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NEWS - ASEAN Does "the Least" for B
- Subject: NEWS - ASEAN Does "the Least" for B
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 13:45:00
Subject: NEWS - ASEAN Does "the Least" for Burma, Says Suu Kyi
Rights-Burma: ASEAN Does "the Least" for Burma, Says Suu Kyi
Inter Press Service
18-JUN-99
RANGOON, (Jun. 18) IPS - Two years after it admitted the
Burmese regime into its fold, the Association of
South-east
Asian Nations (ASEAN) should realize its mistake and take
a
tougher approach on Rangoon, Burmese opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi says.
"I think this non-interference is just an excuse for not
helping
and we think that in our day and age, you cannot avoid
interference in the (internal) matters of countries," Suu
Kyi
told a group of visiting South-east Asian women
journalists
and activists here this week.
She said that while other countries are "very active
about
helping the democratization process... I think you have
to
admit that the ASEAN countries do least".
Already, South-east Asian governments gave the Burmese
military regime a measure of international legitimacy
when it
admitted the state into ASEAN in 1997, despite strong
opposition from the west and from critics in the region.
But two years after ASEAN boldly threw its support behind
the military junta in the hope that it could influence
Rangoon
to introduce political reforms, its policy of
"constructive
engagement" seems to have fallen flat on its face.
The junta, known as the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), has in fact tightened its grip of power
and
intensified its crackdown on the opposition, arresting
and
jailing its leaders and supporters, observers say.
For Nobel Prize laureate leader Suu Kyi, it is time that
ASEAN take a different approach.
She takes exception to the argument of some ASEAN
governments that "democracy is a Western concept and that
you've got to keep your Asian value".
"They talk a lot about non-interference," she told her
visitors
Wednesday at the headquarters of the National League for
Democracy (NLD), of which she is general-secretary. "We
cannot help feeling that this somehow smacks of a
conscience which is not completely clear."
ASEAN's policy of non-interference has been widely
criticized by the West and human rights groups in Asia,
and
has allowed authoritarian governments in the region to
ignore repeated calls for political reforms.
It also shows a lack of political will to address the
issue of
human rights, all for the sake of unity in the ASEAN
circle.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, the Philippines and also includes Vietnam,
Laos,
Burma and Cambodia, which joined the South-east Asia's
political club only in April.
The Philippines, Thailand and Singapore had initially
expressed reservations against Burma's admission into
ASEAN. They wanted the SPDC to initiate a dialogue with
the opposition NLD.
The NLD won the 1990 general elections, but the junta has
refused to respect the result of the poll and has
prevented its
leaders from taking their seats in Parliament.
Efforts toward a dialogue between NLD and the SPDC have
not been successful. Now, Suu Kyi, the symbol of Burmese
struggle for freedom, wants ASEAN to put more pressure on
the military junta.
"We have made various compromises and we have been as
flexible as possible," she told the group of visiting
women
during a "tea party" to mark Women's Day at the NLD
headquarters in Rangoon.
"We have tried, we have bent backwards in order to make
dialogue possible. But the military regime does not want
dialogue because they think dialogue is the beginning of
the
end for them," she explained.
"I think what we need is a new initiative on the part of
ASEAN members and I think it is time that the ASEAN
recognize that the inflexibility is on the part of the
military
regime and not on the part of the NLD," she declared.
The opposition leader said ASEAN, which will hold its
annual
ministerial meeting in Singapore next month, should take
a
more positive attitude toward bringing about a negotiated
settlement in Burma.
Since Burma's brutal suppression of the 1988
pro-democracy uprising, the United States and other
European countries have imposed economic sanctions
against the ruling junta, although some multinationals
with
existing projects continue to operate here.
The U.S. has passed legislation prohibiting new
investments
in Burma and the European Union and other parties have
levied milder economic penalties against the military
government.
But this is hardly the case among ASEAN countries, which
continue to pour millions of dollars in investments in
infrastructure projects across the country.
Critics say these foreign investments are what prop up
the
regime, enabling it to cling on to power.
"Many ASEAN countries are investing in Burma. Is that not
interference in our internal affairs? They are now
involved
economically so how can they say that 'we are not going
to
get involved in the political side?'" said Suu Kyi.