Time for ASEAN to act on Burma<\/p>\n
ASEAN will be unhappy if tension between Burma's dictators and
\nits legally elected democratic government escalates into
\nviolence, says Domingo Siazon, the foreign minister of the
\nPhilippines. The region, he points out, is going through a spot
\nof bother and the last thing it needs is political instability,
\nwhich, like economic turmoil, has a knack of spreading.<\/p>\n
If ASEAN were to have a word with itself about its performance
\nwith Burma, it may find embarrassment, even shame, a more
\nappropriate emotion than unhappiness. It was ASEAN that afforded
\nan illegitimate regime a respectability it does not deserve in a
\nstrategy that did not work. If violence erupts in Burma, the
\npeople of that impoverished nation will find a good deal more to
\nbe unhappy about.<\/p>\n
It is more than a year since ASEAN admitted the junta to its
\nlittle club and little, if anything, has been done to induce it
\nto behave itself. The approach has been one of all carrot and no
\nstick, which has been taken by the junta to mean it can carry on
\nin the way it knows best. By allowing this to happen, the
\nsupporters of Burma's admission have overlooked the founding
\nprinciples of ASEAN -- to accelerate economic growth, social
\nprogress and cultural development.<\/p>\n
Burma may have been more attentive to its critics in ASEAN
\nwhen everyone was rolling in money and a reward was in sight, but
\nits admission coincided unhappily with our own well-documented
\neconomic travails. All that has happened is that we have a new
\nmember which will not change its ways and is viewed in the
\ninternational community as something of a diplomatic skunk.<\/p>\n
Since the junta's admission, much has changed, not least in
\nthe economies of its new friends. Gone are the backers of large-
\nscale investment projects who proclaimed development would
\nnurture democracy, gone is the generosity of regional countries
\nthat have to tend to problems closer to home.<\/p>\n
Regional partners, such as Indonesia, are taking steps, albeit
\nfaltering, towards political reform, and its military is being
\nrestrained; the Philippines has pulled off a fair election; we
\nhave our new constitution. Even in time of economic trouble,
\nprogress is being made, but not in Burma, which is no stranger to
\nthe bankruptcy brought upon the country by the people that ASEAN
\nhas chosen to embrace.<\/p>\n
The more forward-thinking members of ASEAN, not least
\nThailand, are anxious now to engage Burma in a way that does not
\ngive the junta carte blanche to engage in further thuggery and
\noppression. The realization is a little late but it is welcome,
\nand it is significant that the movement originates in a country
\nwhich borders Burma and is familiar with the ways of its rulers.<\/p>\n
-- Bangkok Post<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/time-for-asean-to-act-on-burma-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }