The Association of Southeast Asian Nations isn't known for getting tough. The group of 10 is so unfailingly polite that it has quietly endured the Burmese dictatorship within its ranks for almost a decade. Finally, this farce may be drawing to a close. A weekend statement issued by an Asean caucus on Burma signals a tough new direction.
The statement, issued Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, uses words like "sham," "illegitimate" and "misrule" to characterize the authoritarian regime that runs the country. "In its nine years of Asean membership, Myanmar has consistently been problematic for and an embarrassment to its neighbors," it says, using another name for the country.
Were it not for Malaysia, Burma would never have gained entrance into Asean in 1997. At that time, then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, lauding a "unanimous" vote of approval, implied that by including Burma in the regional club, Asean could wield more influence. Since then the economy has collapsed and democratic leaders such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remain under arrest.
Now another Malaysian Foreign Minister is taking the lead in rethinking Asean's approach to Burma. In an article on a Wall Street Journal, Syed Hamid Albar writes that "Asean has reached the stage where it is not possible to defend Myanmar if it does not cooperate with us or help itself by delivering tangible progress on economic and political reforms."
The Foreign Minister doesn't specify what sanctions he recommends, but we'd hope that at this week's summit in Kuala Lumpur, Asean foreign ministers will agree to join the U.S. in supporting a referral of Burma to the United Nations Security Council. Better yet would be for Asean to eject Burma from its ranks until it makes demonstrable progress toward reforming its economy and opening up its political system.