BurmaNet News, March 11, 2005

[Editor]

March 11, 2005 Issue # 2673


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Amnesty urges release of Myanmar journalist turning 75 in prison
Irrawaddy: UN calls for release of veteran journalist
Myanmar Times: Thailand gives rice to Shan villagers
Irrawaddy: UN denies it has yanked staffers
Democratic Voice of Burma: The Burmese peacock is flying again at Rangoon
University

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Authorities census on immigration Burmese national in Bangladesh

BUSINESS / MONEY
Energy Compass: Myanmar: Asia takes advantage of Western reticence

REGIONAL
AFP: Malaysia catches illegals trying to swim to Singapore

INTERNATIONAL
Financial Times: Brussels signals readiness to hold talks with Burma
Irrawaddy: Asean-EU ministers voice concern over Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Human rights violations must be addressed
Asia Times Online: Myanmar must do right by ASEAN

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 11, Agence France Presse
Amnesty urges release of Myanmar journalist turning 75 in prison

Bangkok: The rights group Amnesty International renewed its calls Friday
for the release of U Win Tin, one of Myanmar's best-known journalists who
will turn 75 as the country's longest serving prisoner of conscience this
weekend.

U Win Tin, a key opposition figure, was arrested in July 1989 and
sentenced 20 years hard labor.

He turns 75 on Saturday, having spent more than one-fifth of his life in
prison.

"U Win Tin's imprisonment highlights how the justice system in Myanmar has
been misused in order to silence peaceful government critics," the
director of Amnesty's Asia Pacific program, Natalie Hill, said in a
statement.

"His 75th birthday is a reminder that the consequences of long-term abuses
of justice are too great for the authorities to ignore. Authorities must
stop criminalizing peaceful dissent, and take concrete steps to improve
the administration of justice."

Amnesty said U Win Tin was in poor health, worsened by inadequate access
to medical care, being held in a dog cage, without bedding, and being
deprived of food and water for long periods of time.

The international rights group estimates military-ruled Myanmar has some
1,300 political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, who is under house arrest.

______________________________________

March 11, Irrawaddy
UN calls for release of veteran journalist - Yeni

The United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in Burma called on
Thursday for the release of aged prisoners, in particular Win Tin, the
most famous of Burma's imprisoned journalists who was arrested 16 years
ago.

In his statement on the occasion of Win Tin’s 75th birthday, the UN expert
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said that “even if we demand the release of all
political prisoners, it is also important to plead for individual cases,
especially Win Tin and other political prisoners who are old or ill.”

During the pro-democracy uprising in 1988, Win Tin was active in
pro-democracy demonstrations in his capacity as vice chairman of the
Writers’ Union. When the National League for Democracy, or NLD, was
formed, he served as secretary of its executive committee. He is believed
to have been a key adviser to democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

He was arrested by Burma’s military intelligence on July 4, 1989, 
allegedly for sheltering a girl who had had an illegal abortion, but the
true reason is thought to be his opposition activities.

Win Tin was first sentenced to three years hard labour, but in June 1992,
he was sentenced to an additional 11 years under the 1950 Emergency
Provisions Act on charges linked to his opposition activities. On 28 March
1996, he was among 21 prisoners to be tried inside Insein Prison and given
additional sentences for circulating a petition, distributing a
clandestine magazine and possessing radio sets. He was again given an
additional seven-year sentence.

“Despite all the terrible constraints of prison, I must say that I found
him very well informed and extremely lucid,” Pinheiro said. “He was very
strong and remained committed to the cause of democracy, freedom of speech
and the respect of human rights,” he added.

Pinheiro met Win Tin during his latest mission in November 2003 and was
the first UN representative to have contact with him since the UN envoy
Alvaro De Soto almost 10 years ago. Pinheiro’s request for another visit
was denied by the country's military authorities.

Despite numerous international appeals, the ruling regime have shown no
mercy in his case.

Despite his long detention and illness, colleagues of Win Tin in Rangoon
said the journalist’s spirit is still strong.

Pinheiro said that with no access to paper or writing instruments in
prison,  Win Tin had to write his poems in a makeshift ink created from
red powder from the bricks of his cell mixed with water, using a long thin
piece of wood.

