The going is getting tougher for the military junta ruling Myanmar, formerly Burma. Domestically and throughout Southeast Asia, reclusive General Than Shwe’s government is under increasing pressure to respect democratic and human rights.
After years of looking the other way, the 10-nation group ASEAN has reacted to the arrest and trial of Burmese peaceful resistance icon Aung San Suu Kyi, on totally fabricated charges. Heads of state of Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand have called for the regime to drop all charges and free the lady.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is moving directly and via ASEAN, which he currently chairs, to firmly yet gently urge Myanmar’s government to mend its anti-democratic, anti-human rights ways.
ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan has spoken in strong terms and reportedly is considering visiting Myanmar to underscore the organization’s concern. Its unanimously agreed charter, in effect since December, contains strong language supporting democracy and human rights, and the blatant breach of the world’s most famous political prisoner’s rights is considered a major test of ASEAN’s viability.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is clear. “This is a turning point for Myanmar to act according to the ASEAN charter, or not.” Releasing Suu Kyi, he told me, “is good for everyone: the Myanmar people, the government and the world.
“These situations can change”, he continued; “just look at Indonesia. What is needed is an exit formula, a political solution. Not with a trial in the Hague, but with an Asian, Buddhist solution, where all sides practice forgiveness.”
A solution can come none too soon. Internally, the political pot has been simmering since autumn 2007, when Myanmar’s armed forces brutally crushed peaceful demonstrations, to press the government to respect human rights.
After nearly two weeks of growing, always peaceful marches by a cross-section of Burmese citizens — saffron-robed monks, retired soldiers, university students, even government bureaucrats — the army and police closed in, beating and dispersing, arresting and jailing thousands.
A restless citizenry may have been somewhat lulled by the announcement of a seven-step path to democracy earlier this year. Graduated moves to less restrictive state control were to culminate in 2010 elections, 20 years after the last national polls.
A cloud hung over the government’s plan, however: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, a glaring example of democratic and human rights abuse. Daughter of the father of independent Burma, Suu Kyi had swept the 1990 elections as leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, taking an astonishing 82 percent of the vote.
The lady’s electoral demolition – incredibly, while under house arrest – of the regime and its candidates was intolerable for the junta, which had seized control of Burma in 1962 following 14 years of rocky democratic independence from Great Britain.
The military regime never accepted 1990’s election results. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and remanded to nearly 14 years of house arrest. Shunned by most governments, the regime managed to maintain relations with neighboring China and India and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Suu Kyi’s most recent home confinement was scheduled to end May 27, but her freedom gave the junta grave concern as, once free, they foresaw her rallying voters ahead of the 2010 elections.
When the curious John Yettaw swam into view and entered her home, the junta charged Suu Kyi with breaking her confinement terms. Neighborly and global pleas notwithstanding, diplomatic betting is that within days Myanmar will once again act maliciously. This time, Burmese citizens and neighbors appear ready to take much more stringent action than previously. Myanmar’s next bizarre twist is imminent.
Journalist and former diplomat John R. Thomson focuses on emerging market geopolitical issues.
