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Visitor in olive green
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Visitor in olive green
>From The Hindustan Times newspaper, dated November 16, 2000
EDITORIAL
The official welcome for a leading member of Myanmar?s military
dictatorship sits ill with the award five years ago of the Jawaharlal
Nehru Prize for Peace and Understanding to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel
laureate and democratic opposition leader of that country, who has been
under house arrest since 1989.
The wisdom, therefore, of according a ?State visit? to General Maung
Aye, Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of
Myanmar, that is reportedly being contemplated, can be questioned even
if there is merit in the view that the rules of diplomatic chessboard
oblige the Indian leadership to play host to him.
The fact remains, however, that the record of the Myanmar regime is an
unsavoury one. When the rising tide of popular rebellion succeeded in
1988 in forcing the resignation of the one-party dictatorship of General
Ne Win (which had seized power a quarter century earlier from the
democratic Prime Minister, U Nu), the regime?s challengers were ambushed
by the men in olive green led by Saw Maung, a close associate of Ne Win.
The putschists thought nothing of opening fire on unarmed crowds,
killing, it is said, several thousand people, a figure that far
surpassed the number of the dead at Beijing?s Tiananmen Square. In the
May 1990 elections, Ms Suu Kyi?s National League for Democracy won 80
per cent of the votes though she was under house arrest. But the
military junta refused to relinquish power.
Perhaps the only positive aspects of the grim situation are that army
lifted the martial law in 1992 (though there can be no doubt about who
runs the show) and that the Opposition was made legal. These steps
doubtless helped in easing the regime?s international isolation,
eventually facilitating its entry into ASEAN. India will find this
setting helpful in its own engagements with Myanmar, made necessary by
neighbourhood compulsions. The junta does help us in tracking down
narco-terrorists and secessionists. There is no reason, therefore, for
New Delhi to treat the Yangon regime with either disdain or hostility,
especially when Myanmar is now a part of the Mekong-Ganga initiative.
But none of this should prevent India from urging Myanmar?s strangely
named State Law and Order Restoration Council into clearing the path for
a democratic transition.
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<html>
<b><font size=+2>Visitor in olive green</font></b>
<p>From The Hindustan Times newspaper, dated November 16, 2000
<br><b><font size=+1>EDITORIAL</font></b>
<p>The official welcome for a leading member of Myanmar?s military dictatorship
sits ill with the award five years ago of the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize for
Peace and Understanding to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and democratic
opposition leader of that country, who has been under house arrest since
1989.
<p>The wisdom, therefore, of according a ?State visit? to General Maung
Aye, Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar,
that is reportedly being contemplated, can be questioned even if there
is merit in the view that the rules of diplomatic chessboard oblige the
Indian leadership to play host to him.
<p>The fact remains, however, that the record of the Myanmar regime is
an unsavoury one. When the rising tide of popular rebellion succeeded in
1988 in forcing the resignation of the one-party dictatorship of General
Ne Win (which had seized power a quarter century earlier from the democratic
Prime Minister, U Nu), the regime?s challengers were ambushed by the men
in olive green led by Saw Maung, a close associate of Ne Win. The putschists
thought nothing of opening fire on unarmed crowds, killing, it is said,
several thousand people, a figure that far surpassed the number of the
dead at Beijing?s Tiananmen Square. In the May 1990 elections, Ms Suu Kyi?s
National League for Democracy won 80 per cent of the votes though she was
under house arrest. But the
<br>military junta refused to relinquish power.
<p>Perhaps the only positive aspects of the grim situation are that army
lifted the martial law in 1992 (though there can be no doubt about who
runs the show) and that the Opposition was made legal. These steps doubtless
helped in easing the regime?s international isolation, eventually facilitating
its entry into ASEAN. India will find this setting helpful in its own engagements
with Myanmar, made necessary by neighbourhood compulsions. The junta does
help us in tracking down narco-terrorists and secessionists. There is no
reason, therefore, for New Delhi to treat the Yangon regime with either
disdain or hostility, especially when Myanmar is now a part of the Mekong-Ganga
initiative. But none of this should prevent India from urging Myanmar?s
strangely named State Law and Order Restoration Council into clearing the
path for a democratic transition.
<br>
<p> </html>
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