NO LEGITIMATION BY ASEAN (repost)

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

    BURMA'S JOINING ASEAN WOULD NOT LEGITIMISE SLORC (REPOST)
 
 
I posted an earlier version of this article a few weeks ago,
but people writing in the press or directly on the Net still
keep saying that SLORC would be legitimised by entering ASEAN.
Entry to ASEAN may possibly give the generals easier access to
funds, and since they've been working hard to get it, entry
will no doubt give them a moral boost. It will also force
ASEAN to put more pressure on them. I suppose that people are
using the term in a loose way to mean international
recognition. In the Macchiavellian world of international
diplomacy, recognition is usually accorded to the people who
control the territory (as in the newly-renamed Zaire/Congo).
Legitimacy is another thing entirely.  
 
                       ...................
 
 
     "That other countries and international organizations   
     may accord recognition to Myanmar does not imply the   
     legitimacy of the SLORC regime" (International Human   
     Rights Law Group "Post-election Myanmar: a popular     
     mandate withheld" 31 October 1990)
 
Some people, even supporters of the NLD, have said that
Burma's entry into ASEAN would somehow legitimise SLORC rule.
That's nonsense, of course. If ASEAN admits Burma, it's for
long-term strategic reasons related to ASEAN's interest in
keeping China at bay and linking up with India. It has nothing
whatsoever to do with legitimising, and very little, so far as
I can see, with economics either. (Neither Burma nor ASEAN
would derive much economic benefit from Burma's membership --
ASEAN companies have been free to invest in Burma for years,
building hotels and extracting what fish, teak and minerals
they can. But the infrastructure needed for developing a
serious economy is not going to come from ASEAN. That will
only come when there's enough of a democratic process in the
country for the US to lift its veto on economic development
assistance by the World Bank, IMF, UNDP etc. Just joining
ASEAN won't change much on that front.)
 
The legitimacy of a government comes from the people. As the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights puts it: "The will of
the people shall be the basis of the authority of government;
this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine
elections...". The Buddhist view is, not surprisingly, very
similar. In the Buddhist guidelines for rulers, the 
Dasa-raja-dhamma, the final injunction is Avirodha --
"non-opposition, non-obstruction, that is to say that [the
ruler] should not oppose the will of the people, should not
obstruct any measures that are conducive to the welfare of the
people." 
 
Lacking any popular mandate, SLORC seeks symbolic "legitimacy"
by association. Pictures of SLORC generals making offerings to
senior monks, talking with visiting businessmen, UNDP
officials, diplomats or even the occasional tourist appear in
most issues of the government-controlled "New Light of
Myanmar". No doubt if Burma is admitted to ASEAN, which seems
fairly certian, the generals will claim that membership
legitimises their rule. Don't be taken in. It's all gunsmoke
and mirrors.