Unity over Burma

Burma -- or, as the current regime calls it, Myanmar -- is a Southeast Asian nation of 46 million people with great natural wealth and beauty, a strategic location and a tragic modern history. In 1990, its military rulers permitted a parliamentary election, which they lost overwhelmingly to the National League for Democracy (NLD). They never permitted the parliament, which is Burma's only legitimate government, to meet.

Just last month, a commission of the International Labor Organization concluded after a year long study that Burma's regime -- in particular its military -- uses forced labor on a massive scale. This "gross denial of human rights" involves pressing women and children to walk ahead through suspected minefields, build roads and perform other dangerous and unpaid tasks. Resistance is met with torture, rape, beatings and murder.

At the same time, because of the regime's incompetence and increasing isolation brought about by economic sanctions, Burma's economy is declining rapidly. The World Bank recently declared the country ineligible for new loans because it has not repaid past ones, a signal to other lenders to steer clear, and is reconsidering a loan for neighboring Thailand for a power plant that would depend on natural gas from Burma.

Students recently staged their largest demonstration in years, despite the obvious risks, and Buddhist monks have protested and been arrested. Instead of the dialogue requested by the NLD, the regime responded with more arrests.

The United States has spoken out clearly against the regime. Japan and Burma's neighbors in Southeast Asia should likewise make it clear that more repression will only increase Burma's isolation.

-- The Washington Post