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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