Analysis: The Ineffectual Roles of U.

N and ASEAN on Burma

By Myat Soe
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
October 27, 2003:

The whole world knows that the ongoing political impasse in Burma
can't be
solved without SPDC regime's sincerity. In fact, the regime is not serious
about national reconciliation and about rebuilding the nation as evident
from its refusal to engage in serious substantial talks with Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi. It is just paying lip service to dialogue, playing for the time,
in the expectation that the US Government, the UN, and the
international community will, over time, buy into its claim that it is
patiently and slowly building a stable democracy.

The whole world has witnessed that the elected opposition leaders
( NLD and others) in Burma are serious about achieving national
reconciliation, establishing a normal state-society relation, resolving all
outstanding problems and conflicts, rebuilding the state and nation and
national unity, via dialogue.

In deed, they are serious about dialogue as a solution because they

believe
that if the regime listens to the voice of the people and the opposition,
and it will be reciprocated. Burma's conflicts and problems are caused
precisely because the military and its regime refuse to hear the voices
of the people and as well do not allow them to speak.

Even so, Burmese people have already expressed their desire for a
emocratic
government in the 1990 elections with an overwhelming vote of over
82%.
They have granted the National League for Democracy (NLD)
representatives
the legitimacy to convene a parliament and initiate a democratic
government. The election results were given international endorsement
in successive UN
General assemble Resolutions. The holding of the 1990 elections and
the
failure of the SLORC/SPDC to honor its results had further altered the
international system to the nature of Burmese authoritarianism.

Since then, the SLORC, currently the State Peace and Development
Committee
(SPDC), has resorted to various means to obstruct the NLD from
executing its
rights and obligations as the elected party. These include arbitrary
arrest
and imprisonment of the NLD representatives and members, forcing
them into
exile or resignation, harassing the leadership in most uncivilized ways,
and
convening a sham national convention that is supposed to rubber-stamp
a military-imposed constitution.

In recent months, the Burma's military rulers are under increasing

international pressure to release Nobel Peace prize winner and
democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was arrested May
30th after a violent premeditated attack on her motorcade by pro-
regime hoodlums. A number of people were killed and many others
were injured and imprisoned.

Following the events in northern Myanmar of 30 May, which resulted in

the
detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National
League
for Democracy (NLD), Burma's embryonic and home-grown national
reconciliation process, as understood by the United Nations, was halted.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders still remain detained and
incommunicado .

The Secretary-General Kofi Annan remained gravely concerned about

the safety
and well-being of these NLD leaders and others detained after 30 May
and
reiterates his call for the Burmese authorities to remove, without delay,
all the restrictions imposed on their freedom of movement and political
activities.

In his statement, he was also seriously concerned that the absence of

progress in the process of national reconciliation and democratization is
to the detriment of the Burmese people, who voted for change in 1990
and deserve toexperience the same benefits of economic, civil, social
and political development as their counterparts in neighbouring
countries. The Secretary-General reiterates his determination to do his
utmost to revive the national reconciliation process if all parties are
willing.
However, his Special Envoy Razali Ismail 's mission failed to resolve
political impasse in Burma. The role of U.N Special Envoy is to facilitate
national reconciliation and democratization in Burma, in accordance
with General Assembly resolution 57/231 of 18 December 2002. In an
attempt to achieve those objectives of the U.N resolution, the U.N.
Special Envoy Razali Ismail must promote the substantive dialogue
process between the elected political leaders and self-appointed military
leaders. Instead of focusing on his own mission and promoting the
substantive dialogue process, he even continued to assist the SPDC's
political strategy of time buying and endorse the SPDC's roadmap.
Contrary to the expectations of the people in Burma , who are
overwhelmingly in favor of change, and the United Nations, there was
no substantive progress towards national reconciliation and
democratization in Burma. Therefore, . Mr Kofi Annan must review on his
special envoy's mission outcomes and reconsider to replace his
ineffective Special Envoy Razali or to find the effective approach to
achieve the UNGA resolution. The U.N must more need to be done by
not only condemnation but also effective actions to the Burmese
regime's brutality and
insincerity.

On the other hand in the region, the freedom of Burma is ignored by our
ASEAN neighbors. The Southeast Asian leaders pledged to step up the
fight against terrorism, but they failed to denounce the State-Sponsored
Terrorism in the region. The region will never be secure while one of its
members ( the notorious Burmese military regime) is holding the 50
millions hostages , while a few live in the penthouse and do as they
please. The ASEAN should not harbor the terrorist regime in the region.
The ASEAN should seek to pressure and isolate state sponsors so they
will renounce the use of terrorism, end support to terrorists, and bring
terrorists to justice for past crimes.

Likewise, the ASEAN establishes an ASEAN community of "three pillars"

– the
ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN
Socio-cultural Community -- "for the purpose of ensuring durable peace,
stability and
shared prosperity in the region. Without political stability in one of its
nations because of State-Sponsored Terrorism, the economic
development in the region is impossible and so do prosperity in the
region. The ASEAN must reconsider their actions in the face of the
mounting international demands regarding on the Burma's issue. In
retrospect of the past regime changes in the region ( ie Philippine,
Indonesia, East Timor, Cambodia ), the whole world has witnessed the
ineffectual approaches of ASEAN and its hypocritical policy.

Despite that, building pressure on Burma must be indeed intense. We

must
continuously urge international communities, governments and
institutions to
keep up the pressure and to use their power and influence to stop the
ongoing political oppression, violation of human rights inside Burma,
and waging war against the people. The political intervention from the
U.N Security Council is an urgent need to resolve the Burma's political
impasse. The pressure is the only language the regime's thugs
understand and hear. The language may be too strong for Asian leaders
who want to sit on the fence in the Burma's issue, but we must push
them to stand up for what is right and wrong in the Burma's conflict. We
must urge the ASEAN to continue pressing for democratic reforms in
Burma.

The writter Myat Soe is Research Director of Justice for Human Rights in
Burma (www.jhburma.org)