I visited Burma in 2002 at a time when Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from house arrest and many people were optimistic about the country's future. Unfortunately, a few months later she was placed under house arrest again.


Explaining ASEAN failure to effect change Myanmar
Thang D. Nguyen, Jakarta

As foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gather this week in Bali, the issue of Myanmar will be a key item on the agenda.

During the event, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who has been appointed as the group's envoy to deal with Myanmar, will brief his counterparts on his recent trip to the country.

So far, almost everyone has tried to help free Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar activist and Nobel peace laureate, from her oppression by Myanmar's ruling junta.

First, the U.S. and the EU have put sanctions on Myanmar (formerly Burma) and, in recent years, threatened to boycott regional meetings in which it participated.

Next, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a Malaysian diplomat as a special envoy to deal with Myanmar on the issue of its human rights record and lack of democracy.

Last year, a group of her fellow Nobel laureates wrote a joint letter to the junta demanding that it free Suu Kyi.

During a gathering of its foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in June 2003, ASEAN issued a statement urging Myanmar's military rulers to free her.

All of these actions were grounded on Myanmar's poor human rights record and the 16-year house arrest that the junta has kept Suu Kyi under since 1990, when her National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide election that the regime refused to acknowledge.

Despite the pressure from the international community and ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, however, Pyinmana (the new capital of Myanmar) shows no inclination either to set Suu Kyi free or to work on its promised democratic reforms; in fact, it has just extended Suu Kyi's detention.

To ASEAN's credit, though, Myanmar surrendered its turn to chair the association in 2006. Since the chairmanship is rotated in alphabetical order, that honor was passed to the Philippines.

Moreover, an ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPM) was established last year with the aim of "instituting democracy in Myanmar" and, of course, to help free Suu Kyi.

"We (members of ASEAN countries' parliaments) cannot afford to be shortsighted and ignore the fact that our local and national interests are affected by regional problems. Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains detained in Myanmar, has asked us: 'Use your liberty to promote ours.' It is a call that applies not just to Myanmar but to the entire region," says Zaid Ibrahim, a Malaysian member of Parliament and president of the AIPM.

And after much pressure from ASEAN, Pyinmana allowed Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar a visit to Myanmar last month. The envoy, however, cut his visit short and left Pyinmana disappointed he could not see Suu Kyi or make any progress on talks with the Myanmar government about the country's democratic reforms.

Like the U.S., the EU and others who have pushed Pyinmana for Suu Kyi's freedom, the efforts taken by ASEAN have failed for one reason; i.e. their one-sidedness.

In other words, so far, everyone has only criticized Pyinmana for being an undemocratic regime and demanded that it free Suu Kyi unconditionally. But no one seems to consider Myanmar's position and what it wants in order to let her go.

Nor has there been a win-win option for Myanmar and all parties involved. Diplomacy, after all, is not a one-way.

Furthermore, ASEAN lacks a strong will, or consensus, on the issue of Myanmar.

Aside from Myanmar, the other nine ASEAN members are divided into two camps: the first, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, has been outspoken in its criticism of Pyinmana. The second camp, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, has remained neutral about the issue.

This division is a weakness that ASEAN has to work on if it is to deal with the issue of Myanmar more effectively.

Equally important, ASEAN should realize that Myanmar is an Asian country and a member of the association. So, whatever solution it comes up with to deal with Myanmar should be an Asian and ASEAN one, not one that is based on what the U.S. and the West say or want.
ASEAN should realize, too, that bullying will not work with Myanmar. The proof is that Myanmar does not seem to give a hoot about all the sanctions and rhetoric against from the U.S., the EU and ASEAN itself.

For one thing, Myanmar has allies in China, Russia and North Korea. But more importantly, Myanmar knows that it can keep Suu Kyi under house arrest for the rest of her life and nothing will happen to it. After all, unlike Iraq and Iran, it has neither nuclear weapons nor -- you guessed it -- oil!

The writer is a Jakarta-based columnist. His writing can be read at www.thangthecolumnist.blogspot.com .