Daily News - February 20, 2005 - Sunday
  • Burma's PM arrives today for one-day visit
  • Human rights to top talks between Philippines and Burmese leaders



    • Burma's PM arrives today for one-day visit

    Manila Bulletin / Manila Times

    Prime Minister Soe Win of Burma is arriving today for a one-day working visit to the Philippines as part of the traditional tour in Asia by new leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced yesterday.

    The DFA said that Soe Win, who took over from former Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt last year, will be accompanied by Burma's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.

    The Burmese delegation will meet its counterparts in the Philippine government to discuss ways to enhance bilateral relations and follow-up on the democratic reforms in Burma.

    Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a press conference last week that the Philippines will urge the Burmese government to speed up democratic reforms amid reports that the Burmese government is planning to continue holding in detention some members of Democratic Party National League for Democracy (NLD) including NLD leader Daw Aung Suu Kyi.

    "The Prime Minister is coming here for a visit on February 20 and we will reiterate to Myanmar our desire for democratic reforms there," Romulo said.

    Romulo stressed that the Philippines will urge Burma to stay true to its word that members of the democratic party NLD will be allowed to participate in the drafting of a new Constitution.

    Romulo noted that during the recent ASEAN meeting in Vientienne, Laos, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had received the commitment of Win that the Burmese government will allow Suu Kyi to be represented in the political process of drafting a new constitution.

    Romulo said that the Philippines will remind the Burmese Prime Minister of this commitment in a diplomatic and courteous manner during his working visit here.

    He added that the Philippines will also urge Win to allow the special representative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to revisit Burma to monitor the developments on Burma’s transition to democracy.

    Soe Win, GMA to discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties

    President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is expected to discuss with Burmese Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Soe Win ways to advance bilateral relations, particularly in trade and investments, as well as the promotion and protection of human rights during their meeting on Monday in Malacañang.

    Soe Win is scheduled to arrive in Manila at 5:25 p.m. today at the Villamor Air base in Pasay City for an official visit, as part of his traditional call on neighboring Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries after he assumed office as Prime Minister of Burma in October last year. He will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nyan Win and other officials.

    On Monday, the President is expected to roll down the red carpet for Soe Win, whom she first met during a regional summit in Laos last year, in Malacanang. Arrival honors will accorded to the visiting Burma leader, followed by a closed-door bilateral meeting with the President at the Palace.

    High on the agenda of the meeting between the two leaders are "bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual concern, such as opportunities for cooperation in the areas of trade and investment," according to a Palace statement.

    Mrs. Arroyo is also expected to renew her appeal to the military ruler to abide by the "roadmap to democracy" by allowing imprisoned Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in mainstream politics.

    "The President will also discuss the promotion and protection of human rights, which is one of ASEAN’s goals and principles in inter-state relations as emphasized in the Joint Communiqué of the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting," the statement read.

    Burma, which has been ruled by a succession of military juntas for more than four decades, has been criticized for its alleged poor human rights record.

    The President will host an official lunch for Soe Win and his delegation at the State Dining Room in the Palace.

    In a regional summit in November last year in Vientiene, Laos, Mrs. Arroyo urged Soe Win to allow Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy in Burma’s national convention.

    At that time, Soe Win told the President his government is determined to ensure the success of the national convention, which will be followed by a referendum to ratify Burma’s constitution. He said his government invited Suu Kyi to join the national convention but the latter declined the invitation.

    The National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990, but the ruling military junta has refused to honor the victory. She remains under house arrest in Yangon, the capital of Burma.

    It has been the consensus of ASEAN, which groups the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, to pursue "constructive engagement" in dealing with Myanmar despite international condemnation.

    The conditional embrace, which sets ASEAN in conflict with the West which wants Rangoon’s military rulers isolated, "is the Asian way" and designed "to encourage Myanmar to open up its democratic space," President Arroyo said last year.