To celebrate Win Tin’s birthday, the Bangkok-based Foreign Correspondent
Club of Thailand yesterday invited Burmese journalists and a foreign press
correspondent for a panel discussion titled “How to report about Burma.”

Win Tin  is recipient of the World Association of Newspapers 2001 Golden
Pen of Freedom award, and the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

______________________________________


March 11, Myanmar Times
Thailand gives rice to Shan villagers - Myo Lwin

The Thai government is donating 1000 tonnes of rice valued at about
US$277,000 to villagers in Shan State, the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon
said last week.

The assistance, which will benefit about 200,000 villagers, is being given
as part of Thailand’s support for Myanmar’s poppy eradication campaign,
according to a press statement issued by the embassy on March 1.

The Thai government fully appreciates and supports the efforts and
measures undertaken by the Myanmar government to cope with the regional
drug problem, the statement said.

The first delivery of 200 tonnes of rice was made on March 1 at the office
of the United Nations World Food Program in Tachileik, Shan State, in
order to supplement the insufficient income caused by the cessation of
poppy farming activities.

Subsequent deliveries of 200 tonnes each will take place every 10 days.

The first secretary of the Thai Embassy in Yangon, Ms Jirusaya Birananda,
told the Myanmar Times that the rice donation was the first to Myanmar by
the Thai government.

She said the assistance will help to prevent the resumption of poppy
cultivation and thus have a positive effect on joint efforts by Myanmar
and Thailand to suppress narcotic problems in the region.

______________________________________

March 11, Irrawaddy
UN denies it has yanked staffers - Shawn L. Nance

A UN agency in Burma said today that its programs in the Wa regions of
Shan State have not been affected by the indictment of eight United Wa
State Army, or UWSA, members in a United States court earlier this year.

An aid worker in Shan State said that most NGOs and UN agencies pulled
their workers out of areas controlled by the UWSA and back to Rangoon in
late January as a safety measure, after a US Federal Court in New York
indicted eight UWSA members in absentia on various drugs charges on
January 24. He said the groups feared workers could be killed or kidnapped
by Wa soldiers upset at the verdict. The Wa army is accused of running one
of the world’s largest heroin trafficking operations.

Shortly after the indictment was announced, said a UN official working in
Wa State, the Burmese government ordered all UN staff out of the area. He
added that the withdrawal is only temporary and that it only affects
international staff. Local workers, he said, have remained on-site.

But Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the country representative for the UN Office of
Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, in Burma, said he chose to recall his
international staff to the capital “for temporary suspension” and also
scaled activities down in the northern Wa region after the indictment. The
workers are now waiting for the government to approve their return. The
UNODC runs crop substitution programs aimed at eliminating opium farming
in parts of Burma.

Lemahieu says crop substitution programs are running smoothly and that the
UN group is expanding its programs in the northern Wa region. He also
denied reports that local residents are fleeing areas where the group runs
crop substitution programs, such as Maung Pauk and other towns under the
UWSA’s control.

It was reported last week that residents were fleeing southwards because
of steep taxes levied by Wa soldiers. Several sources in Shan State have
corroborated the report, but Lemahieu says UN officials in the area have
since denied the report.

The UWSA has an estimated 15,000 troops under its command and controls
large areas of Shan State. In 1989, it agreed to cease its armed struggle
against the Burmese government.

The US court in January indicted the eight Wa army members on charges of
involvement in the cultivation, collection, and transportation of opium in
eastern Burma. Those charged include 51-year-old Wei Hsueh-kang, who has a
US $2 million bounty on his head issued by the US Drug Enforcement
Administration. He is also wanted by Thai authorities for his alleged role
in trafficking methamphetamine tablets to Thailand.

The other indicted UWSA members are Wei Hsueh Lung, Wei Hsueh Ying, Pao Yu
Hsiang, Pao Yu Hua, Pao Yu Liang, Pao Yu Yi and Pao Hua Chiang.

______________________________________

March 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
The Burmese peacock is flying again at Rangoon University

A colourful dancing peacock, the symbol of Burmese students, flew into the
main campus of Rangoon University and rested on the historic Convocation
Hall before flying away on 9 March, causing excitement and various remarks
among onlookers and students who were sitting their final exams.

