BurmanetNews, Aug 14-16, 2004

[Editor]

August 14-16, 2004, Issue # 2539

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burmese Literary pioneer dies
Irrawaddy: Deserting from the rape commanders
S.H.A.N: Chinese paper explains junta reaction at NC

ON THE BORDER
AP: Illegal female workers repatriated to Myanmar

DRUGS
Kao Wao: Shoot out for drugs turns the Andaman Sea red

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Powell says US will keep up pressure on Myanmar for reform
IPS: U.N. envoy hampering Burma's freedom?

OPINION/OTHER
Nation: Asem Hanoi meeting will be a crucial test for Europe

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 16, Irrawaddy
Burmese literary pioneer dies - Aung Lwin Oo

The well known Burmese poet and scholar Min Thu Wun, also known as U Wun,
died at his home in Rangoon on Sunday, aged 96. The ethnic Mon-Burmese
writer was a legend in Burma’s literary circles for his output of poems,
reference books and pedagogical texts. Even the blind have been touched by
his work: he created the Burmese Braille writing system.

Min Thu Wun also gained prominence as a Member of Parliament for the main
opposition party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD. His passing
yesterday was marked quietly by family and friends in the Burmese capital.

He was born in 1909 in Mon State. At the age of 20 he began composing
poems for the school magazine at Rangoon College, now Rangoon University. 
He then began writing children’s poems and pursuing a master’s degree in
Burmese, which he received in 1935. While at university he was editor of
the school magazine and Ganhta Lawka (“World of Books”) magazine, then one
of the most widely read journals in Burma. In 1939, he received his
bachelor’s degree in literature from Oxford University.

In the following years, Min Thu Wun cemented his legacy with a prolific
output of children’s poems, and for helping to modernize Burmese
literature, through a movement called Khitsan (“New Writing”).  He also
helped write Mon-Burmese and Pali-Burmese dictionaries. His unique
teaching methods have helped countless Burmese learn to read.

He was elected to Burma’s parliament in 1990 as an NLD member. He resigned
from the party in 1998, under heavy pressure from military authorities.
The junta has barred Min Thu Wun’s writings from appearing in local
magazines and periodicals. It has also banned other writers who mention
his name or refer to his works.  “We no longer hear about him in any
newspapers or radio in Burma,” said the well known author Ludu Daw Amar.
“I wonder even if his obituary notice will appear [in the press].”

Min Thu Wun is the 81st Member of Parliament who has died since being
voted into office during the 1990 election, which the NLD won by a massive
margin. The results have never been honored by the regime.

______________________________________

August 15, Shan Herald Agency for News
Hush-hush Chinese paper explains junta reaction at NC

Content in a classified document in Chinese is the clue to the rejection
by Rangoon of the joint proposal by three ceasefire groups for separate
autonomous status at the 17 May - 9 July National Convention, according to
a highly-placed source on the border.

In the light of the paper, the Chinese were decidedly suspicious of
Rangoon's warming relations with its western neighbor, India, as well as
its hardly concealed attempts to woo the United States. "Consequently, it
has decided to maintain its patronage over the ceasefire groups,
especially Kokang, Wa and Mongla, that used to be part of the Communist
Party of Burma and are still holding their playgrounds along the Chinese
border," he explained.

Burma's generals, without doubt, knew this, he continued, and were worried
granting greater autonomy to these areas would be tantamount to handing
them over to the Chinese on a silver platter. "That was why they turned
down the 3 groups' call to re-classify their domains as Union
Territories," he said.

A Union Territory, according to the military's constitutional draft, comes
under the direct administration of the Union President. Thus far, only the
Rangoon capital and Coco Islands have been listed in the category.

"I am telling you this," he declared, "because I don't want you to think
the Burmese (generals) really care about Shan State's territorial
integrity."

He however refused to allow S.H.A.N. to obtain a copy of the three-page
document.

According to the 16-page paper submitted to the National Convention by
Peng Jiafu of Kokang, Paw Laikham of Wa and Sarm Per of Mongla on 11 June,
the three groups had cited fear of delay in their developments if they
were to remain as junior administrative units within Shan State.

Some Shan ceasefire leaders were also reported to have been deeply upset
by the move. "We have never interfered in how you run your own affairs,"
one representative was quoted as saying. "Why should you want to leave
us?"