    The Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), a nongovernment organization based in the Philippines, and the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines (FBC-Phils.) slammed the scheduled visit Soe Win.

    The two groups said that Soe Win, who succeeded another general, Khin Nyunt, after a top-level power struggle in Burma last year, is the mastermind behind the Depayin Massacre last year which claimed the lives of hundreds of supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the biggest opposition party in Burma. The NLD won majority of the seats in election held in Burma in 1990 but the ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), did not allow the NLD to take power.

    FBC-Phils., a coalition of NGOs and people’s organization, said Burma was an embarrassment to the Asean since it joined the organization in 1996.

    “To give the military rulers in Rangoon the red carpet welcome is tantamount to the Philippine government tolerating if not actually promoting the undemocratic governance of the generals,” it said. “Let us not be blinded by the benefits of bilateral trade or cooperation agreements with Burma if this explicit support for the regime would only prolong the sufferings of the 52 million Burmese.”

    Burma is the former name of Myanmar. Groups opposing the junta insist on using the name Burma instead of Myanmar.

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    Human rights to top talks between Philippines and Burmese leaders

    MANILA (AFP) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo will raise the protection of human rights with the prime minister of military-ruled Burma, Soe Win, who is due here for an official visit, officials said.

    "One of the major topics scheduled for discussion by the two leaders is the promotion and protection of human rights," the presidential palace said Sunday.

    The issue was among the key principles of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which includes Burma and the Philippines, it said.

    Burma's continued detention of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been an embarrassment for ASEAN which has nonetheless not confronted the internationally reviled regime, believing instead in "constructive engagement" in dealing with the military rulers in Rangoon.

    Arroyo in November last year had called on Lieutenant General Soe Win to allow Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy icon, to be represented in government but stopped short in calling for her release.

    Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990, but the ruling military junta has refused to honor the victory. She is under house arrest in the Burmese capital Rangoon.

    The Philippine government is expecting to expand trade and investment relations with Burma during Soe Win's visit.

    The presidential palace said Philippines jewellers could explore possible agreements for the sourcing of semi-precious stones from Myanmar, which produces gems like rubies, sapphires and jade.

    Furniture makers could also enter into the same agreement for the sourcing of their wood products like teak and rattan, it said.

    Soe Win's visit to Manila is his first since assuming power last year.

    Activists against the Burmese regime have condemned the Philippines for hosting the prime minister, pointing out that this country had suffered under martial law during the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship that ended in 1986.

    "We don't support dictatorships," said Gus Miclat of the Initiatives for International Dialogue which has been pushing for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi.

    "This commitment to democracy should reflect in our government's dealing with Burma (Myanmar). Please, let us not become the evil that we deplore," he said.

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    National Convention of Burma worse than Tsunami

    Mizzima News

    A Phillipine-based human rights group says Burmese junta's national convention as " worse than a tsunami". "The national convention is a man-made disaster that will put the lives of the 52 million people of Burma in great danger. A tsunami hits very rarely, but a military-influenced constitution will cause lifetime damage in the lives of the already oppressed Burmese people," Gu Miclat, Executive Director of The Initiatives for International Dialogue or IID said.

    Military-ruled Burma resumed convention, the constitutional-drafting process yesterday with 1075 delegates, most are hand-picked at Nyaung-hna-pin Hall, (42) Kilometers far from the capital Rangoon.

    "The junta bragged that the charter talks is the first step in their roadmap to democracy. But the convention is undemocratic and unrepresentative and is being pursued without the consent of the majority of the people in Burma," Miclat added.

    Lt Gen Thein Sein, the chairman of convening committee said in opening session" The drawing up of this constituion is very important because we are going for a democratic nation" but no time frame to complete its work.

    The main pro-democracy parties the National League for Democracy and other three ethnic parties boycotted the convention because of their respective leaders have been detained.

    Exiled, US and EU condemn the junta's convention as illegitimate.

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