BurmaNet News, September 2, 2005

[Editor]

September 2, 2005 Issue # 2795


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD denies role in Global Fund withdrawal
Irrawaddy: Burmese PM’s Beijing visit postponed
Narinjara: Stringent checks on family records in North Arakan State

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Border trade threatened by smuggling of goods between
Burma-Bangladesh

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Xinhua: Chinese companies building hydropower projects in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Messenger-Press: Burmese marchers draw local attention

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: What will Wilton Park achieve?
Yale Global Online: Democracy in Burma: Does anybody really care?

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 2, Irrawaddy
NLD denies role in Global Fund withdrawal - Khun Sam

Burma’s opposition party National League for Democracy said today that it
had no involvement in Global Fund’s decision last month to withdraw from
Burma, amid suggestions that the party’s support for isolating the junta
had contributed to the pullout.

In his radio commentary for Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, Tin
Maung Than, a former researcher at the Burma Fund based in Washington DC
and former editor of the banned Thintbawa (Your Life) magazine in Rangoon,
has recommended that the opposition come up with a realistic plan for
dealing with the regime.

“We can surely say that the withdrawal of Global Fund is not the result of
pressure from democratic forces,” he said, as quote by DVB. “But I think
it pushes all the opposition forces to review their policy,” he added.

The NLD support economic sanctions impose by the US and other western
nations against Burma’s military government, but they insist that they
welcome any humanitarian aid that benefits the people of Burma.

“We have repeatedly said that we always welcome any humanitarian
assistance from such organizations as Global Fund,” said NLD spokesperson
Han Thar Myint. “But Global Fund’s withdrawal is obviously not a part of
our official policy,” he added.

Global Fund announced that its decision to terminate projects in Burma to
fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria was made in light of “the
[Burmese] government’s newly established clearance procedures restricting
access of the Principal Recipient [the UNDP], certain Sub-recipients, as
well as the staff of Global Fund and its agents, to grant-implementation
areas.” Global Fund had promised to spend more than US $98 million over
the next five years to fight tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS.

Humanitarian workers in Burma have avoided blaming the NLD for Global
Fund’s withdrawal, instead suggesting that pressure came from lobby groups
in the US.

The NLD conducts HIV/AIDS education programs through local members to
promote greater awareness of the threat posed by the disease.

____________________________________

September 02, Irrawaddy
Burmese PM’s Beijing visit postponed - Clive Parker

Burmese Prime Minister Gen Soe Win’s proposed visit this week to Beijing
has been postponed, it was confirmed, although it was business as usual
for the Chinese as they signed further hydropower deals in Rangoon today.

Burma’s prime minister was supposed to visit neighboring China yesterday
with Chinese companies scheduled to sign their respective hydropower
contracts in Beijing. However, that trip has now been cancelled with no
official reason given, although the Chinese embassy in Rangoon confirmed
the decision had been made by the Chinese side.

“We have had some difficulty arranging the time,” an official at the
embassy who did not want to be named said today. “So it’s just a
postponement of the visit of the prime minister.”

Gen Soe Win would be meeting with top Chinese leaders in a future
visit—namely Prime Minister Wen Jiabao—the embassy official added.

China’s decision to postpone Gen Soe Win’s trip may be due to Wen Jiabao’s
heavy schedule. Yesterday he met with Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the prime minister of Mozambique, Luisa
Diogo, in Beijing. China also received the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Louise Arbor for a five-day visit that ended today, while Beijing
plays host to the China-EU Summit beginning Monday.

The Chinese embassy in Rangoon said the delay of Gen Soe Win’s visit had
nothing to do with recent rumors of instability at the top of the Burmese
junta, speculation that was officially denied by Rangoon in a press
conference on Sunday.

The embassy could not say when the trip would take place but that it would
be the “first official visit [to Beijing] since he [Gen Soe Win] became
prime minister.”

The Burmese PM has met with his Chinese counterpart twice previously since
taking office after his predecessor Khin Nyunt was ousted last October.
The first meeting occurred a month after his appointment at the end of
last November in Beijing and more recently in July at the Second Greater
Mekong Sub-region meeting in Kunming.

