Daily News - March 18, 2010 - Thursday
  • Despite crackdown on monks, Burma pledges tolerance
  • Bid at new political era faces capacity challenge
  • UK presses U.N. council to take up Burma: diplomats
  • Burma rejects call to rescind law disqualifying Suu Kyi
  • Romulo not satisfied with Burmese FM's explanation on law
  • Australia praised for supporting Burma UN inquiry




    • Despite crackdown on monks, Burma pledges tolerance

    MANILA (AFP) – Burma on Wednesday pledged to promote a culture of tolerance, despite international outrage over an appalling human rights record that includes its crackdown on Buddhist monks.

    "We are committed to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and dialogue," Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Manila.

    "I hardly need to stress the importance of harbouring mutual respect among people of different faiths," he stressed.

    "If we fail to show respect and discriminate against other religions, conflicts and tensions among peoples will linger on.

    "We fully agree that tolerance is a fundamental value of international relations," he said.

    However, Burma remains an international pariah over its continuing crackdown on Buddhist monks and opposition members.

    In a report late last year, Human Rights Watch said as many as 240 monks had been jailed in Burma, with thousands of others defrocked or living in fear of arrest for their role in mass demonstrations in 2007.

    The rights group said as many as 2,200 political dissidents were in detention in Burma.

    Burma also recently provoked international anger after the ruling junta passed laws effectively preventing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in elections this year.

    In a meeting scheduled with Nyan Win later Wednesday, Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo is expected to criticise the laws and call for their repeal.

    Nyan Win side-stepped the issue, saying that the discussions with Romulo would focus only on bilateral relations.

    Romulo said earlier he would urge the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which both Burma and the Philippines belong, to call for a reversal of Burma's decree, at the bloc's annual summit in Vietnam next month.

    ASEAN, which groups 10 nations, maintains a policy of non-interference in its members' affairs. But that has slowly begun to erode in recent years, with the Philippines taking the lead in criticising Burma's junta.

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    Bid at new political era faces capacity challenge

    Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

    YANGON, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - A lack of capacity on several levels is likely to hamper Burma's bid to change its political structure, diplomats and analysts say.

    The military government this month took another step on the "roadmap" for what it says will be a transition to democracy when it unveiled laws for an election later this year, the country's first in two decades.

    The government has said the roadmap, launched in August 2003, will lead to a "discipline-flourishing democracy". Among the changes to be made will be the creation of a presidential system of government, a bicameral legislature and 14 regional governments and assemblies, which the International Crisis Group describes as "the most wide-ranging shake-up in a generation".

    But given the military's reluctance to relinquish its grip on power and the long suppression of democratic activity in Burma, diplomats say the transition will face significant challenges - one of the most critical being whether the public service has the capacity to sustain the change.

    A top-down decision-making process and limited development assistance and exposure to capacity-building programmes are among the factors that would hamper the ability of the public service to sustain a transition.

    "There is obviously insufficient bureaucratic capacity in Myanmar today to manage and implement a 'transition to democracy'," Trevor Wilson, the Australian ambassador to Burma from 2000 to 2003, told IRIN.

    Lack of experience

    Burma has been under military rule since 1962, when military commander Ne Win seized power in a coup. The lack of experience with a genuine parliamentary government since has contributed to a situation where "democratic processes of decision-making - involving open public debate, meaningful consultation, and responsive and caring structures - were almost unknown", said Wilson.

    "These processes cannot be introduced overnight, but need to be learned and practised," he said.

    "There are some excellent officials, with good technical knowledge and experience," said a British diplomat based in Rangoon. "But the worry is that this is an ageing demographic, close to retirement," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity in line with British government policy.

    "The younger generations, whilst committed and with a level of expertise, have lower qualifications and less experience or exposure," the diplomat said.

    Centralised decision-making

    Burma is ruled by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), where power is concentrated in a group of high-ranking military officials who maintain tight control over political decisions.

    "The structure of decision-making, highly centralised, also has an impact on the effectiveness of the public service as a whole, and the ability and morale of individuals within a structure that does not encourage personal responsibility or initiative," said the British envoy.

    Another Rangoon-based diplomat said that while the public service had well-developed administrative processes, "considerable developmental support" in basic areas such as parliamentary services, public sector budgeting and policy development and application would be needed.

    "Policy is issued in the form of orders and therefore tends not to have the benefit of cross-ministry coordinated consultation to ensure that the law itself is not in conflict with other policy areas," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Sanctions and international support

    Unrealized public sector capacity is mainly due to chronic under-investment in education, but the withdrawal of international financial institutions (IFIs) has also hampered reform efforts.

    The European Union imposed sanctions on Burma in 1996 and the US a year later, while international assistance has been restricted mostly to humanitarian programmes.

    The persecution of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - who has spent about 14 of the last 20 years in detention - and the harassment of her pro-democracy party, were the underlying rationale for the move.

