Southeast Asia's club of nations turns up heat on Myanmar
Southeast Asia's club of nations turns up heat on Myanmar
Mark Bendeich, Reuters/Kuala Lumpur
Southeast Asia is finally losing its patience with Myanmar.
After eight years of polite engagement, the region's club of nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), appears prepared to nudge Myanmar's junta toward the exit.
But in line with club etiquette, governments are not taking the lead. Instead, some of ASEAN's founders are allowing their parliaments to show their most awkward member the door.
"We have to think ASEAN first. We cannot go on and on defending Myanmar," a Malaysian government lawmaker said on Thursday. "It's time for Myanmar to defend themselves."
The man speaking was no ordinary MP.
Nazri Abdul Aziz is a minister in the Malaysian premier's department and leader of government business in parliament, a chamber that is not known for bucking the government line.
"There must be a time frame for constructive engagement, it cannot go on and on forever," Nazri told Reuters. "Parliament feels that after (almost) 10 years, we can safely say that constructive engagement is not working and maybe we ought to try something else."
In Malaysia's case, that means moving a ruling-party motion in parliament next month, calling on Myanmar to be stripped of its turn to lead ASEAN next year unless it embraces democracy.
Specifically, it calls on Myanmar to free its opposition leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest.
The motion does not have formal backing from the Malaysian government because it is an individual lawmaker's motion, but is sponsored by the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, which was instrumental in bringing Myanmar into ASEAN in 1997.
In ASEAN terms, that amounts to taking the gloves off.
"This was dramatic coming from Kuala Lumpur, which had once diligently pushed for Burma's inclusion in ASEAN. The import of Malaysia's willingness to change its stance will not be lost on the region," Thailand's Nation newspaper said in an editorial.
Malaysia is changing tack on Myanmar because there is a real risk the United States and European Union will not turn up to ASEAN's annual summit in 2006 if Myanmar hosts the meeting as chair of the group, regional and Western diplomats said.
"By holding these meetings in Rangoon, it (ASEAN) runs a serious risk that countries which attended regularly for a quarter century will not show," Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in Bangkok this week.
Washington and Brussels impose sanctions on Myanmar because of its human rights record. ASEAN has always argued this is the wrong approach, but its tune is changing as 2006 approaches.
Myanmar may hear the change in tone when ASEAN foreign ministers meet informally in Cebu, the Philippines, on April 9.
"Some hard messages may very well have to be put across because what happens in Myanmar will affect ASEAN as a whole," a Singapore foreign ministry spokesman told// Reuters.
The ASEAN region -- Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines -- is home to 500 million people and a combined economy worth US$737 billion. The United States and Europe are huge trading partners.
For ASEAN, is Myanmar worth the headache?
"Obviously there are significant numbers of Malaysian who have worked hard on their legislature to recognize that some things have to be done," said Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, special envoy to Myanmar for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Razali declined to comment further, but diplomats doubt ASEAN has the stomach to forcibly eject Myanmar. It would instead prefer the generals to take the hint and withdraw, they said.
After Malaysia's move, the hints are becoming less subtle.
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