Meanwhile, two Chinese companies today signed contracts in Rangoon for two
hydropower projects in Burma, a Chinese official confirmed.

China National Heavy Machinery Corporation signed a US $45 million deal to
provide transmission lines and substations for the Yeywa Hydropower
Project on the Myinge River, Mandalay Division, which will be the largest
in Burma, Xinhua news agency reported today.

Yunnan Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Company also signed a
contract to contribute work to the Upper Paunglaung Hydroelectric Power
Project, located east of Pyinmana in southern Mandalay Division. The area
has taken on increasing significance recently as the junta continues to
move government ministries to the site, which it is believed to consider
better-placed strategically in the event of an attack from the sea.

____________________________________

September 2, Narinjara News
Stringent checks on family records in North Arakan State

In recent times there have been stringent and frequent checks on
“Household Record” in Buthidaung and Maung Daw townships, in the north
Arakan state.  These townships, bordering Bangladesh, account for a higher
Muslim population than elsewhere.  A local resident of Buthidaung said
that such measures are related to the security concerns of the military
authorities.

According to local sources, the operation of checking family records has
been going on since August 16 in Buthidaung Township, while in Maung Daw
the operation began on August 22.

The “Household Record” used to be checked once a year, but this year there
has been two to three checks in these areas. The checks consist of
registering the newly born, the deceased, those away from home and those
staying without having been registered in the Household Record.

Those who have been away from home for more than 21 days are struck off
the Record. Violations of rules relating to the Record could invite severe
penalty.

Even though checking of the family record is not connected to the bomb
blasts in Bangladesh on August 17, the authorities are inspecting family
records much more carefully this time – compared to previous occasions,
said a townsperson.

According to a source close to Burma’s Border Security, Bangladesh
authorities have requested the Burmese and Indian governments to keep an
eye on the border crossing since those responsible for the August 17
bombing in Bangladesh could escape through the border. The August 17
bombing accounted for 459 blasts through out Bangladesh, resulting in two
deaths and more than a 100 injured.

Burma watchers in Bangladesh and the border areas say that given such
stringent Household Record checks are only being conducted in areas with a
high Muslim population, and not in other parts of the state, is an
indication that the Burmese military authorities are concerned with
Islamic terrorists.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 2, Narinjara News
Border trade threatened by smuggling of goods between Burma-Bangladesh

The rampant increase in the smuggling of goods between Burma and
Bangladesh threatens official border trade, according to a merchant from
the border area of Bangladesh.  Smuggled goods such as salt, animal
husbandry, drugs (heroin), Yaba (stimulant) tablets, shrimp, rice, Burmese
textiles, among other items, are coming from Burma into Bangladesh.  The
goods brought into Burma from Bangladesh includes, among others: rice,
fertilizer, Phensdyl, medicine, injections, CTL tablets, cooking oil and
diesel.

According to local business sources, Burmese rice is smuggled to
Bangladesh by smuggling syndicates via the sea.  Bangladeshi smugglers
also smuggle out the Burmese rice to the border area of Burma, especially
Maung Daw Township.

In the border areas of Arakan state, rice from Bangladesh is in much
demand because the Burmese authorities strictly prohibit the carrying of
rice to these areas from central Arakan state.  It is part of a government
policy to control the rice markets in Arakan.

Besides rice, the smuggling syndicates are illegally exporting and
importing all products from both countries after bribing local
authorities, the merchant said.

There are well-organized syndicates in both countries involved in
smuggling and they are a very powerful lot of people. The main reason for
apprehension is that good relations exist between the smugglers and higher
authorities. The same situation prevails in both countries, he said.

The military junta in Burma is creating an artificial shortage of
essential commodities and this is the reason goods such as fertilizer and
oils are carried from Bangladesh to Burma through various border points.

The smugglers also carry Bangladeshi fertilizer, oils, and rice to Burma
through several border points after paying bribes to Burmese authorities
on a daily basis. Several outposts have been set up recently by Burmese
local authorities in border areas to collect toll from smugglers.

Sources say that Burmese officials in border areas collect toll from
smugglers because their salaries are insufficient for their family's
survival.

