No need to rush Myanmar into ASEAN
President Fidel Ramos of the Philippines may have opened a rift within ASEAN over his proposal to slow down membership in the group for Myanmar. Current plans calling for Rangoon to join ASEAN by the middle of next year should be reconsidered, according to Mr. Ramos.
His foreign affairs secretary has taken up the argument. Myanmar needs more time to adjust, said Domingo Siazon somewhat diplomatically. Rangoon only became an observer in the group recently, and should be given an opportunity to consider what is necessary to become a full partner in the ASEAN Free Trade Area.
What the Philippines' leaders mean, of course, is that the State Law and Order Restoration Council of Myanmar is ruthlessly suppressing its democracy advocates. Ordinary citizens and human rights groups in ASEAN share a similar opinion about SLORC, and that opinion is not polite. The violence Rangoon's military junta uses against its people stirs unpleasant memories for many in ASEAN -- not least our own citizens.
For the past couple of years, ASEAN has maintained a policy of so-called constructive engagement towards Myanmar. Simply put, this is a belief that if Myanmar is given privileges such as foreign investment or honor for its leaders at international conferences, the junta will respond positively.
Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out quite that way. Myanmar has accepted the privileges greedily, and responded with street blockades, mass detentions and a new law providing 15 years in jail for anyone who owns a fax machine without a license.
Constructive engagement now has come to a crunch point. Myanmar has been accepted as an observer in ASEAN (one of the privileges) and is poised to be accepted as a full member of the group. This sticks in the craw of many, including President Ramos. In several ASEAN forums, this pits the Philippines against Myanmar's best friend in ASEAN, Malaysia.
The best that can be said about Malaysia's stand is that it is consistent. Kuala Lumpur maintains that democracy and freedom are Western, and somehow inconsistent with 'Asian values' -- which begs the question of how torture, arrests and forced labor can even be described as values, let alone values that should be pinned on Asia.
Malaysia was the driving force in bringing about constructive engagement as an ASEAN policy towards Rangoon. Its spokesmen argue that changing policy is like changing horses in mid-stream.
It is becoming clear to most ASEAN citizen that the group must rethink its position on Myanmar. It is not enough to say, as Thai Deputy Foreign Minister M.R. Thep Devakula did last week, that the brutality of Rangoon is an internal affair. In Thailand, the revulsion against the junta's actions is nearly universal.
It is the business of the Myanmarese to set up the regime they desire. It is Thailand's business if this country seems to support the suppression of Myanmarese people who are peacefully trying to do just this.
A relentless campaign to make Rangoon a full ASEAN member is unlikely to get the respect of either the populations of ASEAN countries, or the world. There will be a time for Myanmar to become a full member of the regional group. That time has not yet come.
-- Bangkok Post