    "The system is badly in need of restructuring and this can really only come about with exposure, technical advice and financial input," said the British diplomat.

    The International Monetary Fund and World Bank blocked development lending to Burma as part of western sanctions, while senior officials only had limited contact with the organizations and opportunities to train and learn, said Wilson.

    "Sanctions have made a bad situation worse by cutting off much normal contact and exchange with democracies," he said.

    David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said the gap created by the absence of IFI training programmes should have been taken up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Burma is a member.

    ASEAN "would be the logical place to have them and they should have begun long ago", Steinberg said.

    But while sanctions are a factor, "the blame has also and fundamentally to be placed on the Burmese administration, which through thought control, censorship, and fear of alternative ideas has stifled creative thinking and scholarship", he said.

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    UK presses U.N. council to take up Burma: diplomats

    Reuters

    Britain is pushing the U.N. Security Council to discuss concerns about Burma's upcoming election but is facing resistance from the southeast Asian nation's powerful neighbour China, U.N. diplomats said on Wednesday.

    Burma has been on the agenda of the 15-nation council for years due to what Western powers say is the military junta's brutal suppression of human rights and crackdowns on ethnic minorities and dissidents. But China and Russia have prevented the council from imposing sanctions on the junta leaders.

    The reason Britain is urging the 15-nation council to return the situation in Burma,is the government's recently published regulations banning political prisoners from participating in elections, or even being members of political parties, the diplomats said.

    "A number of council members support the idea of discussing Burma and getting an update on the situation there," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

    "It's the subject of negotiations with the Chinese at the moment, who are always reluctant on these matters," he said.

    The United States and France, both of which are permanent veto-wielding council members like Britain, China and Russia, are among those that support the idea of a council meeting on Burma to discuss the upcoming election, diplomats said.

    One envoy said they would like the council to agree on some kind of statement urging Burma's junta to free political prisoners and allow them to take part in the poll, which has not been scheduled but is expected to take place this year.

    The council has only agreed to two formal statements on Burma. The last, in August 2009, voiced "serious concern" about opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's conviction for letting an American intruder who swam to her house stay for two days.

    TROUBLE WITH CHINA

    The new regulations, which the United States and United Nations have said would strip any remaining credibility from the elections, would prevent the detained Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, from running for office.

    Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the last election in 1990 but the junta ignored the result and officially annulled it last Thursday.

    The NLD is considering whether to take part in the poll, which has been widely dismissed outside Burma as a sham intended to make the country appear more democratic while leaving the military in control.

    Diplomats said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's so-called "Group of Friends" on Burma will meet on March 25 to discuss the situation there. That group includes the United States, Britain, France, China, Japan, Australia, Norway, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.

    It was not clear when the Security Council would meet to discuss Burma, though Western diplomats said they hoped it would be as soon as possible.

    Historically the council has been unable to do much about Burma due to resistance from China. U.S. and European officials have suggested that the United Nations should impose sanctions on the country.

    But Beijing has been unwilling to allow the council to take punitive action against Burma, whose nearly 2,000 km (1,250 mile) coastline provides neighbouring China with easy land and sea access to lucrative South Asian markets. Russia has also opposed sanctions due to what it says are internal matters.

    The United States, France and Britain have had disagreements with China on other issues, such as Iran's nuclear program, North Korea and an unsuccessful Anglo-American attempt in 2008 to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and high-ranking members of his government.

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    Burma rejects call to rescind law disqualifying Suu Kyi

    dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)

    Manila - Burma's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected the Philippines' call for the ruling military junta to rescind a new law that disqualifies opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in national elections planned this year. Nyan Win met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement's meeting on interfaith dialogue in Manila.

    Romulo said he was disappointed with the meeting because Nyan Win "didn't talk much."

    "He was just listening," Romulo told reporters after the closed-door meeting in which he reiterated the Philippines' call for Burma to revoke the law announced last week.

    "He told me that that was the law," Romulo said.

    The new election law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party or a candidate in the elections.

    The law makes Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 21 years under house arrest, ineligible to run for the elections not yet scheduled but expected later this year.

    The new decree would also prevent Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party from contesting the elections, even with another candidate, as long as she remains on its membership rolls, according to a party spokesman.

    Romulo said Burma should live up to its commitment to institute political reforms in the country. "The road map to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] and to the world," he said. "We are just asking them to implement their own road map to democracy"

    Romulo said any election in Burma would only be credible if it "includes everybody."

    He said he would urge ASEAN foreign ministers to press Burma to withdraw the law when they meet in Vietnam on April 8.

    The Philippines and Burma are members of ASEAN, which has often been criticised for failing to exert more influence over Yangon to implement democratic reforms.

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    Romulo not satisfied with Burmese FM's explanation on law

    Philippine Star

    MANILA (Xinhua) - Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo on Wednesday said he was not satisfied with the outcome of his meeting with Burma's Foreign Minister when he sought for the official's explanation on a law that will ban opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the country's national polls planned this year.