This is the reason why many traders in the border areas are now involved
in the smuggling business because it is more lucrative than official
trade. In official trade there are so many restrictions created by the two
countries that it is pushing traders into becoming involved in illegal
trade.

Even though in the last seven months alone Bangladesh authorities have
seized smuggled goods worth about taka 100 million from border areas,
smuggled goods still flow from both sides between Burma and Bangladesh.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

September 2, Xinhua News Agency
Chinese companies building hydropower projects in Myanmar

China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) signed contracts with
the Department of Hydroelectric Power of Myanmar here on September 2 on
the implementation of the Yeywa Hydropower Project, the largest in
Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the Yunnan Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Co. , Ltd.

(YMEC) of China signed an agreement with the Myanmar side on the Upper
Paunglaung Hydroelectric Power Project located in the east of Pyinmana,
northern Mandalay division.

Under the contracts worth of 45.84 million US dollars, CHMC is to
undertake the supply of 230 kilo-volt (kv) transmission lines and
substations for the Yeywa Hydropower Project.

The signing was witnessed by Myanmar Minister of Electric Power
Major-General Tin Htut, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Li Jinjun and
President of the Chinese company Lu Wenjun.

This is the fifth time that Myanmar and Chinese companies signed contracts
for the Yeywa hydropower project.

The first one with 2.2 million US dollars was signed between Myanmar and
the China National Electric Equipment Corporation in March 2004 for
building a dam gate.

The second and the third ones, worth 125 million dollars in total, were
inked in July by a Chinese joint venture consortium consisting of the
China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) Technology Co
Ltd and Sinohydro Corporation Ltd.

The fourth one, valued at 46.32 million dollars, was concluded in early
August between Myanmar and the China Gezhouba Water and Power ( Group) Co
Ltd for constructing a reinforced concrete dam with the supply of
machinery equipment under the Yeywa project.

The 790-megawatt four-generator hydropower project, being implemented on
the Myitnge River, 50 kilometers southeast of Mandalay, will generate 3.55
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year upon completion. The
electricity will be transmitted to the whole country through Kyaukse,
Meikhtila and Mandalay via 230 kv double cable lines.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 1, The Messenger-Press
Burmese marchers draw local attention - Lauren Burgoon

Burmese protestors travel along Route 130 in their month long march from
Washington, D.C. to New York City.

While people went about their daily lives Monday, a small group of
strangers walked quietly into town along Route 130, largely unnoticed
except for some passers-by who looked curiously at their signs and moved
on.

Most come from Burma, a place not many are familiar with and even fewer
can point out on a map. And though their arrival was unobtrusive and their
message is one of optimism and peace, what brought them through Washington
is nothing less than horrifying.

The walkers are taking part in the second Long March and Hunger Strike for
Freedom, a month long trek from Washington, D.C., to the United Nations in
New York City. The 10 marchers are not united under any organized group,
but come together from across the country, sometimes picking up
like-minded people along the way.

They walk about 10 miles each day, stopping every fourth day to rest.
Resting each night at churches or community halls, the group talks with
locals about Burma and shares stories, which range from dangerous escapes
over the Thai border to brutal treatment at the hands of the Burmese
military. Passing through Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey
already, the Long March came to Windsor United Methodist Church on Monday.

Their aim is simple — get people to pay attention. Get them to understand
how the political strife in their native Burma, a southeastern Asian
country also known as Myanmar nestled between India, Bangladesh, China,
Laos and Thailand, has created a torturous life for millions of people.
Get people educated about Burma's ghastly past and how even ordinary
citizens can find themselves forced into labor camps, maimed by military
forces or even killed.

And above all, get people involved in the campaign for Burmese democracy.

"We are trying to make the American public aware. We need awareness and
attention. We need help," 38-year-old marcher Phone Kyaw said Monday, who
escaped Burma as citizen uprisings turned increasingly deadly. Phone Kyaw
(the Burmese do not use family names) was granted refugee status by the
United Nations and came to the United States in 2000.
Like his fellow marchers, Phone Kyaw left Burma to avoid jail, torture and
possibly death. After an army coup in 1962, Burma was ruled by a
military-dominated regime. Citizen protests were frequent, but often ended
in bloodshed. Then on Aug. 8, 1988, amid food shortages and discontent,
students, monks, workers and even sympathetic soldiers and police officers
began demonstrations. Soldiers attacked the unarmed demonstrators, killing
thousands and injuring many more.

