I am grateful for the insights of Harn Yawnghwe on Burma (Bangkok Post, Dec 3). Clearly the junta have moved the seat of government to a remote location in order to render it less exposed in any kind of uprising, as much as any invasion. And Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's continued incarceration removes from the scene any potential figurehead for some viable alternative government.
The overthrow of despotic regimes is best undertaken (ie Iraq) from within. Whether the Burmese people do not desire it enough or whether they too well understand how stacked the chips are against them, the quesion remains, what can the outside world do? Of course, the use of trade and diplomatic sanctions is no match for action from within, and I doubt that change would have occured in South Africa without the specific and impending threat of a civil bloodbath.
Meanwhile, what other examples are there? Thailand's "constructive engagement" is nothing more than a face-saver for apathy and covert condoning, since neither this government nor most of those of Asean care all that much for their own democracies, let alone that of a neighbour with whom they can at least bolster their trade quotas.
And it is this kind of moral evasiveness the junta thrives on.
See also the "constructive engagement" of other despots in our times...
But sanctions have a role to play (if only as a demonstration to the subject people) and are, after all, what is advocated by those best placed to judge. Asean can do its part in this regard, without standing accused of meddling in the internal affairs of a fellow-member _ an issue by which it seems much exercised.
For in one respect Harn Yawnghwe does not have it quite right. The "dull-minded generals" can very well do their job, "given current conditions". For that job is unfortunately not the furtherance of their people, but the securing of their power and the lining of their own pockets. The people of Burma generally, and Ms Suu Kyi in particular, are the victims of one of the great injustices of our times and the fact that, "Burma is not of strategic interest to the US", whilst being a blessing in some ways, need not render us completely uncaring or inactive.
And if the generals are foolish enough to turn to China for solace, at least the situation would have been prised open more than at present seems possible.