European Union expects ASEAN to act on Myanmar

European Union expects ASEAN to act on Myanmar

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): The European Union yesterday urged members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take a
stronger stance in urging Myanmar to improve its human rights
record.

Dutch foreign minister Hans van Mierlo, acting EU president,
said Europe did not wish to interfere in ASEAN's relations with
Yangon, but said members must make an effort to spur improvement.

"We can't tell you what to do but we count on you to do it,"
Mierlo said.

Mierlo was speaking here after the closing of a two-day
meeting between EU and ASEAN foreign ministers.

The issue of Myanmar was a central concern for the EU;
ministers spent a two-hour working lunch Thursday briefing each
other on the issue.

EU members have strongly criticized the military regime in
Yangon for its suppression of the country's pro-democracy
movement.

ASEAN has rejected EU's isolationist approach towards Yangon,
instead pursuing a policy of constructive engagement.

ASEAN watchers predict Myanmar will be admitted as a full
member of the association later this year.

Mierlo underlined the EU's concern with developments in
Myanmar: "What is happening in Myanmar is absolutely
unacceptable."

Differing approaches to the problem did not mean ASEAN was
exempt from ensuring basic human rights and encouraging an
improvement of conditions in Myanmar, he argued.

"Where ever there are violations of human rights we have to
fight them together, even though our instruments are different,"
Mierlo said. "Please ASEAN members: do what you can in your
region."

Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar defended ASEAN's
policy, saying ASEAN had used a different approach to the issue.

ASEAN, he said, had a tradition of doing things quietly, as
opposed to the EU's more public diplomacy.

"Individual ASEAN countries have conveyed their views and
concerns to the government of Myanmar in a quiet and non-
confrontational way," said Jayakumar, co-chair of the meeting
with Mierlo.

Jayakumar rejected EU suggestions that ASEAN should set
conditions on Myanmar's entry to the association: "We have never
imposed any precondition regarding the internal political system
of the members".

"In Asia," Jayakumar said, "we marry first and expect the
bride to adapt her behavior after the marriage."

"Once Myanmar joins ASEAN, it would be influenced by her peers
and accept the need to engage in a dialog with ASEAN's partners,"
he said.

Concern over Myanmar was left out of the Joint Declaration
issued at the end of the meeting, with only a one line reference
to the foreign ministers having "an exchange of views on
Myanmar."

Reports from Kuala Lumpur said yesterday that Malaysian human
rights activists pressed members of ASEAN to ditch their policy
of "constructive engagement" with Myanmar.

"The so-called ASEAN constructive engagement policy has failed
in putting a rein on the Burmese (Myanmar) military junta," said
Fan Yew Teng, spokesman for some 30 activists representing the
Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia.

Activists delivered a memorandum to Badawi urging him to work
for an immediate halt to human rights violations by Myanmar's
ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).