
 
Many friends
Myanmar has won many friends internationally despite its unsavory record
at home. In China, South Korea and Japan, and through out South East Asia,
which resents western interference, Myanmar has many business partners.
They are, in fact, the biggest, discounting the American firm, Unocol,
which is helping to build gas-pip-line and which had invested before the
April 22 US ban. China sells the Myanmarese army guns. The Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plans to make Myanmar a full member in
July on ASEAN celebrates its 30th anniversary.
 
Most of these countries, except for Japan and perhaps South Korea, are
hardly example of vigorous democracies at work. They do not, however, feel
that what they choose to describe as "Asian values" should be replaced by
values, of which democracy is a lynchpin, imposed by a supposedly
culturally and morally superior west. 
 
They prefer to adopt a policy of "Constructive Engagement" towards their
fellows Asians, such as the Myanmarese, whatever their political system,
in the belief that interacting with them will inevitably promote the Asian
brand of collective goods. Democracy and liberalism, as conceived and
practised by the west, are too individualistic and self-oriented to apply
to societies which they hold are vastly different because they seek to
harmonize the common as well as the personal good.
 
American Ban
These Asian countries can be counted on to oppose the American ban as too
radical. Where those who regard the US action sympathetically can fault
America is in the selective use of sanction and the discriminatory
application of the standard of human rights. 
 
By posing as the moral standard bearer for the whole world, the US, and to
a large extent, the west generally, are obliged to apply the same
yardstick to whatever country under whatever system. The US led west can
not judge Bosnia differently from China and Myanmar differently from Cuba
or Iran. Indeed, it can make no distinction even it comes to human rights
violation, and there are many, as far as judging the US itself or Britain
or Germany goes. 
 
Unfortunately for all the posturing and rhetoric of the west, especially
the US, on the human rights, the fact is that it is just another tool of
foreign policy to be persued vigorously on it suits the west and to be
ignored or toned down on it works against western interests.
 
The US has been and is harsh on China in theory for violating human rights
in Tibet, Sinkiang (where Chinese Muslims are restive) and in matters like
the extensive use of child-labour. At the same time, it knows that China
is not a small-time player like Myanmar. It can and does hit back hard at
American and western interests. So American continue to breathe fire
against China  while softening its stance on Tibet and other issues of
friction. The US also goes on giving China most-favored nation status
annually in practise. 
 
Recently, it as taken to berating China in anticipation of the return of
Hong Kong to the Chinese at the beginning of July. It has been issuing
warning that if China does not remain true to its word and prevents Hong
Kong from developing in keeping with the one country-two-systems policy,
it will incur American and western disapproval. It remains to be seen
whether the US will be more than just a paper-tiger, assuming that the
Chinese have a hidden agenda, top be revealed only after July 1, for Hong
Kong.
 
The US's European partners, particularly the French do not always see
eye-to-eye with the Americans on Human rights questions, in fact on many
things. On Myanmar, for instance, they have not yet banned fresh
investments, but they have agreed to extend sanction by the further six
months. However, they also presumptuously set themselves up as an example
for the rest of the world on human rights, as on nearly everything else,
to emulate. 
 
Urge for Democracy
There is no gainsaying that Myanmar must end the repression it has let
loose against those who are fighting to restore democracy. The longer it
perpetrates and defends such practices, the more isolated it will get and
the more intolerable things will become inside the country. The bravado
which the junta displays, with the help of its friends, does not mean that
it can go on forever suppressing the urge for democracy which the people
nourish, as they clearly showed in 1990. 
 
Gen. Khin Nyunt, a senior member of the junta, has rejected any
possibility of change in Myanmar in view of the US ban. "We have decided
we will not stray from our cause," he says defiantly. That may turn out to
be a very shot sighted policy. The American action, welcomed by Ms. Suu
Kyi, is, no doubt, motivated if only because, unlike China, it will hurt
Myanmar much more than it will the US, since America, which is Myanmar's
fourth largest foreign investor, can put its money else where. But it does
turn the spotlight on an intransigent junta which refuses to read the
writing on the wall.