______________________________________

August 14, Irrawaddy
Deserting from the rape commanders

A child soldier, recruited into the Burma Army at age 11, tells his
gruesome story.

Sixteen-year old Maung Myo (not his real name), a deserter from the Burma
Army, said he wants to go back home and be reunited with his mother. If he
tries he risks being arrested and court-martialed by the military.

Maung Myo, who comes from Rangoon, volunteered to join the Burma Army in
1999, aged 11. He was a private in the 44th Light Infantry Division
fighting in Karen State when he defected and joined the Karen National
Union, or KNU, in early June. Maung Myo said there were more than 60 child
soldiers in his undermanned battalion, which had only 400 troops in total
(normally an infantry battalion has about 600 soldiers).

The eleven-year old joined the Burma Army after his father savagely beat
him (he accused his son—accurately—of stealing money from him) and he had
run away from home. He was sleeping and eating rough at a railway station
when army recruiters spotted the boy and invited him to sign up.

“They [the recruiters] said they would help me study, or whatever I
wanted,” said Maung Myo. “I followed them because I dared not go back to
my home—I worried that my father would beat me again.”

Chief of the three recruiters was 27-year old Tun Linn. The boy stayed at
Tun Linn’s house for three days. At that time he fell sick. His host,
however, sent him not to hospital but to a camp that specialized in
training child soldiers in the northwestern Rangoon suburb of Mingaladon
(according to the boy, Tun Linn was paid 20,000 kyat—about US $23—and a
sack of rice for each recruit). The camp commandant was Kyaw Myint.

Maung Myo was put in a dormitory—he estimated that there were over 80
other children staying in his room. He received military training for six
months where he and the other boys were trained to shoot and maintain
assault rifles and lay mines.

Discipline was brutal—the children were regularly beaten with canes or
whips when they failed to carry out orders correctly. Victims were
regularly hospitalized. Maung Myo claimed that a number of his fellow
recruits died during the training. Next stop for the 11-year old was the
frontline in Karen State.

Maung Myo was attached to a number of jungle patrols fighting a war of
attrition against the Karen National Union, or KNU. The boy saw action
against the ethnic insurgent group on five occasions during his five years
with the Burma Army.

Bush camps would normally be maintained for four to six months (sometimes
as long as a year) at a time until the patrol was ordered to move
location. When his patrol was ordered to move, it would press-gang local
villagers to serve as porters. They were regularly beaten if they had
trouble carrying their loads.

“It was so bad when I was on duty on the frontline—especially the rapes
and forced labor,” said Maung Myo.

“When we arrived at a village we would tell the villagers to give us
chickens, pigs and other food,” he added. “If people didn’t want to give
us what we wanted, we would beat them and take it anyway.”

“I took part in the beatings—my superiors would order me to,” he said. “If
I didn’t, I would be punished myself. But I was disciplined more than 20
times anyway for not following orders.” The usual punishment was one or
more beatings and being forced to stand stationary all day.

Some months after arriving in Karen State, Maung Myo witnessed the first
of many rapes when his patrol arrived near a Karen village and found a
woman hunting for freshwater fish.

Unit leader Lt Soe Naing, from Rangoon, tried to tell the girl that he
wanted her. But she spoke only her Karen dialect so didn’t understand
Burmese. This enraged the lieutenant, who first beat her in front of his
men, then dragged her off into the nearby undergrowth. Maung Myo has no
idea what happened to the girl, or even if she is still alive—a dead rape
victim tells no stories. In the time the boy spent on the frontline he
witnessed at least 10 similar incidents.

In another appalling but common crime against humanity in
minority-populated areas of Burma, a girl in the village of Mone Kei, a
five-hour walk from the Thai border, was gang-raped in front of her
parents by his patrol. The rape commander on that occasion was Lt Htat
Toe, from Hmawbi Township, north of Rangoon.

Maung Myo said many of his fellow soldiers wanted to leave the Burma Army,
but the only exit was desertion. They were all afraid of defecting to the
KNU, as they didn’t know how they would be received after brutalizing
Karen villagers. Running back to central Burma carried the risk of being
arrested and jailed for seven years, according to Maung Myo. But
eventually he could not stand the brutality any longer and defected to the
KNU, where he was initially accorded a suspicious but benign welcome.

Maung Myo is currently being sheltered by the KNU. He hopes to return to
Rangoon.

