Bkk post - We will not bow before b

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Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Bkk post - We will not bow before bully boys

Bangkok Post - Oct 15, 1999.
Editorial
We will not bow before bully boys

Rangoon has been insisting that the closure of its land and sea border with
Thailand is not in retaliation for Thailand's handling of the occupation of
the Burmese Embassy by dissident students two weeks ago. Everyone knows
differently. And the Burmese ambassador finally has laid things on the
table: Arrest and prosecute the five dissidents or the border will remain
shut.

The language used might have been more diplomatic but the message from
Ambassador Hla Maung, who luckily escaped being held as a hostage during the
siege, could not have been clearer. It shows Rangoon truly is upset with the
comments of senior Thai people which reflected their sympathy with the
pro-democracy movement in Burma. Linking the arrest of the dissidents to the
opening of the border is designed to put pressure on the government of Chuan
Leekpai to rethink its approach to Burma.

Every time there is a problem with Thailand, Burma closes down the border.
This time Rangoon shut all 2,400km of land frontier as well as its
territorial water line, even though Thai fishing boats have been granted and
have paid for concessions. The logic seems to be that this will hurt
Thailand more economically than it does Burma, that the Thai government will
come under immediate pressure from the merchants and fishermen whose
livelihoods depend on an open border, as well as a parliamentary opposition
more interested in making points than in putting forward a united front.

But the military junta in Rangoon is committing a serious mistake if it
thinks anything can be achieved by this tired, old tactic. Closing borders
is considered hostile action anywhere in the world. And this junta may have
resorted to this action just too many times. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
and Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra have already shrugged it
off, saying Thailand is duty-bound to arrest the dissidents. Burma, they
say, goes too far by issuing an ultimatum.

The generals in Rangoon should be made to realise that there is nothing to
be gained by worsening the relationship with Thailand. They have already
turned Burma into a pariah state within the international community through
their heavy-handed treatment of the pro-democracy movement. The only
international forum where they are not shunned is Asean and this is in no
small part due to the efforts of a Democrat-led Thai government which backed
its early membership in the regional body. Now the junta threatens to drag
down that organisation to its own base level.

Though it will be no easy matter to get the Burmese generals to normalise
relations, the Chuan government should not let the closing of the border
deter it from pursuing a foreign policy of "flexible engagement", one that
gives Thailand the right to deviate from the Asean line on sensitive issues
such as the pro-democracy movement in Burma. For the past two years,
Thailand has championed this policy in Asean, albeit without much success.
But Asean's shop-soiled policy of "constructive engagement", where
non-interference in each other's affairs is the guiding principle, has
proven wholly inadequate in handling international relations in an
interconnected world.

The membership of Burma in Asean has been particularly troublesome. The
European Union and the United States frequently object to its participation
in certain international forums on the basis of its appalling treatment of
all except those in the junta's own inner circle.

The Chuan government might want to improve the soured relations with Burma
but this should not be at the expense of its integrity and its policies,
which are those we should embrace by democratic conviction. The Burmese
generals might be able to shut borders but they cannot stop the wave of
democratic change that one day will most certainly inundate Burma.