The Nation: 98/01/05 Editorial & Op

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

 Editorial & Opinion 

       Japan pays price for 
       hands-off policy

       Over the past decade, armies of Japanese 
       business warriors have scoured the Third 
       World with one eye firmly set on possible 
       investment opportunities and another on 
       either golf or sex. They are ubiquitous 
       simply because they move in herds. 

       But lately, they are being replaced by a 
       handful of intrepid explorers. Instead of 
       seeking safety in numbers, these young 
       Japanese relish the adventure of travelling 
       by themselves. Often, they face difficulties 
       partly due to their lacking a command of 
       foreign languages and partly because they 
       are unaware that while Japan is a relatively 
       safe country, the same may not be true with 
       many other countries. 

       This appeared to be the case when two 
       Japanese students were brutally murdered 
       during an Amazon River expedition in Peru. 
       They were reportedly stopped near a 
       remote army base and kicked and punched 
       to death by 16 soldiers --all members of a 
       military unit that controls river traffic from 
       Peru to Colombia and Brazil. 

       Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto 
       was quick to blame the murdered students 
       for their ''recklessness''. More care, he 
       said, should be taken in planning foreign 
       trips. ''Adventure is fraught with danger. 
       And that danger should be kept to a 
       minimum through preparation well in 
       advance,'' he added. ''Being an adventure 
       fan myself, I doubt if they made sufficient 
       preparations.'' 

       But surely no matter how much security 
       precautions were taken, these students 
       could not have possibly suspected that 
       harm would come their way when they were 
       stopped by the Peruvian military. After all, 
       isn't the military supposed to protect 
       civilians? 

       Apparently not so in Peru. The abuse of 
       human rights by the military is 
       well-documented. According to Human 
       Rights Watch, the Peruvian military 
       ''engages in torture, and grave abuses 
       were attributed to soldiers stationed in 
       zones where armed anti-government 
       groups operated''. 

       Last year, army intelligence agents were 
       found torturing one of their members on 
       suspicion of leaking information to the 
       media about secret army plans to 
       intimidate the media. Leonor La Rosa 
       Bustamante, an agent of the Army 
       Intelligence Service, was tortured for days 
       in the basement of the ''Little Pentagon'' -- 
       the Peruvian Army headquarters. She was 
       so badly beaten and tortured with electricity 
       that she could hardly walk for months. 

       If the military could commit such a heinous 
       crime against one of their own, it is not too 
       difficult to imagine what they would do to 
       someone perceived as their enemy. 

       Japan has been all too willing to turn a blind 
       eye to the violations of human rights in 
       countries which benefitted from its Official 
       Development Aid and foreign investments. 
       Take Burma. Japan has long been 
       criticised by human rights groups for 
       investing in Burma and for supporting 
       Asean's kid-glove treatment of the military 
       junta. 

       As one of the biggest aid donors and 
       investors in Peru, Japan could make a 
       difference in improving the human rights 
       situation in that country. There is much to be 
       done -- for despite the much-touted 
       free-market reforms by Peru's President 
       Alberto Fujimori, the gap between rich and 
       poor has invariably widened. And like 
       Mexico, this gulf has led to festering 
       tensions between those who gained from 
       the economic windfall and those who did 
       not. 

       The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary 
       Movement's 126-day hostage standoff at 
       the official residence of the Japanese 
       ambassador in Lima should have served 
       as a warning to the Japanese government. 
       Yet, Hashimoto has not learnt from that 
       experience. Even then, despite the 
       euphoria of the successful hostage rescue, 
       there was growing disquiet over the 
       take-no-prisoner manner in which the 
       military carried out its operation -- all 14 
       MRTA members were killed, some 
       reportedly shot point blank after they had 
       surrendered. 

       Hashimoto was wrong to blame the 
       students for their deaths. Surely, blame 
       must go to the perpetrators -- the Peruvian 
       military, and Fujimori for tacitly supporting 
       the string of human rights abuses carried 
       out by his men in uniform. And blame 
       should be placed squarely on Japan's 
       foreign policy for putting business before 
       human rights. 

       Because of this, two young lives were lost. 
       But how many more must die before Japan 
       learns to include human rights as part of its 
       foreign policy?