There are estimated to be more than 70,000 child soldiers in the Burma
Army and 6,000 to 7,000 in the various ethnic armies, some of which are
now allied to Rangoon, according to the London-based Coalition to Stop the
Use of Child Soldiers.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 14, Associated Press
Illegal female workers repatriated to Myanmar

Thailand has repatriated 20 women from Myanmar who had illegally sought
jobs in the country and then "faced difficulties," the Myanmar government
said Saturday.

The female workers, whose problems were not divulged, were handed to
Myanmar authorities Aug. 10 at a ceremony at Friendship Bridge which links
the two countries in northern Thailand, an official press release said.

Officials of the U.N. International Agency Project on Trafficking were
also present at the ceremony between the Thai town of Mae Sai and
Myanmar's Tachilek.

The statement said Myanmar was working on a program to halt human
trafficking, rife in recent years as tens of thousands seek to leave the
impoverished country for jobs in Thailand.

Many are forced into prostitution or are cheated by job brokers.

Thailand's Labor Ministry estimates that 1.2 million people from Myanmar,
Laos and Cambodia are working illegally in the country and has recently
sought to legalize their status through registration.

______________________________________
DRUGS

August 15, Kao Wao News
Shoot out for drugs turns the Andaman Sea red - Banyar Toay

Andaman Sea turned red while drug dealers and smugglers killed each other
during the heavy rains in the monsoon season.

In the first week of July, a contraband ship believed to be carrying
methamphetamines and heroin departed from Rangoon was robbed when about 30
smugglers were killed after a fight for the possession of the drugs in the
Andaman Sea (Martaban Gulf).
Local sources from Ye, Mon State, said about 800 kilograms of heroin were
later seized by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities
and Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Mon coastal village after
the boat’s captain and crewmen were killed in the sea.

The SPDC authorities did not officially report the detail of the bloody
sea battle but local villagers said it occurred when the ship’s engine
broke down in the middle of the sea and the Captain approached Hnit Karen
village to find some mechanics to repair the boat’s engine.  The mechanics
secretly plotted with some of the crewmembers and killed the Captain and
other crewmembers, said the source.  The SPDC’s police later arrested the
gang.

The source from the New Mon State Party said the smugglers killed by local
pirates were from the boat owned by ethnic Kokans in Shan State who live
in Rangoon after the cease-fire agreement with the military junta.  The
dealer in Rangoon lost phone contact with the captain and his crew when
the ship approached Hnit Karen, the boss realized that it might be pirated
and informed the Mon State Police Force.  The police arrested the killers
along with the booty of drugs when they tried to transport it away from
the village, the source explained.  A total of 5 men were arrested and
taken to Moulmine, the capital of Mon Sate.

A huge amount of drugs was spreading throughout the area when the
authorities arrived after the ship owners informed the authority about the
missing ship.  The NMSP source said that the mechanic who led the robbery
is a retired SPDC soldier who lives in the village.

The Burmese authorities didn’t report the exact amount of heroin seized,
but a Thai-Burma border based Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) reported
about 850 kilograms, while Khit Pyaing news in (Burmese language) claimed
that about 490 kilograms was seized.  Some of the crew, the source added,
who were killed are Mon nationals from Chaung Zon Island near Moulmein
because many fishermen from this community are working in Rangoon’s Kyi
Myin Daing port.

The ship was set adrift after it was robbed of the smuggled goods. The
navy confiscated the drifting boat close to Kalar Gote Island with nobody
on board and the engine’s tank was empty of gasoline (engine oil), the
islanders said. Kalar Gote Island, in Northern Ye Township comprised of 3
villages, is inhabited with Mon fishermen and farmers.

The other source from Moulmein said that in the second week of July, the
MIS from Rangoon came down to Mon state directly from Rangoon and seized a
ship owned by regional Burma Army commanders in Mon State.  “The ship was
carrying smuggled imports such as computer games from Singapore and was
seized near Moulmein,” a Mon businessman who has close relation with the
SPDC senior official said.  “It is clear that the MI (Intelligence) and
the Tatmadaw (Army) are not getting along these days,” he commented.

“South from that area, Tenasserim Division’s MIS branch cooperated with a
Mon armed group to patrol the Andaman Sea to monitor the activities of
Thai boats,” the source explained.