The violence continued until Sept. 18 when another military coup gave
power to State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which changed
the country's name to Myanmar and continued suppressing demonstrators,
often with the aid of machine guns. Historians estimate that more than
10,000 people were killed and thousands more jailed and tortured in the
following months.

SLORC promised free elections, but when Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of
the opposition party, proved too popular she was placed under house
arrest. Named a Nobel Peace Laureate in 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
under house arrest three times since 1989. Her story is a rallying point
for the marchers, who are demanding her release, freedom for all political
prisoners, free and fair elections and an end to violence in Burma.

Help from the United Nations has been promised, but not delivered, Phone
Kyaw explained. The walkers hope the Long March will force U.N. delegates
to pay attention to the Burmese situation and take meaningful action, he
said.

"We want them to do something effective. There is political deadlock and
we need them to work as a mediator (and) intervene in some way," he said.
"Last year we marched and then waited a year. The United Nations did
nothing. We do not see anything positive with the situation in Burma.
Things are getting worse."

This year the group is hoping the U.N. delegates pay more attention. Their
walk is steeped in symbolism. They left Washington, D.C., from the Mahatma
Gandhi statue on Aug. 8, both to commemorate the uprising and to drive
home a message of peace and nonviolence. Once in New York City, the
march's main organizer, 54-year-old Han Lin, and Maung Maung Tate, 51,
will embark on a 17-day hunger strike — one day for every year since the
military coup.


"I will not give up. I will eat nothing, only water. No energizers, no
food. I will refuse any medical attention and food even if I am taken away
to a hospital," Han Lin said through a translator.

Han Lin is desperate for the delegates and ordinary citizens to hear — and
more importantly, believe — stories about Burma. His group is traveling
with photographs they say prove the Burmese plight. Perhaps best summed up
by a caption on one poster, "Life is not a struggle but a hell," the
pictures show unimaginable suffering. Children are detained in labor camps
and whipped, bodies are mutilated, burnt and left on the street. One
picture shows a monk shot dead during a demonstration; another, a dead
political prisoner's body ripped apart and left to rot. He was used as a
land mine sweeper, marchers say.

The marchers hope their personal stories will make an even bigger impact.
Included in the group is Nyunt Nyunt, a 60-year-old refugee. She was
traveling in a convoy with Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of others on May
30, 2003, when the military attacked in what is known as Depayin Massacre.

"She is a witness and survivor. In her own eyes, she saw more than 70
people killed. All the people traveling in her bus were killed but her,"
Phone Kyaw said of Nyunt Nyunt, who was beaten with bamboo sticks during
the melee.

Nyunt Nyunt was forced to go into hiding without medical attention for her
severe injuries. Reporters covertly traveled to her hiding place to
interview her, but Burmese military intelligence soon closed in. At the
behest of her husband, Nyunt Nyunt escaped Burma last year over the Thai
border, leaving her family behind. She was granted refugee status and came
to America, where she speaks very little English but is active in Burmese
causes. Participating in the Long March is, Phone Kyaw said, a way for her
to support her native country and share firsthand accounts of the
inhumanity there.

Disturbing though their pasts may be, why did the walkers decided to bring
the Long March to local towns like Bordentown, Washington and Dayton?
Logistics, for one. The group has a tentative schedule, but must make
regular adjustments to find places to stay. Lucky for them, the Windsor
United Methodist Church on Church Street was only too willing to help. The
group called Saturday and after consulting with parishioners and reading
up on Burma, Pastor Eric Helms and the church welcomed the group. A
handful put together a potluck dinner and dined with the marchers Monday.

But the group's main reason for stopping in average towns along their
route is to teach ordinary people about Burma and what they can do to
help. That is partially why Mr. Helms backed the group's stay at his
church.

"It actually fit in very well with Sunday's sermon even though it was
written before we got the call," he said. "The sermon was on Exodus 3 when
Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt. God explains how he heard their
cries for help. As Christians, we should also listen and help people
become free."

Han Lin hopes more people follow the church's example.

