Written by Lim Kit Siang

Lim Kit Siang

Asian Wall Street Journal

29 March 2006

Little was expected of the Malaysian foreign minister’s fact-finding trip to Burma last week, and little was achieved. The minister, Syed Hamid Albar, had a brief audience with Burmese Prime Minister Soe Win, but was denied a meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and trotted home a day early. Yet on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian nations, he called the journey a “success.” How so?

Burma was admitted to Asean almost a decade ago–primarily at Malaysia’s urging–and has disgraced the 10-member group ever since. Led by Senior Gen. Than Shwe, Burma’s military junta has crushed Ms. Suu Kyi’s popularly elected party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and funded itself through illicit drug sales and human trafficking. It now poses a threat to its neighbors, and the Asia-Pacific region, as a whole.

Asean’s efforts to reason with the regime have floundered. The Asean’s Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus’s calls for Burma to move toward democracy have fallen on deaf ears. Earlier this month, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tried his hand, suggesting that a gradual democratic transition could benefit soldiers and civilians alike. The Indonesian president secured little, save the appointment of two Indonesian special envoys to the country, neither of whom has any clear mission. International processes–such as the United Nations’ referral of Burma to its Security Council–face an uphill battle. However, the U.S. Senate’s hearings on Burma and a European meeting on aid to Burma in Brussels–both happening today–are proof that this is an issue that will not go away.

Meanwhile, the situation within Burma is rapidly deteriorating. Safely ensconced in the jungle military fortress of their new capital Pyinmana, the regime has unleashed a new round of public violence to crush nascent pro-democracy movements. On March 17, police and fire brigade personnel lynched former political prisoner Thet Naing Oo at a tea stall in a Rangoon suburb. A few days later, student leader and former political prisoner Min Ko Naing was assaulted after attending the funeral of NLD MP Thein Win. The brutality is leaking into the countryside, too: Earlier this month, the Burmese Army bombarded villages in Karen State with heavy artillery, forcing more than a thousand people to flee their homes.

This isn’t just a problem for Asean. Thanks to the generals’ broad diversion of funds away from health and education–and towards military spending–Burma is suffering a nationwide HIV/AIDS epidemic. Burmese border regions along the drug trafficking routes into China and India exhibit the highest infection rates. Meanwhile, the generals look the other way as domestic cartels increase the production of heroin and other drugs to offset losses incurred by Burma’s general economic deterioration. Bird flu also looms.

There’s already a solution on the table. In February, the National League for Democracy asked the regime to convene Parliament, which could, in turn, legitimately appoint the military as a transitional administration. Such an arrangement would allow the democratically elected body to work with the military administration toward a genuine transition to democracy. This sensible formula is a practical solution.

But for the roadmap to make progress, China and India must support it. This is clearly in both countries’ self-interest, given how the deteriorating situation within Burma has already started to leak across its porous borders. Asean, too, must own up to its complicity in supporting such a nasty regime for so many years. Only then will the efforts of the international community bear fruit.

It’s time for action. Asia can’t afford to wait.

Mr. Lim is leader of Malaysia’s Democratic Action Party and a founding member of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.

AFP

Mar 25, 2006

The failure of a special Asean envoy to meet Burma’s democratic opposition shows the junta is unwilling to make any commitments to reform, despite growing regional pressure, analysts said today.

But the visit also highlighted the need for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to change its approach to its most problematic member or risk further damaging its credibility.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar waited months to be allowed to visit the military-ruled country, only to cut short his mission yesterday in frustration at being blocked from meeting with the democratic opposition.

“It’s not positive at all,” said Lim Kit Siang, a member of the Asean Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC).

Syed Hamid held talks with Prime Minister Soe Win during his mission to check on the country’s reform efforts amid global criticism of the junta’s rights abuses.

But he did not meet with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or any members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

“If the special Asean envoy which was dispatched by the Asean leaders in the summit could not meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, then it makes the whole visit completely hollow and meaningless,” Lim told AFP.

Burma, which joined the regional grouping in 1997, agreed at last year’s Asean summit to invite Syed Hamid in January.

But the visit apparently stalled over the envoy’s insistence on meeting Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 16 years in jail or under house arrest.

“If the military junta continues to seal off contact with her, it only reflects that the junta is not prepared as yet to be more forthcoming and to be a more responsible regional player.”

The AIPMC in September called on Asean to suspend Myanmar from the 10-nation grouping if there was no progress made on democracy reforms in the country within a year.

Lim urged Asean foreign ministers meeting in Indonesia next month to strongly consider the lawmakers’ call for suspension.

“In view of this latest development the Asean governments and leaders and concerned organisations should take a hard look at this prospect,” he said.

“The Asean foreign ministers should make it clear that … the obstructive position of the junta is completely unacceptable.”

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) –Asean’s Envoy to Myanmar Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has been urged to raise issues of violence by Yangon authorities against its citizens and the prolonged detention of elected Members of Parliament during his forthcoming mission to that country.

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) said the brutal killing of Thet Naing Oo, who three years ago was freed from a decade of imprisonment for his political beliefs, further proved that violent acts, especially the targeting of pro-democracy activists and members of the political opposition, were still rampantly occurring in the military-ruled country.

“AIPMC is greatly concerned with reports of the brutal killing of the former political prisoner by Yangon officials on March 17 and strongly calls on the Yangon government to renounce violence against its people and to discontinue the suppression of its leaders.

“The junta must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners including (pro-democracy leader Aung San) Suu Kyi,” its chairman Datuk Zahid Ibrahim said in a statement Wednesday.

AIPMC also called on Yangon Generals to hold those responsible for the death of Naing Oo.

“Only with the discontinuation of such blatant disregard for human rights by Myanmar, can Asean be satisfied that the regime is indeed working towards democratic reforms in the country as called for by the regional bloc,” he said.

– BERNAMA

Kuala Lumpur. March 22, 2006

STATEMENT BY ASEAN INTER-PARLIAMENTARY MYANMAR CAUCUS (AIPMC) ON RECENT REPORTS OF THE BRUTAL KILLING IN BURMA OF A FORMER POLITICAL PRISONER

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is greatly concerned with reports of the brutal killing of a former political prisoner by Burmese officials in Rangoon, Burma on 17 March 2006.

It is reported that 40-year-old Thet Naing Oo was beaten in public by Rangoon municipal officers and firefighters following an argument with these officials at a marketplace.

This incident is further evidence that violent acts against the public, especially the targeting of pro-democracy activists and members of the political opposition, are still rampantly occurring in the military-ruled country.

There have been constant allegations and reports made against Burmese officials who use brutal and excessive force to suppress the pro-democracy movement inside the country.

Burma’s military regime also continues to repress public figures such as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi by unfair and unjust means such as placing them on lengthy periods of house-arrest or indefinite periods of detention in prisons.

AIPMC strongly calls on the Burmese government to renounce violence against its people and to discontinue the suppression of its leaders. The junta must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi.

We also call on the Burmese Generals to hold accountable the officials responsible for the death of Thet Naing Oo, who only three years ago was freed from a decade of imprisonment for his political beliefs.

In relation to this, AIPMC urges the ASEAN Envoy to Burma, Syed Hamid Albar, to raise issues of violence by Burmese authorities against citizens, and the pro-longed detention of elected Members of Parliament in Burma, during his forthcoming mission to the country.

Only with the discontinuation of such blatant disregard for human rights by Burma, can ASEAN be satisfied that the regime is indeed working towards democratic reforms in the country as called for by the regional bloc.

Zaid Ibrahim

AIPMC Chairperson

Media contact:

Roshan Jason. +6-012-3750974