About ten soldiers led by Nai Azan, a former member of the NMSP, from the
break away group runs an office in Tavoy and were involved in the sea
robbery and kidnapping.  The group works with the MI for information and
business interest; deals in the timber trading in the region while
providing the MI with information on the activities of Thai fishermen and
the neighboring country’s navy.  Their main action is to collect illegal
tax or to launch attacks on illegal Thai fishing boats that operate inside
Burma’s marine waters.

Even though it was notorious in the Mon community, the Mon break away
group was chosen to attend the state sponsored National Convention near
Rangoon added the source.

______________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 14, Agence France Presse
Powell says US will keep up pressure on Myanmar for reform

The United States will continue to exert pressure on the military
government of Myanmar until opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy and other groups are allowed to fully
participate in a reformed political process, US Secretary of State Colin
Powell said.

“As long as Aung San Suu Kyi is denied the opportunity to participate in
the political life of Burma (Myanmar), and her party is so denied, then we
will continue to speak out strongly and find out if there are any other
levers one can apply against the regime," Powell said on Friday.

"We will continue to put pressure on the regime," he said in an interview
with a group of Japanese reporters, according to a transcript released by
the State Department. "We will not have a satisfactory relationship with
Burma until this matter is resolved," Powell said, adding that Washington
did not believe Yangon's proposed "roadmap" for democracy was a genuine
route to reform.

"It is not enough to say: 'Well, we have a roadmap to democracy,' if it is
not a real roadmap and if it doesn't allow pluralistic activities within
the political system."

Aung San Suu Kyi is currently more than a year into her third period of
house arrest.  The junta has never allowed her National League for
Democracy (NLD) to rule, although it scored a landslide victory in
elections the international community considered otherwise free and fair
in 1990.

Last month, US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) renewed for one
year sweeping trade and economic sanctions imposed in 2003 to punish
Myanmar for its failure to engage in a genuine dialogue with the NLD and
agree to democratic reforms.

The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi -- her deputy Tin Oo is also being held
-- has also proved a sticking point for planned talks between ministers
from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the
European Union (news - web sites) at a planned Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
in Hanoi in October.

EU ministers have demanded a signal that the junta is prepared to allow a
degree of democratic progress before sitting down with a Myanmar
delegation.  But Myanmar has yet to do so and ASEAN has thus far refused
to exclude Myanmar from the talks.


Powell did not address the ASEM stand-off in the interview but made clear
that Washington wanted Myanmar's ASEAN colleagues as well as the European
Union to take a harder line with Yangon.

"Not all members of the international community have spoken out as clearly
on this issue and have taken the actions they might take to put pressure
on the regime," he said.

______________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 14, Inter-Press Service
U.N. envoy hampering Burma's freedom? - Sonny Inbaraj

Bangkok: The world was reminded at the opening of the 28th Olympic Games
in Athens that democracy is still being held hostage in Burma when host
Greece, as a member of the European Union, barred the South-east Asian
nation's sports minister from the premier international sports event -
along with ministers from Zimbabwe and the European state of Belarus.

The ban announced by the Greek government on Tuesday indicates that in the
eyes of the international community the atrocities in Burma are on par
with the grave human rights abuses committed by Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe in the use of repressive laws to criminalise peaceful
gatherings, terrorise the opposition and close media outlets in his
country.

The Burmese generals have also been put in the same league as the regime
lead by Europe's last dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko who Western
governments accuse of trampling on democracy and human rights and
organising death squads to get rid of political opponents in Belarus.

To rub salt into Burma's wounds, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
announced Friday that the United States will continue to exert pressure on
the military government of Burma until opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
and her National League for Democracy (NLD) and other groups are allowed
to fully participate in a reformed political process,

''As long as Aung San Suu Kyi is denied the opportunity to participate in
the political life of Burma, and her party is also denied, then we will
continue to speak out strongly and find out if there are any other levers
one can apply against the regime," Powell told a group of visiting
journalists, according to a State Department transcript.

''We will not have a satisfactory relationship with Burma until this
matter is resolved,'' added Powell.

In this climate of increasing disappointment, one serious constraint has
been brought out by commentators and activists - namely the role of
Malaysia's Razali Ismail, the United Nations special envoy to Burma.  Four
years in the job and many feel that Razali has been unable to persuade the
Burmese generals to negotiate a programme of reform. They point out that
his mediation has also failed to secure the release of Suu Kyi and neither
has his diplomatic overtures resulted in any serious reduction in the
number of political prisoners, or any hint at democratic reform within
that country.

