The Nation News (21-6-99)

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Burma urges Asean to reject West

RANGOON - Burma's official press yesterday called on Southeast Asia to
unite against " evil " Western hegemony as the Rangoon junta prepares to
host an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting
later this month.

A commentary in the junta's propaganda mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar
said the ministerial talks on transnational crime to be held here on June
23 were another chance for Asean to "ward off" Western "bullies".

"We, the 10 Asean nations, will be able to ward off all attempts of
dominators and bullies to make intrusions in the region with the
cooperative and harmonious endeavors in implementing regional
stabilisation, economic, social and development tasks, "the newspaper said.

It said it was the "noble essence" of the Asean meeting to fight against
"various alien dangers," citing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's
intervention in Kosovo as an example.

"The attack [on Yugoslavia} could utterly devastate the entire people of
Yugoslavia," it said.

The European Union, the United States and Japan have suspended most non
humanitarian aid to Burma in response to widespread allegations of gross
human rights abuses,including torture and systematic rape.

The international community has also thrown its support behind Burmese
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy
(NLD) party won 1990 elections but has been denied power by the junta.

Burma's military regime has been eager to gain international legitimacy
through its membership of Asean, granted in 1997 despite strong objections
from European nations and the US.

The first top-level Asean function Burma hosted, a labour ministers meeting
in May, went ahead despite a storm of protests from international human
rights watchdogs which claim the junta uses slave labour.

Asean groups Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Call to unite against 'evil' Western hegemony

RANGOON - Burma's official press yesterday called on Southeast Asia to
unite against " evil " Western hegemony as the Rangoon junta prepares to
host an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting
later this month.


A commentary in the junta's propaganda mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar
said the ministerial talks on transnational crime to be held here on June
23 were another chance for Asean to "ward off" Western "bullies".

"We, the 10 Asean nations, will be able to ward off all attempts of
dominators and bullies to make intrusions in the region with the
cooperative and harmonious endeavors in implementing regional
stabilisation, economic, social and development tasks, "the newspaper said.

It said it was the "noble essence" of the Asean meeting to fight against
"various alien dangers," citing Nato's intervention in Kosovo as an example.

"The attack [on Yugoslavia} could utterly devastate the entire people of
Yugoslavia," it said.

It can be seen that the west bloc imposes economic sanctions on nations
which are against its actions to cause economic hardships and financial
turmoil."

The European Union, the United States and Japan have suspended most non
humanitarian aid to Burma in response to widespread allegations of gross
human rights abuses,including torture and systematic rape.

The first top-level Asean function Burma hosted, a labour ministers meeting
in May, went ahead despite a storm of protests from international human
rights watchdogs which claim the junta uses slave labour.

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Forced labour adds to Asean embarrassment

At its annual conference in Geneva over the week, the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) passed a resolution to condemn the practice of forced
labour in Burma and banned it from receiving any form of assistance from
its organisation. The Burmese delegations would not be allowed to attend
any ILO meetings, except conferences and meetings of the governing body.

The ILO has repeatedly criticised Burma for its systematic conscription of
villagers to work as porters and road constructers and labourers.

Among the more than 800,000 people allegedly forced to work for the
military in the remote districts and jungles, many of them are children.

The UN body has also urged Burma to amend its labour law to outlaw forced
labour. Burma promised to fulfil this plea since joining the convention in
1955. But it has been 30 years and there is no positive sign of the
incumbent military junta known as the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) fulfilling this vow.

Forced labour continues unabated and those who order the practice still go
about their daily lvies unpunished. Indeed, the military junta in Rangoon
is not listening.The boycott came after Burma failed to enforce any of the
ILO recommendations issued last year.

The ILO also concluded a new treaty to end all forms of child labour. It is
estimated that some 250 million children are working in developing
countries. More than half of them are concentrated in Asia.The treaty seeks
to eliminate child slavery, child prostitution and pornography and the use
of children in drug trafficking and armed conflict.

Now they are also movements to tighten the screws further. Labour experts
at the ILO, trade unions and employers' groups would like to declare the
use of forced labour as a "crime against humanity" which can be prosecuted

in the international criminal court.

The ILO's increased crticism comes at the time some international aid
organisations are trying to make headway in Burma, thinking that aid could
provide incentives for the junta to open up and treat its citizens more
humanely.

In a recent statement, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has
warned that international aid could backfire if it props up a "despotic"
regime in Rangoon.

Once again, leading ILO member countries have also jointly condemned Burma
over its treatment of its population. US President Bill Clinton, in his
speech in Geneva, also highlighted Burma, citing that the country stands in
defiance of the ILO's fundamental values and standards.

Only Asean came to support and defend Burma, saying that the country should
be given more time to comply. It is embarrassing that a member of Asean is
being condemned so frequently in international fora. It does not augur well
with the grouping's ongoing effort to improve its tainted image.

It is one thing to fight for a right cause, it is another to fight for a
false hope. 

It is hard to argue that the ILO standard is a Western standard when almost
the rest of the world have the decency to comply and improve their labour
standard whichever way they can.

The Burmese junta has always being regarded as an arrogant bunch of
Jurassic strongmen whose only regard is cling on to power at all cost.

This, they have been doing for the past three decades, all to the detriment
of the Burmese people.

But forcing their very own people to forced labour goes beyond human
comprehension. This has to stop.