House ups the ante on Myanmar over ASEAN
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives is urging the government to oppose Myanmar's leadership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year, and to boycott ASEAN forums under its leadership, unless the military junta immediately puts into place democratic reforms.
A total of 35 out of 48 members of House Commission I for foreign affairs signed a petition to push the government to step up pressure, along with other ASEAN members, on Myanmar not to take its turn to lead the regional association.
The petition was handed to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda during a hearing with Commission I here on Wednesday.
By tradition, the chairmanship of the 10-member ASEAN is rotated in alphabetical order, and after Malaysia this year, it is Myanmar's turn next year.
"We also urge ASEAN members to tell Myanmar that its membership could be frozen if it takes the lead spot but fails to carry out reform measures," said legislator Djoko Susilo, who heads the ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus for democracy in Myanmar.
Commenting on the demand, Hassan said that a meeting last April of ASEAN foreign ministers in Cebu, the Philippines, agreed to wait until July for Myanmar to decide whether or not it would take the leadership.
"All of the nine foreign ministers tried to convince Myanmar not to take the top spot, and I have a feeling that Myanmar will bow to it and give the spot to the Philippines instead," he said.
If that was the case, Hassan said Myanmar would be allowed to claim the leading spot anytime, without having to wait for its turn to come around again, after making concrete efforts to carry out reforms toward democracy and political reconciliation.
"ASEAN's stance is clear, actually. We welcome Myanmar's road map to democracy, but also urge that the process involves all groups there, including the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi," he explained.
Kyi, a staunch Myanmarese pro-democracy activist, has been kept in custody for over a decade until now by the military junta. Her NLD won the 1990 election and took over 80 percent of the seats, but the military junta ignored the results despite the fact that its party won only a meager 2 percent.
Hassan, however, refused to comment on what action the regional grouping would take if Myanmar eventually decided to take its turn during the next foreign ministers' forum in Laos in July.
"That's hypothetical. Myanmar is also getting pressure from the Western countries. They're aware of the situation and, more than likely, they probably would skip its turn," he said.
Several Commission I members recently met with two Myanmarese political activists, Daw San San and Khin Ohmar, who were lobbying for harder pressure to oppose Myanmar's leadership of ASEAN.
Legislator Marzuki Darusman said that ASEAN would have to take harsher action -- but not intervention -- against Myanmar to resolve its domestic issues that affect other ASEAN members.
"As we know, and (minister Hassan) acknowledges too, the Myanmar issue has become a factor dividing ASEAN. Therefore, immediate collective action is essential," he said.