Suu Kyi was first placed under house arrest by the military junta soon
after her NLD won the majority of seats in the 1990 national elections.
She was released briefly in 1995, but her movements outside the capital
Rangoon were restricted by the junta.  But Suu Kyi has spent the last year
in detention after pro- government thugs attacked her convoy, and her
party has since endured a renewed crackdown.

In a bid to ward of international criticism, the Burmese junta last August
announced what they called a road map towards democracy. On May 17, the
junta restarted a national convention to draw up a new constitution that
they said would lead to free and fair elections in the country.
But its credibility has been criticised because of the absence of Suu
Kyi's NLD.

Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush renewed for one year sweeping
trade and economic sanctions imposed in 2003 to punish Burma for its
failure to engage in a genuine dialogue with the NLD and agree to
democratic reforms.  Frustration at the U.N. special envoy's performance
boiled over in the U.S. Congress last November with Congressman Lane Evans
saying it was time for Razali to go.

"We need to strengthen the authority of the U.N. envoy and replace him
with someone capable of rallying international support for change," he
said.

New York Republican Peter King also raised concerns about the U.N.'s
efforts in Burma.

''We need to take a serious look at the efforts of the United Nations
secretary general's special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail,'' he said.
''Are his efforts hampering or helping the struggle for freedom in
Burma?''

The sticking point that is earning Razali disrespect in the diplomatic
community is his business dealings in Burma.  The U.N. special envoy is
also the chairman of Iris Technologies, a Malaysian company in which he
owns 30 percent of the shares. In May 2002, the company signed a deal to
provide 5,000 electronic passports to the Burmese government.

Razali played down fears that the electronic passports, with embedded
microchips, could be an Orwellian 'Big Brother system' linked to larger
databases designed to keep Burmese under the watchful eye of the regime.

''Anyway,it's only for those people who want to travel outside. In most
cases, those will be government people,'' he told the British Broadcasting
Corporation.

At the start of Razali's mission in 2000, when he replaced Alvaro de Soto
from Peru as the U.N. envoy, many thought democratic change was in the
air.

''Regionally, his close support with then-Malaysian prime minister
Mahathir Mohamad was widely viewed as a diplomatic asset,'' wrote Burmese
observer Andrew Steele in the influential 'Far Eastern Economic Review'
magazine.

''Mahathir has pushed hard for Burma's 1997 entrance into ASEAN
(Association of South-east Asian Nations), and it was thought Razali could
use that social capital to push the junta towards reform,'' commented
Steele. ''(But then)...that euphoria has since evaporated.''

ASEAN's members are Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  Burma joined the club in
1997 despite misgivings by some governments and activists in and out of
the region, but ASEAN countries said membership would allow their
'constructive engagement' policy to slowly encourage Rangoon to open up
its political system.

In light of the present circumstances, it seems that Razali has been a
poor choice by the United Nations already weakened with a very restrictive
mandate on Burma and grappling, at the same time, with the conflicting
intentions of the United States, the European Union and ASEAN. In the
midst of this, the U.N. envoy to Burma, is also embroiled in conflict of
interest issue that has seriously undermined his credibility as an
interlocutor to free Suu Kyi.

''We have to take a hard look at what's been achieved (by Razali). His
role remains useful, however, to governments who hide behind his mandate
and refrain from taking any serious action themselves,'' John Jackson of
the London-based Burma Campaign U.K., told IPS.

''But given that the current strategy has failed, what new strategy is
being considered next?'' he asked.

______________________________________

August 17, The Nation
Asem Hanoi meeting will be a crucial test for Europe - Natee Vichitsorasatra

A mere two months stand between today and the next Asia-Europe Meeting
(Asem) summit, to be hosted in Hanoi. These two remaining months will
serve as a test whether Asem, a forum described as everything from
“lacking in substance” and “forum-fatigued” to “ambitious” and
“indispensable”, is considered valuable enough to receive a lifeline from
all parties involved.

Equally important, the results of this test will serve as an indicator of
exactly how much interest the Asian and European Union sides of Asem,
especially the latter, have left in the ongoing process.

The Asem process has never been so endangered since its initiation in
1996. The inaugural meeting in Bangkok was filled with high expectations
and the promise of equal partnership and reciprocity, occurring within an
informal dialogue. This optimism was watered down with the ensuing Asian
economic crisis, and few took notice of the Copenhagen Asem IV summit,
which focused largely on controlling terrorism.