"We will not stop until we get action. If nothing is done again, we march
again next year and have an 18-day hunger strike," he said. "We will keep
the movement going. We are doing what we should."

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 02, Irrawaddy
What will Wilton Park achieve?

As this weekend’s Wilton Park gathering on Burma draws near, criticism is
growing among Burmese dissidents and activists that it may become a forum
for Rangoon regime apologists, and therefore a waste of time.

The September 4-6 meeting in Surrey, England is fine in theory, organized
as it is by the British Government under its Strategy Unit’s framework for
identifying Countries at Risk of Instability. But the contentious issue is
who is taking part?  In the past, both the Burmese junta and opposition
groups in exile have held such seminars, but they invite like-minded
people. This one is not so clear-cut.

So far, we learn about 30 people have been invited, half of them Burmese
living outside the country. But a large degree of secrecy hangs over the
actual line-up of those attending, leading to suspicions.

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and
Burmese ethnic minority groups have expressed unhappiness at not being
invited. But even if their members were invited, it is doubtful they would
be granted permits to leave Burma.

British official sources said people have been invited to attend on an
individual basis. To be fair, a number of activists and scholars known to
be critical of the regime have been invited. But some say their
invitations were given reluctantly.

Overall, the lack of clear information given out about the affair has
provoked some understandable skepticism among vocal Burmese exile groups.
There was similar cynicism about a “Burma Day 2005” meeting held in
Brussels in April by the European Commission.

But that meeting appeared to be more clearly uncritical of the Burmese
regime, with almost no opponents of the regime invited. Its cornerstone
was a controversial report on the situation in Burma by two known regime
apologists, academic Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen, of the
International Crisis Group. Their report proposed easing of EU sanctions
against Burma and engagement with the regime. Although EU officials
subsequently said there was no plan to loosen sanctions, the meeting ended
in controversy.

There has been no official announcement of an agenda at the upcoming
Wilton Park meeting, but it is understood topics at the meeting will
involve state security, human security and the economic and political
situation in the country. The issues will be discussed among individual
participants, “un-representing” any political parties or groups.

The question is whether these individuals, not representing any
organizations, will be speaking only for themselves. If so, how can any
coherent political and social strategies be put forward?  The meeting may
be well intended, but it is difficult to see how individuals putting
forward an array of differing ideas on how to tackle Burma’s problems can
produce any lasting solutions.

_____________________________________

September 1, Yale Global Online
Democracy in Burma: Does anybody really care? - Amitav Acharya

ASEAN wants to push the issue under the carpet, while the West is content
with grandstanding

A July 2005 agreement among the members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Burma would relinquish its turn at the
chairmanship has averted a major diplomatic crisis for the organization. 
Western nations, including the United States and the European Union, who
attend the annual ASEAN meetings as "dialogue partners," had threatened to
boycott the 2006 meeting if Burma was in the chair.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN now includes 10 countries of Southeast Asia. Under
its rotational leadership, Burma, which joined the group in 1997, was due
to assume the chairmanship of its Standing Committee in 2006.

The Western dialogue partners of ASEAN are protesting against continued
political repression and human rights abuses by the Burmese regime, which
has ruled the country since 1962. The regime has refused to accept the
result of the 1990 national election, which was won by the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD). The party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi,
has since spent most of her time under detention.

By giving up its claim to lead ASEAN in 2006, the junta managed to take
the heat off the question of domestic reform. And ASEAN avoided a Western
boycott of its 2006 meeting. But without more focused action by ASEAN and
the international community to move Burma towards democracy, the move will
be little more than ASEAN's traditional practice of sweeping problems
under the carpet.

The discussion in Laos was not about how to improve the political
situation in the country. The issue was Burma's leadership, rather than
membership in ASEAN.  ASEAN has not made Burma's continued membership of
the association subject to political reform.

ASEAN has been reluctant to push Burma towards political reform out of
deference to its doctrine of non-interference. The Burmese junta has
started drafting a new constitution, due to be completed in 2007, which it
says would lead to political liberalization. Presumably, this would make
Burma eligible to assume the leadership in ASEAN.