The peacock landed on the building around 11am local time attracting
students, teachers and onlookers around him. It is not known where he came
from but those who saw him regarded his unexpected visit as an auspicious
sign for the country.  Burmese students adopted the dancing peacock as
their symbol during the struggles for Burma’s independence from the
British rule. The dancing peacock evolved into a fighting peacock when the
students and people of Burma rose up against the army in 1988 nationwide
uprising. The fighting peacock is also adopted by the main opposition
party, National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel laureate Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, which won a landslide victory in the 1990 election. But the
ruling generals still refuse to hand over power to the party.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 11, Narinjara News
Authorities census on immigration Burmese national in Bangladesh

Cox's Bazar: The Bangladeshi authority is now looking closely at the
number of Burmese immigrants living in the southern districts that border
Burma, said a local source.

"The authorities ask us to collect the numbers of Burmese nationals who
are living in our village, the list of the persons who have matrimonial
ties with the locals and the period of their settlements here," said a
member of the village governing body of Bwaidaw Para Village in Ramu
Township, Cox’sbazar District, Bangladesh.

Similarly, the local armies have already called on the head or chairman of
the villages in the townships of Lama and Alae khongdong, asking for the
immediate reports on any foreigners staying in the area and the lists of
Burmese immigrants, detailing their matrimonial relations with the locals.

According to a resident in Lama, some villages are now sending detailed
reports on Burmese immigrants to the responsible authorities. The
Naichaungchari Township completed its assignment on the issue a month ago.

"Some Burmese have been living here for decades, but I have never heard
the authorities take such action on the Burmese migrants before. Now they
(authorities) have already finished compiling detailed information about
the immigrants in our township," said a Naichaungchari resident.

The authorities have yet to make public their actions against Burmese
nationals in the townships' villages. Most of the villagers said that they
are following the orders as a preparation to issue nationality cards to
Bangladeshi people..

The Bangladeshi government is preparing to issue nationality cards for the
first time to its people in the coming year.

One Burmese analyst said that there is great concern for illegal
immigrants in Bangladesh, and that concern is steadily increasing as the
neighboring Burma further suffers from an economic crisis.

Despite the crisis, the authorities have been collecting detailed numbers
of Burmese immigrants in the rural areas of Cox’sbazar and Chittagon hill
tract including Bandarban district town, but they have so far not taken
these steps in downtown of Cox's Bazar, where most of the Bangladeshi
Rakhaing people live.

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

March 11, Energy Compass
Myanmar: Asia takes advantage of Western reticence - Christian Schmollinger

Singapore: Free of many of the pressures directed at their Western
counterparts, Chinese and Indian firms are moving to exploit Myanmar's
(Burma) estimated 13 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. Joined by
companies from South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, the two energy-hungry
Asian giants are snapping up exploration acreage, in the process
undermining Western sanctions and other restrictions designed to pressure
Myanmar's military regime into improving its human rights record. Their
presence is likely to increase following an upcoming offshore bidding
round.

Whether because of US sanctions -- enacted in 1997 to ban new but not
existing investment by US firms -- or shareholder or consumer pressure,
only a handful of Western energy companies remain in Myanmar. The most
high-profile investors, Total and Unocal, have both come under intense
criticism for their involvement in the $1.2 billion Yadana natural gas
pipeline project. In December 2004, Unocal agreed to settle a lawsuit that
alleged human rights abuses during construction of the Yadana project,
including the use of slave labor. Last month, more than 40 pressure groups
began a campaign against Total to end its involvement in the country (EC
Feb.25,p12).

Neither company has said it will quit, and oil-field services giant
Schlumberger is also working both on-and offshore. But UK-based Premier
Oil pulled out in 2003, selling its stake in the Yetagun gas project to
Malaysia's Petronas. The relentless pressure from campaigners appears to
be leading to a rerun of the situation that occurred in war-torn Sudan,
when Asian firms stepped in to vacuum created by departing Westerners,
seemingly more worried about meeting their energy needs than negative
public perceptions.

