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DSIF SETS BURMA UP FOR A BEATING AT
- Subject: DSIF SETS BURMA UP FOR A BEATING AT
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 08:00:00
DSIF SETS BURMA UP FOR A BEATING AT THE GA
With a brilliance of timing we have come to expect, the Burmese junta's
Department of Shooting Itself in the Foot (DSIF) is making a major effort
to embarrass Burma at the UN General Assembly, which begins in New
York today (6 September) with the Millennium Summit.
In pursuit of public humiliation in what is probably the most prestigious
UN meeting ever, the DSIF has been working hard to underscore and
amplify Burma's pariah status. First, in full knowledge of what was likely to
happen, it organised the 9-day roadside blockade of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and her colleagues, in the process embarrassing ASEAN and demonstrating
the junta's political insecurity within the country. The blockade brought
about
the desired international condemnation but, no doubt fearing that it had not
alienated every government -- Japan, for instance, hardly reacted at all, in
public, at least --, DSIF arranged a brutal end to the rustic "holiday"
in Dala,
with Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo reported to have been handcuffed and
forced into cars and their supporters beaten up and imprisoned. Finally,
having "escorted" the NLD leaders back to Rangoon, it looted the NLD
offices,
took away documents, placed Daw Suu and colleagues under incommunicado
de facto house arrest, made further threatening moves against the NLD, and
even managed to man-handle the British Ambassador.
In this case, the junta followed through superbly with a classical
blaming-the-
victim accusation that in trying to visit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Ambassador
had "overstepped the universal diplomatic norms." This brings to mind the
junta's
growing international role as a mentor on human rights. One of its pupils,
Australia,
is already applying the lessons it received from the generals at the human
rights
trainings in Rangoon, and is well on its way to joining Malaysia, Burma et
al in
embracing "Asian values", putting the UN Special Rapporteurs in their place
and
getting off the hook of universal standards and treaty obligations (see the
Human
Rights Watch press release of 31 August, "Australia undermining global
human rights").
Will the DSIF's exploits be enough to ensure a humiliating condemnation at the
Millennium Summit and in the GA resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in
Myanmar? Probably, but since the junta is a true masochist, and wants to make
sure there is no way out, we can expect further provocations over the next
weeks.
Caveat
It would be a mistake, of course, to view the activities of the DSIF as
irrational or
historically eccentric. Shooting oneself in the foot is, after all, a
practical way to
avoid battle and potentially more serious injuries or death. And provoking
attacks
from outside to justify crackdowns, impose internal "unity" on the people
and get
the elite to close ranks, has been in the political toolbox for millennia.