ASEAN members agree and hope that this will be the case. But its Western
partners dismiss the constitution-drafting process. Suu Kyi and her party
have boycotted the National Convention drafting the constitution, whose
delegates were hand-picked and tightly controlled by the junta.

The Bush administration in May 2004 stated that because "Rangoon's
constitutional convention has not allowed for substantive dialogue and the
full participation of all political groups, including the NLD, it lacks
legitimacy." If approved by a popular majority in the electorate in a free
and fair referendum – which is by no means guaranteed – the constitution
would still accord the military a privileged position in the political
system, including sole claim to the presidency.

ASEAN's role in Burma has been very different from its role in the
Cambodia conflict during the 1980s, when it led efforts to find a peaceful
settlement to the dispute, which resulted in the Paris Peace Agreement in
1991. That conflict was originally a civil war, although it had been
internationalized by Vietnamese intervention and occupation of Cambodia.
There has been no outside intervention in Burma, which is one
justification for ASEAN's hands-off policy.  But Burma has proven to be a
major embarrassment for ASEAN.

ASEAN's diplomatic options in dealing with Burma are limited by
intra-mural differences within the grouping over how to deal with the
junta. Some members – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore –
are increasingly concerned about the group's relationship with Western
nations, if not its international public reputation per se. Thus, these
ASEAN countries want to see the association play a role in nudging the
junta to reform. Others, like Vietnam, stick to the principle of
non-interference, and are worried about setting a precedent of allowing
regionalist pressure for domestic political reform – a precedent that
would likely come back to haunt them.

ASEAN's capacity for inducing political reform in Burma is also
constrained by the fact that the junta has secured backing from both China
and India, its two most powerful neighbors, playing them against one
other. Hence, the junta can ignore any demand for political change that
ASEAN may bring to bear on it.

China and India are critical to any intervention by the international
community in Burma. But is the West really interested in advancing
political change in Burma? There is no serious diplomatic effort ongoing
today – of the kind one finds in Sri Lanka or Aceh – that might help bring
about political reconciliation in Burma. The Bush administration snubbed
ASEAN by canceling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attendance at the
Vientiane meeting. But this posturing was almost entirely cost-free,
thanks to good bilateral relations with key Asian nations, as indicated by
a separate Rice stopover in Bangkok before the Vientiane meeting.
Diplomatic snubs and economic sanctions are no substitute for a policy of
seeking a solution to Burma's political woes.

Burma's strategic location or economic potential may be apparent to India
and China, but not to the US. Burma is not regarded by the Bush
administration as a terrorist haven, although it claims to side with the
US on the war on terror, supposedly against extremist elements among its
Rohingya muslim minority. When asked by the author as to why the US is not
actively seeking a role in the Burma problem, a senior official in the
first Bush administration replied that because there is no significant
domestic interest or constituency in the United States pushing for such a
role. The administration's democracy-promotion agenda does not extend to
Burma, despite the fact that Secretary Rice named Burma as one of six
"outposts of tyranny" during her Senate confirmation hearing in January.

Yet, a diplomatic effort backed by the US and involving Burma's giant
Asian neighbors would be necessary and timely. Denying Burma the
chairmanship of ASEAN is good posturing, but it does not advance the cause
of democratic transformation in the country. If the US could engage in
six-party negotiations involving China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea to
deal with the North Korea problem, why should it not encourage a similar
move involving China, India, and ASEAN to deal with the Burma issue?

The international community needs to prove that while taking a moral high
ground on Burma's crisis; it must also offer concrete ideas and approaches
to advance the democratization and national reconciliation process beyond
the current policy of sanctions and boycott. A necessary step in that
direction would be a new diplomatic initiative to persuade the Rangoon
regime to broaden the constitution-drafting process – with the
participation of freed opposition leaders and a firm time-table for
internationally-supervised elections. Such an initiative could be
spearheaded jointly by ASEAN, China and India, with the backing of the US
and the EU and other members of the international community.

Ultimately, ASEAN must come out of its non-interference closet and address
the issue head-on. Otherwise, its hands-off approach will continue to
cloud its legitimacy and credibility as a regional organization with a
mandate for seeking "regional solutions to regional problems."

Amitav Acharya is Deputy Director and Head of Research at the Institute of
Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University.