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World stance to harden against call (r)



Subject: World stance to harden against callous junta

The Nation 29 March 1999

Editorial & Opinion


REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: World stance to harden against callous junta

The Burmese regime's refusal to grant a visa to Dr Michael Aris, the husband
of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, will further harden the international
opposition against Rangoon in the foreseeable future. With Aris having
passed away on Saturday and his wish left unfulfilled, it would also further
complicate relations between Asean, of which Burma is a member, and the
grouping's key dialogue partner, the European Community.

The Burmese leaders have been using the request of Dr Aris to return to
Burma to visit Suu Kyi as an instrument to embarrass her and eventually
purge her from the country forever. Both tactics did not work.

After a long series of negotiations between the British Foreign Office and
the Rangoon regime in London, no headway was made. It was an open secret
that the current foreign minister, U Win Aung, who served as the ambassador
in London before taking up the current post, did not like the British
government which he felt failed to treat him honourably.

Later on, the British government made a request to the Thai Foreign Ministry
in February to assist its effort to help Aris obtain an entry visa to Burma.
When Win Aung visited Bangkok in mid-February to prepare for the visit of
the Burmese delegation headed by Prime Minister Than Shwe, Foreign Minister
Surin Pitsuwan brought this matter up with his Burmese counterpart. But the
answer from the Burmese was the same: it would not give in.

Rangoon argued that when Aris was allowed inside Burma three years ago, he
shattered all hope for a national reconciliation between the regime and the
opposition party when he gave press interviews criticising the Burmese
regime and its leaders on leaving Burma. During the meeting with Surin, Win
Aung also said that in the Burmese tradition, the person in good health,
meaning Suu Kyi, should visit her husband instead of letting her
cancer-stricken husband come to her.

The matter was raised again during Than Shwe's visit to Thailand early this
month by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, but Burma's position remained
unchanged. But Rangoon did come up with a response that it was considering
the visa request by Aris knowing full well that his days were numbered.

Last week, after numerous appeals to Burma to grant a visa on humanitarian
grounds from Japan, UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, US and the United
Nations, the junta leaders said that Suu Kyi would be allowed to return if
she decided to visit her husband in Oxfordshire, England. But Suu Kyi
refused to take up the offer knowing full well that the regime could not be
trusted. In the past decade, she has personally suffered from the regime's
backstabbing and lies. Of course, the biggest was the election result in May
1990, which was won by the opposition party, National League of Democracy.

The death of Aris would certainly have an immediate effect of toughening the
position of EU vis-a-vis Asean, which has softened somewhat following
frequent dialogues between Thailand, as an Asean-EU coordinator, and
Germany, currently holder of the EU presidency. It might now affect the
twice-cancelled joint cooperation commission meeting between Asean and EU to
discuss bilateral cooperation, scheduled to be held in May in Bangkok.
Europe had earlier agreed to a passive presence by Burma at the meeting.

The meeting in Berlin later this month between foreign ministers from the
Asia-Europe Meeting would also be tense. Even though Burma is not a member
of Asem, the sadden news of Aris might have a spill-over effect on the
position of the European countries against Asian countries, especially
Asean.

Suu Kyi, who was with diplomats and friends, when news of her husband's
death reached her, remained serene. After their marriage in 1972, they have
spent their time on and off between England and Burma. When she returned to
Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother, the whole country was in the midst
of a political crisis.

As daughter of national hero Gen Aung San, she was entrusted as leader of
pro-democracy groups fighting against the regime. Both Aris and Suu Kyi have
chosen to live apart, especially for the former, so that she can carry on
her mission to lead her country towards democracy.

The Burmese regime had sought to exploit this very personal matter involving
Aris and Suu Kyi. If a decision to allow the visit was made weeks before
Aris was hospitalised, he and his two sons could have a peaceful reunion
with Suu Kyi. That consideration on a humanitarian ground would certainly be
a major public relations coup for Rangoon. It might also have been able to
help heal the rift between the NLD and the junta leaders.

In the Burmese tradition, whoever can fulfil the last wish of a dying person
would be reciprocated. Too bad, the regime decided to do nothing about it.

BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN

The Nation