The military junta in Rangoon must be hoping against hope that the world community will one day forget Aung San Suu Kyi, the courageous Burmese opposition leader, who during the past 14 years has been subject to a depressing cycle of house arrest and temporary freedom at the hands of the generals. It is clear that if the ruthless generals one day succeeded in removing her from the picture, they would find it much easier to smother the flickering hope that democracy will one day prevail in Burma.
But somehow Suu Kyi is still alive and well. Today is her 60th birthday. In the lifecycle of the people in this part of the world, the 60s are traditionally considered the golden age, a time for reflection over one’s life experience and the passing on of responsibilities and lessons learned to younger generations.
Sadly, this is not the case for Suu Kyi. She is still struggling for democracy in Burma alongside her tormented compatriots, trying to keep alive her long-suffering country’s democratic aspirations.
The junta leaders, who have been propped up by Asean since 1997, continue to use all sorts of trickery and brutality to scuttle any attempt at the kind of political reform or national reconciliation that would bring Burma closer to democracy.
All this despite the mounting pressure from the international community, particularly the European Union and the United States.
Of late, there have been some changes of mood within Asean, especially among the members of parliament of the grouping’s core countries, particularly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon recently told reporters that he expected Suu Kyi to be freed, perhaps as early as next year, after Burma’s draft constitution has been completed. But that was a very rosy assessment of the pace and quality of political developments in Burma.
In fact, the junta leaders have just called for a temporary suspension of the constitution-drafting process, purportedly to allow the members of the drafting assembly to tend to their farmland as the rainy season gets under way. There were coincidental indications that some of the representatives of Burma’s ethnic groups at the assembly were not cooperating with the generals. In any case, the drafting assembly will reconvene around harvest time later this year.
It is obvious that the junta leaders would like to use the new constitution and subsequent elections as political instruments to promote its legitimacy in the eyes of the world.
The junta knows full well that only a handful of countries and people will know the truth inside Burma. It is unfortunate, but it is likely that many countries would accept a facade of democracy in Burma, simply because they are unaware of the conditions within the country.
That is why it was so refreshing when earlier this week, a group of Nobel laureates from around the world got together to write an open letter urging Suu Kyi’s release. Leaders from the UN and countries from the West have also made a similar appeals on her behalf. The unity with which people from across the globe have rallied to her cause shows that virtually the whole world supports her and still considers her to be a key player in the political scheme in Burma.
It is incumbent on the other members of Asean to impress upon the rulers of Burma the need to change. During the eight years since Burma was admitted to the grouping, Asean has faced severe criticism from the West. Moreover, the junta’s refusal to listen to reason has caused a rift among the grouping’s members.
Calls from MPs of Asean countries to ban Burma from hosting next year’s annual ministerial meeting are growing louder by the day.
It is possible that Burma might give in and skip next year’s event. From Burma’s point of view, it would perhaps be more desirable, as a de facto act of recognition, to host the meeting in 2007, after a new government has been elected under the country’s new constitution. This would help ease passions with Asean.
For Burma, this would be a win-win situation: saving face for Asean next year, only to return with full recognition by default the year after.
Therefore, it is important that Asean MPs continue the pressure on their governments to ensure that Burma is forever banned from hosting the ministerial meeting so long as there is no improvement in the political conditions in the country – and so long as Suu Kyi remains imprisoned.