Failure to push Burma undermines Asean
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Amy Kazmin
A top US trade official warned on Monday that "the credibility and reputation" of the Association of South-East Asian Nations has been undermined by the group's failure to push Burma's ruling generals into meaningful reforms.
Susan Schwab, the US trade representative, said she told her Asean counterparts that they had a "special responsibility when it comes to the situation in Burma," where at least 15 people were killed in the junta's suppression of massive anti-government protests in late September.
"My Asean colleagues recognise that the credibility and reputation of Asean as an organisation has been called into question because of the situation in Burma," she said in Singapore after meetings with south-east Asian officials. "It just can't be business as usual."
Ms Schwab's comments come a day after Ong Keng Yong, the Asean secretary-general, rebuffed a unanimous US Senate resolution calling for the suspension of Burma's military rulers from the organisation until the regime improved its human rights record.
Burma is "part of our family," Mr Ong told journalists. "It's like you as a parent. If you have a troubled child, do you say, 'go out of the house, I don't want to talk to you'?"
Burma, which was admitted to Asean a decade ago, has since 2003 flouted numerous appeals from its fellow members to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize-winning democracy leader, and to engage in meaningful dialogue on political reforms.
Still, Asean has for years shielded the regime from outside criticism, urging that it be given more time to change, and rebuffing suggestions that group members use their economic leverage to step up pressure on Burma's generals.
Yet amid international condemnation of the Burmese generals' violent response to the anti-government protests, Singapore, the Asean chair, publicly expressed "revulsion" at the use of force against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, and warned that Burma's problems had implications for regional security.
Since then, the junta has sent mixed signals on its willingness to reform. It has twice received Ibrahim Gambari, a UN special envoy for Burma, and sent a Cabinet minister to meet with Ms Suu Kyi, who was also permitted to receive visitors from her political party for the first time since 2004.
But Burmese authorities have also kept up a relentless hunt for activists involved in the protests, making many arrests of prominent dissidents in recent weeks. At least one high-profile monk has reportedly been charged with treason for urging a 'spiritual boycott' of the regime back in mid-September, a call that triggered the monk-led protests.
Senior General Than Shwe, the powerful chief of Burma's military, said in state media at the weekend that the generals remain committed to their 'political roadmap,' which calls for the junta to push through a new constitution that would establish an elected Parliament - albeit with 25 per cent of the seats reserved for military appointees.
Under syndication arrangement
with FE
A top US trade official warned on Monday that "the credibility and reputation" of the Association of South-East Asian Nations has been undermined by the group's failure to push Burma's ruling generals into meaningful reforms.
Susan Schwab, the US trade representative, said she told her Asean counterparts that they had a "special responsibility when it comes to the situation in Burma," where at least 15 people were killed in the junta's suppression of massive anti-government protests in late September.
"My Asean colleagues recognise that the credibility and reputation of Asean as an organisation has been called into question because of the situation in Burma," she said in Singapore after meetings with south-east Asian officials. "It just can't be business as usual."
Ms Schwab's comments come a day after Ong Keng Yong, the Asean secretary-general, rebuffed a unanimous US Senate resolution calling for the suspension of Burma's military rulers from the organisation until the regime improved its human rights record.
Burma is "part of our family," Mr Ong told journalists. "It's like you as a parent. If you have a troubled child, do you say, 'go out of the house, I don't want to talk to you'?"
Burma, which was admitted to Asean a decade ago, has since 2003 flouted numerous appeals from its fellow members to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize-winning democracy leader, and to engage in meaningful dialogue on political reforms.
Still, Asean has for years shielded the regime from outside criticism, urging that it be given more time to change, and rebuffing suggestions that group members use their economic leverage to step up pressure on Burma's generals.
Yet amid international condemnation of the Burmese generals' violent response to the anti-government protests, Singapore, the Asean chair, publicly expressed "revulsion" at the use of force against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, and warned that Burma's problems had implications for regional security.
Since then, the junta has sent mixed signals on its willingness to reform. It has twice received Ibrahim Gambari, a UN special envoy for Burma, and sent a Cabinet minister to meet with Ms Suu Kyi, who was also permitted to receive visitors from her political party for the first time since 2004.
But Burmese authorities have also kept up a relentless hunt for activists involved in the protests, making many arrests of prominent dissidents in recent weeks. At least one high-profile monk has reportedly been charged with treason for urging a 'spiritual boycott' of the regime back in mid-September, a call that triggered the monk-led protests.
Senior General Than Shwe, the powerful chief of Burma's military, said in state media at the weekend that the generals remain committed to their 'political roadmap,' which calls for the junta to push through a new constitution that would establish an elected Parliament - albeit with 25 per cent of the seats reserved for military appointees.
Under syndication arrangement
with FE