Burmese Win Observer Status in Sout

[Winston_Lee@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Burmese Win Observer Status in Southeast Asian Group

Fr NYT, July 22, 1996, by Seth Mydans

Bangkok, Thailand, July 21 -- The military Government of Myanmar took a major 
step toward international legitimacy this weekend as its Southeast Asians 
neighbors welcomed it into a regional partnership and told Western countries 
not to interfere.  "Heartfelt congratulations," Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon 
of the Philippines said today in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the seven-member 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations granted Myanmar observer status, a first 
step toward full membership in the group, which is also known as Asean.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister, U Ohn Gyaw, was greeted with a warm applause on 
Saturday and told his new colleagues, "Today is a historic moment for Southeast 
Asia."  The celebratory atmosphere contrasted with growing antagonism of 
Western countries, which have criticized Myanmar, formerly Burma, for human 
rights violations and urged steps to isolate it economically or at least to 
press it to make reforms.

An outcry against Myanmar has grown in recent weeks as tensions have heightened 
between the governing junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the 
democratic opposition, which is demanding the share in Government that she was 
denied after her party won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections 
in 1990.  Two years earlier, hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators were 
killed by the Government forces.

In My, the Government arrested 273 members of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's party to 
prevent a conference marking the sixth anniversary of the elections, whose 
results the Government refused to honor.  Since then, a war of words have 
veiled threats has escalated between  Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military 
leaders.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher is due to meet with his counterparts in 
Jakarta on Monday and Tuesday and is expected to urge them to use their 
influence to bring about changes in Myanmar.  But the United States has so far 
stopped short of calling for the economic sanctions that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi 
is now urging.  Mr. Christopher is to sit across the table from U Ohn Gyaw at 
the Asean Regional Forum, the regional security grouping, but the two men have 
not scheduled a direct meeting.

Foreign ministers from Europe and Australia were also expected to urge stronger 
action against Myanmar, but Asean leaders have already staked out a firm 
position.  "Asean has one cardinal rule, and that is not to interfere in the 
internal affairs of other countries," said Indonesian Foreign Minister, Ali 
Alatas.  He said the countries of the region "prefer to work quietly on issues 
of internal matters" and said Western countries must realize that "this is our 
organization, not theirs."
Last week, the association's Secretary General, Ajit Singh of Malaysia, was 
even more blunt, saying "The West and the Media are going on a witch hunt as 
far as Myanmar is concerned, because it is not an issue at all as far as Asean 
is concerned."

Indeed, the final communiqu? of the two-day meeting of foreign ministers, 
issued today, did not mention the issue of human rights abuses in Myanmar, 
though it referred to more distant problems in the Middle East, Bosnia and 
Korea.  Myanmar's neighbors subscribe to the principle of "constructive 
engagement," arguing that a country's policies can best be influenced - as they 
were in Eastern Europe -- by enriching diplomatic and economic involvement.  
They argue that sanctions and ostracism have had little effect on the Communist 
Governments of Vietnam and Cuba.

One of the least developed and potentially richest nations in the region, 
Myanmar offers tempting business opportunities, and Southeast Asian countries, 
led by Singapore, have plunged into trade and investment there since the 
Government began liberalizing its economic policies seven years ago.  In 
addition, their successful regional grouping holds to a dream of including all 
10 Southeast Asian countries by the end of the century.  Vietnam recently ended 
years of antagonism by joining Asean, which also includes Indonesia, the 
Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei.  Cambodia and Laos also 
gained observer status this weekend.

"They want a Southeast Asian 10, without a loose cannon on deck that anyone 
like China can play with," said Carlyle A. Thayer, who heads the School of 
Politics at the Australian Defense Force Academy.  "They want to get Burma 
inside the tent of Asean.  They adhere to collectivist Asian values and argue 
that they will be more effective engaging Burma rather than isolating it."
Myanmar receives extensive military aid from China, and diplomatic relations 
between the countries are warm.  The growing regional power of China is a main 
concern of the Southeast Asian grouping.  Nevertheless, the timing of Myanmar's 
inclusion as an observer is awkward, and any severe crackdown there would be 
embarrassing for the country's new colleagues.

One year ago the Government released Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi from six years of 
house arrest, apparently hoping to defuse international criticism.  But its 
failure to open a dialogue with her and its continuing harsh treatment of her 
supporters have brought continuing calls for sanctions.
The death in prison one month ago her godfather, James Leander Nichols - who 
was the unaccredited honorary consul for several Scandinavian countries - 
brought a new round of criticism that led to the pullout from Myanmar of the 
Carlsberg and Heineken breweries.  

Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Asia, said last week 
that the policy of constructive engagement had clearly failed.  "With an 
increase in migrant and refugee outflows, stepped-up arrests and continuing 
forced labor," she said in a statement, "Asean must either conclude that its 
policy of engagement is bankrupt, or use its influence with Burma to halt the 
slide."

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 51, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has stepped 
up her public challenge to the Government since the wave of arrests in May.  In 
a videotape smuggled from Myanmar in advance of the Asean meeting, she called 
for economic sanctions, saying, "We think this is the time for concerted 
international efforts with regard to the democratic process in Burma."  She has 
announced plans to draft a constitution that would reduce the military's 
political role, and she has asserted that she will continue to hold meetings of 
her supporters, although the Government has warned that both of these 
activities are illegal.

For its part, the Government has increased the harshness of its press 
commentaries against her, suggesting that her activities are subversive and 
that she is under the control of enemies from the West.  The commentaries seem 
intended to alienate her from the public and also to lay the groundwork for any 
possible action against her.  On Saturday, as U Ohn Gyaw was being welcomed in 
Jakarta, the controlled press castigated Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi as a "fifth 
columnist," "power crazy" and a "stooge of the imperialists" who has been 
tainted by her marriage to a Briton, Michael Aris.  "Aung San Suu Kyi had her 
blood mixed with that of an Englishman and gave birth to two half-castes," it 
said.  "Suu Kyi has been in the Englishman's arms." //END//