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SHAME ON ASEAN :EDITORIAL OF JERUSA
- Subject: SHAME ON ASEAN :EDITORIAL OF JERUSA
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 17:28:00
Subject: SHAME ON ASEAN :EDITORIAL OF JERUSALEM POST
Shame on Southeast Asia
Editorial
(June 1) - The right of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations
(ASEAN) to admit whoever it likes into the club deserves
respect, but its
decision yesterday to admit Burma was extremely
unfortunate. ASEAN
made the principle of non-interference in its members'
internal affairs a
golden rule. With the admission of Burma, they have
turned it into a golden
calf (or better, perhaps, a golden ostrich) - all that
is needed is uncritical
worship of the mantra.
Burma is not just another of those states with dubious
internal practices or
a shaky democracy. It is a vicious military dictatorship
whose leaders are
sworn enemies of democracy. It should stand alongside
North Korea as a
pariah among Asian nations. It will be the only state in
the ASEAN group
that actually held a democratic election and refused to
allow the winners to
take power. Not only that, it has since persecuted and
imprisoned the
democrats, and defied world outrage to keep caged the
Nobel peace
laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Despite the impending debate over its ASEAN membership,
Burma in
1996 managed to turn in the worst ever record for human
rights abuses,
according to Amnesty International. That is a sure sign
that ASEAN's
pursuit of the much discredited foreign policy of
non-interference and
"constructive engagement" (which used to be called
appeasement) will
influence the despicable Burmese military junta not one
whit.
The generals will bleat and complain in the manner of
all such regimes
about Western plots and American interference. This is
complete nonsense
- the abuses of Burma against its own people are a
special case. The world
has as much right to complain about Burma in ASEAN as
ASEAN (and
Washington) would have a right to complain about Serbia
in the European
Union. Laos and Cambodia were also admitted to ASEAN
yesterday. No
one would claim these two states live up to stable
democratic or economic
standards yet - but no one criticized ASEAN's decision.
Indeed,
Cambodia and Laos are to be applauded and welcomed into
partnership
with their neighbors - Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, Brunei,
the Philippines, and Vietnam - in the 30-year-old forum.
It shows how far
they have come, and their enthusiasm for a bright new
future.
In Burma's case it would appear that economic expediency
and a desire to
bring all 10 Southeast Asian states into the forum on
its 30th anniversary
have prevailed over good judgment. ASEAN was grossly
wrong to
disregard a fervent appeal from Suu Kyi to exclude
Burma. After all, she is
the leader of the party that won the 1990 elections
which the Burmese
tyrants have since refused to honor.
Even as she made a smuggled video this week to appeal to
the ASEAN
leaders, the military usurpers were incarcerating 300 of
her supporters.
"What the people of Burma risk is the possibility that
admission into
ASEAN will make the regime even more obdurate and
oppressive than
ever," said Suu Kyi. She should know. In ignoring her
appeal, the ASEAN
leaders have rejected democrats in favor of despots. In
making this
shameful capitulation to the strong-arm brigands of
Rangoon, they have
tainted their admirable anniversary celebrations.
The imprisoned democrats in the jails of ASEAN's newest
member will
have little to celebrate. In this decision, neither does
ASEAN.