Ong warns of 'downside' if Myanmar skips ASEAN chair
Ong warns of 'downside' if Myanmar skips ASEAN chair
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Washington
An international campaign to restore democracy in Myanmar would face a setback if the military-ruled state gives up its turn to lead the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group next year, a top ASEAN official warned.
"The downside of this is that if Myanmar voluntarily steps out of the chairmanship, it means for the next two to three years, the issue is out of the radarscope," ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told AFP in Washington.
"How are we going to leverage for the early release of Aung San Suu Kyi and whatever things we want in Myanmar," Ong asked, referring to Myanmar's democracy icon under house arrest for most of the last 15 years.
Suu Kyi's party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to rule. Its offices have been shut down by the military junta.
Myanmar is due to take over the ASEAN helm from Malaysia in 2006. The chairmanship is determined by alphabetical rotation among member states, which also include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Holding the ASEAN chair means Myanmar will set the group's agenda and direction as well as host a series of high-profile, media-seeking meetings, including a summit and a top regional security forum.
But both the United States and European Union (EU), key partners of ASEAN, have vowed to boycott the Southeast Asian group's meetings if Myanmar is chairman.
Officials and parliamentarians from some ASEAN member states are also afraid that Myanmar will damage the group's image and international links if it takes over the mantle.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand do not wish that Myanmar takes the ASEAN chairmanship.
ASEAN officials have indicated that Myanmar would announce at the annual ASEAN ministerial meeting next month that it would skip the chairmanship.
But ASEAN secretary-general spoke differently.
Ong, who attended an ASEAN-U.S. dialog here this week, said: "On the one hand, people can claim victory that they have prevented Myanmar from taking the chair but I ask the question: What is the end thing that you are driving at?
"If the end goal is a democratic Myanmar and a country with popular participation with their own political national development, this situation of forcing Myanmar out of the chair, will it bring the results?
"I don't think so."
Myanmar was among issues discussed at the U.S.-ASEAN dialog of senior officials, convened every 18 months to discuss wide- ranging issues and cooperation programs.
The United States has warned that if Myanmar chaired ASEAN, the grouping's image would be smeared.
"It's actually a question for ASEAN to decide. What's going to happen to the image of the group if it is led by Burma," a State Department official asked, using Myanmar's previous name.
Ong, a former senior Singapore official, said: "If I am in the Myanmar government's position, I can see the upside. The upside is: 'we will be off the radarscope for the next few years ... there is a merit to be gotten out of not taking the chair of ASEAN.
ASEAN in recent years has taken a slightly higher profile in prodding Myanmar to embrace democratic reforms, slowly moving away from its so-called "constructive engagement" policy under which members muted criticism of one another.
Jeremy Woodrum, the co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for Burma coordinating the global push to free Suu Kyi, said ASEAN should use its clout to bring about rapid political reforms in Myanmar.
He said ASEAN should have delayed Myanmar's chairmanship by a year, setting a deadline for Yangon to embrace reforms.
"The chairmanship comes up once in 10 years and ASEAN should have used this golden opportunity to set a timeline for changes in Burma," Woodrum said.