Zin Linn
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

October 11, 2003:

The Ninth ASEAN SUMMIT in Bali has come to an end, abandoning the Burmese
people's political aspiration to desperation. In a closing statement, host
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri did not underline mention of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi but cited the Burmese junta's recent pledge to work towards democracy as a '' positive development.''

The ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) leaders attending the Bali Summit Conference issued a joint communiqué in which no reference to detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was made. Instead the ten ASEAN applauded the military regime's false promises to draft a new constitution and move towards disciplined democracy. It is regrettable that the regional leaders failed to shed light on the pretences of the Burmese regime but rather chose to take seriously the show it put on.

The ASEAN leaders’ approval of the prime minister in the military uniform and their shattering of the Burmese people's hopes for a better Burma occurs at a time when the junta has given no timetable for the process, nor a date for the release of the Lady who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said that ASEAN would give the junta time to prove its claim that Suu Kyi, who has just been
released from hospital after an operation, is not under house arrest. But on
25 September, Indonesia's special envoy Ali Alatas left Myanmar without meeting Suu Kyi. He commented that it would be good if the restrictions placed on Suu Kyi were lifted and she would be released.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also gave his backing to the Burmese junta and its “road map”. He quoted Burmese Premier Khin Nyunt as
saying that Burma was very committed to the “road map”. "A committee had
been set up, and clear timeframes for the drafting of a constitution had been outlined. Mrs Suu Kyi was fine and recuperating." Contrary to these references, the junta's road map is widely perceived as no more than a time- buying process. Aung San Suu Kyi is under heavy guards.

According to the junta's spokesman, Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and
Foreign Minister Win Aung informed other ASEAN countries that Aung San Suu
Kyi was at home, refusing to recognise that, effectively, she is under house arrest, underheavy guard, with no one allowed to see her as yet, except for
UN Special Envoy Razali. About eighty individuals were turned away at a checkpoint at an intersection near the Lady's lakeside residence on the Full
Moon Day of Thadingyut (10 October) that marks the end of Buddhist lent and on which traditionally homage is paid to elders and teachers.

Jiro Okuyama, spokesman for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said
Suu Kyi remained in detention and that his country persisted in demanding
her ''immediate'' release. Japan would continue to withhold its aid to Burma
until Aung San Suu Kyi was freed and the opposition was able to participate
in a genuine political reform process.

The United States sharply disagreed with an ASEAN statement welcoming "positive developments" in Burma and a promise of democracy from its military rulers.

"The military regime should allow reopening of the NLD's offices and begin meaningful talks with Aung San Suu Kyi and other political parties. So that
national reconciliation can take place, we also look for the ethnic minorities to be part of that," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "That, to
us, is the only way forward to achieve peace and stability in Burma," he added.

ASEAN’s main theme is trade and investment. The organization has traditionally been reluctant to deal with issues of democracy and human-rights. ASEAN members do not, in the parlance of the region, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. But ASEAN leaders are overlooking the crucial point. Accept it or not, they are interfering in Burma's internal affairs. Trading with present day Burma means doing business with the illegal military rulers who brutally oppress their own people. Doing business with the generals means financially rewarding and propping up the brutish junta that rules the country without legitimacy. At the same time, ASEAN leaders fail to support Burma’s true representatives who were chosen by the majority of the Burmese people in the 1990 general elections. Is that not interfering in Burma's internal affairs? Moreover, this conduct is far from on the democratic side but manifests a self-centred style,
prioritising economic development and business in the first place over
democracy and human rights in the second or maybe last place.

According to one Burmese civil servant in Rangoon, the carrots and sticks policy fails to persuade the military rulers to allow Burma to change into a democratic society. ''Instead of carrots and sticks, it should be a stick- after- stick policy,'' he said. ''The generals have become used to ruling the country with an iron rod, and now they fear revenge against their abuse of power for years and have made up their minds not to transfer power to civilians.''

It is obvious that the generals' decision against the transfer of power to a
civilian government has been encouraged by the Ninth ASEAN Summit in Bali.
The generals are planning to change from military uniform to mufti but
policy will remain unchanged.