Campaign to restore democracy in Ma

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Subject: Campaign to restore democracy in Maynmar

Campaign to restore democracy in Myanmar
>From V. Jayanth
 
The Hindu, Sunday, April 21, 1996.
 
Singapore, April 20: With the Opposition groups in both Cambodia 
and Myanmar unable to set up public pressure on the ruling regimes 
towards the objective of genuine democracy, international pressure 
and lobby groups are beginning to work outside these countries.
 
For Cambodia, the donor countries, particularly the U.S. and France, 
are picking up the gauntlet and making it clear to Phnom Penh that 
democratic path.
 
They have started expressing reservations and attaching conditions to 
aid in the wake of reports of authoritarianism taking roots and 
pluralism being stamped out in Cambodia.
 
Similarly, for the pro-democracy forces in Myanmar, a pressure 
group has become active in Geneva and kicked off its campaign at the 
meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
 
A problem that Western donors and human rights groups are facing 
in tackling the alleged violations of human rights and other distress 
signals from these two countries centres on their ties with the 
dynamic economies of the South East Asia.
 
According to the western diplomats based here, international pressure 
or lobby can work only when three is a unified approach. "When we 
find China and ASEAN willing to work with a military regime in 
Myanmar, or to turn a blind eye to the happenings in Cambodia, it 
does not make much sense for us to keep shouting from the roof tops. 
Does it?", asked a European diplomat.
 
They would like to see ASEAN, particularly, also exert pressure on 
Myanmar and Cambodia to come fully on to the road to democracy. 
"It is within the powers of persuasion of ASEAN to achieve this 
objective. We find Japan and Australia willing to adopt this 
constructive, but ASEAN is hesitant to mix up economic ties with 
other agenda," the diplomats say.
 
Singapore has emerged as a major investor and trading partner for 
both Myanmar and Cambodia. Malaysia is today the top investor in 
Cambodia. But the impression here is that they will not mix up 
politics or democracy with trade and investment. ASEAN plan to 
admit Cambodia as a full member next year and upgrade Myanmar to 
an observer status for eventually joining the fold.
 
Under these circumstances, the Western consensus seems to be that 
unless ASEAN lends support to the campaign for democracy and 
human rights, it is not going to succeed.
 
On Cambodia, the pressures are building up as the kingdom prepares 
for the next general election in 1998. Prominent politicians in the 
Opposition and those within the ruling, royalist Funcinpec Party have 
been crushed, expelled or silenced by the strong arm of the 
administration - especially by the Cambodian Peoples Party and its 
leader, Mr. Hun Sen.
 
But expelled leaders like former ministers, Mr. Sam Rainsy and 
Prince Norodom Sirivudh, have been active in the U.S and Europe, 
mobilising opinion against authoritarianism and violation of human 
rights in Cambodia.
 
France and the U.S. have been making noises but have not been able 
to make much on an impact. But officials in Washington have 
stepped up their campaign and perhaps the loudest voice has been 
raised on a private platform b the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
State for East Asia and Pacific, Mr. Kent Wiedemann.
 
He is reported to have told a research institute seminar about some 
"very, very disturbing developments" in Cambodia and warned 
Phnom Penh "if they go completely off the right path, if there are 
serious derogations from the principles of pluralism and freedom of 
speech, U.S. aid is going to dry up." He said Australia, France, Japan 
and the U.S. "see this exactly the same way, that aid will be 
conditional."
 
The campaign against Phnom Penh has picked up momentum 
following the expulsion of these two leaders from the ruling party, an 
attack on journalists and he freedom of the press, grenade attacked on 
Opposition parties and meetings and alleged corruption in he 
administration.
 
The Second Prime Minister, Mr. Hun Sen, has taken up a heroic 
defence of the Cambodian situation and claimed that the coalition 
government has provided peace and stability to a troubled kingdom. 
He threaten to seek damages from the from the U.S for land mines 
and ravages of war if Washington suspended its and aid and adopted 
a negative approach to his country.
 
On the Myanmar front, an international network to promote 
democracy in Myanmar was launched this week in Geneva, 
coinciding with the meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
 
It consists of parliamentarians and Senators from the U.S., Europe 
and Asia and seeks to raise funds for the Opposition groups in 
Yangon and step up pressure in international fora for the cause of 
democracy in Myanmar.
 
In a message to the Human Rights Commission, Nobel laureate and 
pro-democracy leader, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, appealed to the 
international community to increase pressure on Myanmars military 
regime to restore democracy. She argued that the desire for business 
contracts should not blind countries to repressive policies of the junta.
 
How these international pressure groups mount their campaign  and 
the response to it will determine the future of democracy and the 
upholding fundamental rights in these two countries.
 
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