Instead of growing into a mature and structured framework for cooperation
in its upcoming fifth summit, the Asian and European counterparts of Asem
are instead wrangling over the issue of Burma. A recent conference of EU
foreign ministers in Luxembourg cancelled a meeting of Asem finance
ministers in Brussels last month and a meeting of economic ministers in
the Netherlands in September, apparently due to Asian Asem members’
insistence that Burma be included in the upcoming summit. Indonesia and
Thailand have already criticised the decision to cancel the two
ministerial meetings, which they said had been made without proper
consultation with Asean.

This seems to point toward increasing indifference toward Asem by its
European members. The focus of the Asem process has been mainly economic,
and trade figures show that the Asian half of Asem has been the main
beneficiary of closer channels of access to their European counterparts.

Even today, the EU’s trade deficit with its Asian Asem partners remains an
issue on the table at Asem summits. Eurostat figures show the EU’s
external trade with China, one of the main motivations for cooperating in
the Asem process, experiencing a widening deficit, one that quadrupled
from ค11.6 billion (Bt596 billion) in 1995 to ค44.6 billion in
2000. Similar albeit less-drastic trends exist in figures for EU trade
with the rest of the Asian Asem members.

If the EU’s interest in Asem had waned due to the Asian economic crisis
and continued trade deficit with Asia, it would have decreased further
with Asean + 3’s almost complete refusal to discuss sensitive political
issues, denying the EU a coveted position in becoming a major player in
the region. Since Asem I, human rights have constantly been a European
concern, whereas Asian participants have preferred an exclusive focus on
trade.

At Asem II, Europe informally raised the issues of human rights, labour
practices, arms control and nuclear non-proliferation. It received little
cooperation from Indonesia on East Timor and China and Burma on the issue
of their internal affairs. At Asem III, the EU embarrassed itself by not
being able to formulate a common response to the question of establishing
diplomatic relations with North Korea, despite the “Declaration for Peace”
announced in Seoul.

The Copenhagen Summit yielded little beyond issues of economic
cooperation, as the Council of Ministers was only able to express its
dissatisfaction with the slow progress of democratic restoration in Burma
and achieve little else. By then, the EU obviously realised that it was
not benefiting from either the political or the economic pillars of Asem.

The “New Partnership with Southeast Asia” communication from the
Commission, drafted in 2003, appears to be the EU’s new means to fix what
might have become a deadlocked Asem. It is clear that while it offers
increased flexibility in the EU’s relationship with Asean, issues of
conditionality have been placed as a further bargaining chip in the
cooperative process between the two regions.

According to the European Commission, an “essential element” clause must
be included in all future bilateral agreements with countries in Southeast
Asia. At present, only Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have signed such a
clause, while other current bilateral agreements lack one. This clause
also offers a way out for the EU, which would be more reluctant in placing
conditionality into its relationship with potentially lucrative China than
it would with Asean member states.

It appears that the EU may have already decided that the Asem process is
expendable, and highlighting the issue of Burma with apparently little
room for negotiation makes a mockery the Asem principles of “equal
partnership” and “reciprocity”. If an April 2004 report from Burma
Campaign UK is any indication, Britain, one of the most vocal opponents of
Burma’s inclusion in the Asem process, ranks as the second-largest
investor in Burma in the past decade, with US$1.4 billion (Bt58.1 billion)
of approved investment.

Also, current EU sanctions against Burma are widely perceived as
ineffective and lacking in impact. In addition, the EU is clearly guilty
of double standards, because it is not demanding the exclusion of
one-party Communist states like Laos, Vietnam or China.

A debate on whether Burma deserves to join international forums that would
definitely benefit its military regime needs to continue, but if EU member
governments do not soften their stance concerning Burma’s inclusion in
Asem, the forum’s principles of equal partnership, reciprocity and
flexibility will fly the window.

Meanwhile, Asem’s credibility as a promising and much-needed forum between
Asia and Europe takes a large hit. If Asem V in Hanoi does not contain
more substance and full top-level cooperation from all member states, it
will be difficult for anyone to take the already-struggling process
seriously.

Natee Vichitsorasatra

The author, a former Nation journalist, is currently a doctoral research
student at Loughborough University.