"The pressure on companies who do or may wish to do business in Myanmar
because of the regime's human rights abuses has had little effect on
Asian-based oil and gas companies, who now have the expertise and finances
to operate in ways they arguably could not have done a decade or so ago,"
says Andrew Symon of the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies. State-controlled PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corp.
(CNOOC) have both acquired acreage. In January, CNOOC, Chinese services
firm China Huanqiu Contracting and Singapore-based Golden Aaron signed a
production-sharing contract for two onshore blocks and an offshore block
in the Gulf of Martaban. PetroChina is also reportedly exploring onshore.
"We are quite near to China and China is hungry for energy so it's quite
logical that they would secure blocks," U Soe Myint, director-general at
the energy planning department of Myanmar's energy ministry, tells Energy
Compass.

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Gas Authority of India (GAIL) have
teamed up with South Korea's Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corp. to
explore the offshore A-1 Block near the border with Bangladesh. That deal
culminated in a January agreement between India, Myanmar and Bangladesh to
build a pipeline to take gas from the block to India (EC Mar.4,p5).
Thailand's state-backed PTT Exploration and Production is meanwhile
exploring for gas in the Gulf of Martaban. Thailand, which needs huge
amounts of gas to fuel electric power plants, currently takes 26% of its
requirements from Myanmar, mainly Yadana.

The gas projects are a significant source of income for the government.
Gas exports to Thailand net $1 billion per year, accounting for 40% of all
exports, and the government wants to encourage more such schemes. It
intends to open 13 new offshore blocks to bidding -- about eight near the
Rakhine coast and three more in the Gulf of Martaban -- in the next month
or so. "I would think that we'll see companies from China, Malaysia and
India and PTT aggressively coming in for the blocks," Myint says. "We're
one of the only spots in the world where large discoveries are waiting to
be made."

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 11, Agence France Presse
Malaysia catches illegals trying to swim to Singapore

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian authorities have foiled a bid by five Myanmar
illegal immigrants to swim to neighbouring Singapore, reports said Friday.

Marine police spotted the five, aged between 24 and 38, as they were
attempting their pre-dawn swim across the Johor Strait which separates
southern Johor state from Singapore, the Star said.

The men had managed to swim just 300 metres (990 feet) of the strait,
which is between two-five kilometres (about one-three miles) before they
were discovered hanging on to air-filled black garbage bags which also
contained clothes, Singapore currency, mobile phones and shoes, the New
Straits Times said.

Investigations showed the men had entered the country Tuesday from
Thailand before making their way to Johor, marine police said, adding they
were tipped off after the foreigners were seen hanging around an abandoned
water-front shopping mall.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 11, Financial Times
Brussels signals readiness to hold talks with Burma - Shawn Donnan

Jakarta: The European Union yes-terday signalled a shift in tactics on
Burma after declaring its readiness to engage in high-level bilateral
talks with its isolated military junta for the first time in more than
four years.

The decision follows threats by the EU last year to cancel the biannual
Asia-Europe Meeting of leaders if Burma attended.

That meeting eventually went ahead in October after the EU tightened
sanctions and Burma agreed in a backroom deal to send lower-level
officials to the meeting.

However, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the new EU external relations
commissioner, said yesterday that European officials were now ready to
engage Burma at the official level in what she called a shift in strategy.

"There is a certain shift because we have not talked to them for a very
long time," she told reporters on the sidelines of an annual meeting of EU
foreign min-isters with counterparts from the Association of South East
Asian Nations in Jakarta. "We have for the time being listened to our
Asean partners. They have said they think this is the better way of
dealing with (Burma)."

Asean has long argued the case for engagement with Burma, which became a
member in 1997. The EU and western countries, such as the US, however,
have long resisted that argument and Burma's joining Asean prompted a
three-year hiatus in the annual EU-Asean meetings as a result of an EU
boycott.

Mrs Ferrero-Waldner said EU officials continued to push for the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, and the inclusion of her
National League for Democracy in a constitutional convention now under
way.

But while Chris Patten, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner's predecessor, refused to meet
with Burmese officials as the EU sought to raise international pressure on
Burma, the Austrian diplomat said she believed engaging the junta was a
better tactic. ""It is better to have a clear, tough-languaged,
constructive but critical dialogue. Because then you can really have a
dialogue," she said.