    Romulo said Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win "didn't talk much " on the issue when he met him at the sidelines of the special Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on interfaith cooperation.

    "He was just listening. He didn't say much so if you ask me and you didn't say much will you be satisfied?" Romulo told reporters in a chance interview.

    "He told me that that was the law," he added.

    Asked if he urged the government of Burma to recall the law, Romulo said: "It's not asked but it was our statement. She should be included and she was included before and in fact she won overwhelmingly."

    Romulo said Burma should live up to its commitment to institute reforms in the country.

    "We've been saying this all along that the roadmap to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South East Asian Nations and to the world and that were just asking them to implement their own roadmap to democracy which is all inclusive and includes everybody and that it will be fair and free," he said.

    The Political Parties Registration Law prohibits any convicted lawbreaker from being in a political party and run for public office.

    Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has spent more than 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last year for violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man illegally swam across a lake to her waterfront villa and sneaked into her compound for two nights. She was sentenced to three years of hard labor but the court "mitigated" the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.

    Romulo said he will urge other Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers to press Burma to withdraw the law when they meet at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 8.

    But ASEAN has a standing policy of non-interference in members' domestic affairs.

    Amid opposition from the West, ASEAN supported the entry of Burma into the grouping as its 10th member in 1997.

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    Australia praised for supporting Burma UN inquiry

    Radio Australia

    Australia has won rare praise from Burma-campaigners for supporting a move in Geneva that could lead to an international legal case against Burma's military junta for crimes against its people.

    It comes after a discussion in the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva of a report by Special Rapporteur, Tomas Quintana. The reports calls for an investigation into Burma's military for human rights and war crimes against civilians - a move which has been angrily rejected by Burma as unobjective and politically motivated. But at the Genvea meeting, Australia endorsed an investigation into ways a U-N commission of inquiry might be held.

    Presenter: Linda Mottram

    Speakers: U Wunna Maung Lwin, Burma UN Ambassador; Scott Ludlum, Australian Greens Party Senator; Steven Smith, Australian Foreign Minister

    MOTTRAM: The Special Rapporteur's report was issued last week and then discussed in Geneva earlier this week. Representatives of countries present overwhelmingly lamented a lack of progress in Burma on issues of political prisoners, human rights and openness. Burma's Ambassador to the UN, U Wunna Maung Lwin, angrily dismissed the report as unobjective and politicised and, in this quote, specifically rejected claims the regime takes political prisoners.

    MAUNG LWIN: (voiceover) My government has clearly stated that there are no prisoners of conscience and that those who are serving prison terms are those who offended the existing laws and regulations.

    MOTTRAM: In its response to the Special Rapporteur's report, Australia -- through the diplomatic language -- was robust. Australia's Representative in Geneva, Angela Robinson, is quoted as saying Australia would support investigating possible options for a United Nations commission of inquiry.

    In Australia, Greens Party Senator and Burma democracy advocate, Scott Ludlum, praised the move as an important shift in Australia's stance on Burma in line with many previous calls for such a move.

    LUDLUM: This is the first step towards an international criminal court prosecution of the Burmese regime and judiciary. It's something that the Australian government has strongly resisted moving for in the past and we very much welcome this change and this important shift.

    MOTTRAM: Further evidence that Australia is looking to increase pressure on Burma came during a Senate debate welcoming the government's initiative, which passed unanimously without requiring a vote.

    CHAIR: ... the motion moved by Senator Ludlum be agreed to those of that opinion say aye, the contrary no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it.

    And on top of that, Australia formally this week made clear it's dismay at the five electoral laws unveiled recently by the Burmese authorities.

    Australia's Foreign minister Stephen Smith made a detailed statement to the Australian Parliament on that issue, prefacing his remarks by saying Australia had joined the international community in suspending judgement on whether Burma's plans for elections later this year .. the first in twenty years .. signalled a genuine intention to return to democracy.

    SMITH: Towards the end of last week, the Burmese authorities published five electoral laws which will govern the conduct of the election and whilst in some respect its not surprising I very much regret to advise the house that on the basis of the publication of these electoral laws, I have very grave reservations as to whether it is possible for an election to be conducted appropriately in Burma with the full, free and fair participation of all those concerned.

    MOTTRAM: Mr Smith singled out the very limiting conditions the laws impose on political parties, and particularly on the National League for Democracy which faces having to expel its iconic leader, the long-detained Aung San Suu Kyi, if it wants to take part in the poll. And he said it would be difficult for political parties to decide whether to participate regardless, or not, with their decision due by May the sixth.

    SMITH: I very much regret this development. We had in some respects hoped very much that the authorities were more completely embracing a genuine return to democracy.

    MOTTRAM: With its diplomatic shift in Geneva, Australia has put more pressure on Burma .. though campaigners are still hoping Canberra can be convinced to widen sanctions against the generals, to strike at those who invest in Burma.

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