EU officials had expected to have high-level talks during the EU-Asean
meeting via a "troika" meeting (the EU Commission, Luxembourg (the EU
presidency) and the UK (the next EU presidency) with Nyan Win, Burma's
foreign minister. But this was cancelled after it was decided the
vice-foreign minister would go instead. Mrs Ferrero-Waldner said she had
had a "constructive but critical dialogue" with the vice-foreign minister
yesterday. The last EU troika meeting with Burma was in January 2001 after
the 2000 resumption of the EU-Asean meetings.

_____________________________________

March 11, Irrawaddy
Asean-EU ministers voice concern over Burma - Aung Lwin Oo

Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) and
European Union (EU) have expressed concern about Burma’s military regime,
amid criticism of Rangoon’s upcoming chairmanship of the regional
grouping.

Senior officials, including foreign ministers, say they had a frank
exchange of views on the situation in Burma during the one-day ministerial
meeting in Jakarta on Thursday. EU officials told the reporters after the
15th Asean-EU ministerial meeting, that the ministers had a “constructive
but at the same time critical dialogue with Myanmar (Burma)”.

“I hope that by voting, by elections, democracy can be established in
Myanmar,” said Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, which
currently holds the EU presidency, at a news conference.

The ministers called the regime into question, issuing a joint statement
stating that although they have “strong hopes for concrete results” from
the regime, it needs the “constructive involvement of all political and
ethnic groups.” The statement also urged Rangoon to grant access to the
special envoy of UN Secretary-General and to continue effective
cooperation with all United Nations agencies.

UN special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail’s attempts to return have been
blocked by the Burmese regime on the grounds that it is not yet a suitable
time for another visit, following the last he made, in late April 2004.
The UN labor agency, the International Labor Organization, or ILO, cut
short its mission in late February complaining that it had been denied
planned meetings with the junta’s top brass including Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Some Asean counties are worried about the Burmese junta’s slow pace
towards reform in view of the fact that Rangoon is to chair the group in
2006. The state broadcast channel, News Asia, quoted Singapore Foreign
Affairs Minister George Yeo as saying on March 4 that many of the Asean
leaders have expressed concern although the issue has never been formally
discussed.

“Unless the Myanmar (Burmese) authorities handle the situation carefully,
Asean’s credibility and cohesion will be jeopardized,” Yeo warned, while
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Asselborn said the European partners believed
that the Asean members have a key role to play in influencing the military
government.

The next Asean-EU ministerial meeting is scheduled to be held in Europe in
2007.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 11, Irrawaddy
Human rights violations must be addressed - Bo Kyi

Violation of human rights takes many forms: summary execution; rape;
forced labor; child soldiers; internally displaced persons; violence
against women; disappearances; torture; arbitrary arrests and violations
of minority rights, as well as restrictions on freedom of speech, the
press and religion.

These things all happen in Burma, with soldiers invariably responsible:
the Burmese military government gives license to its agents to commit such
acts in the name of the people and the country. The junta not only
protects the perpetrators, but in some cases even rewards them with
promotion. This effectively means that there is no incentive to abstain
from using such tactics and increases their frequency.

Four examples come to mind, all of whom are believed to have been involved
with the attack on the convoy of opposition leaderAung San Suu Kyi, as she
toured the country in May 2003: Lt-Gen Soe Win was reportedly involved in
planning the attack and was subsequently promoted to prime minister, the
third highest‑ranking position in the ruling State Peace and
Development Council;  Regional commander Maj-Gen Soe Naing, believed to be
responsible for executing the attack, was made commander of the army’s
Irrawaddy Division; deputy regional commander, Brig-Gen Ohn Myint and
Lt-Col Than Han, chairman of Shwebo District, are both thought to have
been directly involved in the attack and were promoted to the positions of
commander of the military's coastal command and director of  police
operations respectively.

The junta dismissed United States criticism of its human rights record
last Friday, describing Washington’s allegations of serious and worsening
abuse, including rape and torture, as “patently false.” But the concern
for Burma’s human rights record is illustrated by the decision of the UN
to appoint special envoys and rapporteurs to work on the issue

Here, I want to suggest to Burma’s regime that just denying allegations is
not enough. Another approach has to be tried. I understand you prefer to
keep such issues out of the public eye, in order to escape condemnation,
but this is self-defeating and only increases the possibility of the rest
of the world taking action.

Drawing attention to a situation is not just about seeking condemnation or
holding you to account. More importantly, it is about seeking constructive
and long-term improvements in our country which will contribute to the
ultimate elimination of human rights violations.

To be able to stop such kinds of abuses, you must change your legislative
framework and your attitudes towards oppression of the Burmese people. You
should note that many of the international mechanisms, like the UN
charters, make suggestions for general improvement.

The introduction of legal and practical safeguards to give greater
protection to detainees would represent a major step forward.  This could
take the form of legislation to reduce the period for which a detainee may
be held without access to a lawyer, the introduction of regular medical
examinations by independent doctors for all persons in custody, or
measures to eliminate impunity.

Finally, you should consider the following carefully:

If a state allows impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations,
the issue of state responsibility under international law also comes into
question. If a state does not prosecute individuals which it knows to have
been involved in abuses, or does not allow another state to do so, it may
well be failing in its obligations under international law.

For the sake of our people and country, please stop the oppression and
enter into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders.

Bo Kyi is a former political prisoner and is joint secretary of the
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), based in Thailand.

_____________________________________

March 11, Asia Times Online
Myanmar must do right by ASEAN - Verghese Mathews

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers
to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in
contributing.

SINGAPORE - We know it is difficult to counsel a close friend or sibling
who one perceives is moving in a direction detrimental to him and his
immediate circle. Rather than say something, we are often tempted to take
the easy way out and do nothing, except hope that someone else will tackle
the problem.

But every now and then someone surfaces whose deep and sincere concern for
the friend is coupled with moral courage and a willingness to take the
personal risk of being misunderstood by addressing the problem at hand.

It is in such a context that I see Singaporean Foreign Minister George
Yeo's meticulously crafted statement on Myanmar. Yeo made the remarks
during a parliamentary debate last week, days before he left for Jakarta,
where he is heading a delegation to the 15th ministerial meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union that
opened on Thursday.

The sincerity with which Yeo spoke was obvious. He made it clear that
Singapore recognized that the domestic situation in Myanmar is complicated
and that it is for the people of Myanmar themselves to decide on their own
future.

If the military leaders in Yangon were listening, as undoubtedly they
were, they would not have failed to detect Yeo's frustration and
disappointment that the much-publicized roadmap to democracy is still
without a timeline; that the efforts of the United Nations to facilitate
and advance the national reconciliation process in Myanmar have so far
yielded nothing; and that pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi remains in detention.

Yeo did not belabor the point, but the thrust was that whatever happens in
Myanmar will affect ASEAN as a whole and its relationship with its
dialogue partners.

There can be no doubt that along the corridors and on the sidelines of the
ASEAN-EU conference, there will be spirited discussions about Yangon
taking over the chairmanship of ASEAN next year. Chairmanship of the group
is rotated annually among the bloc's 10 members. It will be ASEAN's
credibility and cohesion that will be challenged and placed under
defensive scrutiny.

Leaders in Myanmar are aware and, I would suggest, grateful that ASEAN
stood by it in the face of previous challenges from EU countries and
others.

Myanmar's leaders likewise are aware that the continuing stalemate and
lack of meaningful political movement in Yangon have weakened ASEAN's
position considerably. There are enough good people there to realize that
ASEAN is losing moral ground.

We all know, as does Myanmar, what steps must be taken, and I shall not go
over these except to say that the difference this time is that Myanmar's
assumption of the ASEAN chairmanship next year provides a definite
deadline and challenge for both the country and the association. This is a
matter that cannot be swept under the carpet - a decision needs to be made
one way or the other.

Myanmar must naturally decide what is best for itself, but it can no
longer ignore or disregard the concerns of its partners in ASEAN.

If it is clear to the leaders in Yangon that they need more time for their
roadmap, then they need the moral courage to stand by ASEAN the way ASEAN
has stood by them.

One possible solution is for Myanmar to opt out of assuming the
chairmanship next year. It is not the best way forward, but it is one way
out. Just as important, such a move would demonstrate that Myanmar cares
for ASEAN and prove that, when necessary, it can rise to a higher level of
statesmanship.

Verghese Mathews, a former Singaporean ambassador to Cambodia, is a
visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.