BurmaNet News, April 18, 2006

[Editor]

April 18, 2006 Issue # 2943

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: Junta isolates itself further by rejecting NLD offer
Xinhua: Internet users reach over 63,000 in Myanmar in 2005
DVB: Buddhist monk killed by drunken youths during Thingyan festivity
DVB: NLD pay traditional Burmese New Year respect to elders

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: S Korean investment in Burma sparks international protests
AFP: Malaysian police arrest 82 Myanmar protesters over Daewoo gas project
Mzzima: Indian geo-politics experts meet Shwe gas activists - Nem Davies

HEALTH / AIDS
Inter Press Service: Caught between bird flu and Burma's junta

ASEAN
AFP: ASEAN grapples with Myanmar – again
The Star: Hamid: Be firm on Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Jakarta Post: ASEAN cannot afford to lose nerve on Myanmar - Mario
"Mayong" Joyo Aguja
Jakarta Post: How long can ASEAN wait?

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 17, Mizzima News
Junta isolates itself further by rejecting NLD offer - Mungpi & Mi Mi

The Burmese military junta is further isolating itself in the
international arena by not responding to the National League for
Democracy’s national reconciliation offer, said the Asia Pacific
Solidarity Coalition (APSOC) and Free Burma Coalition-Philippines in a
join statement today.

The NLD’s offer, the deadline for which expires today, called on the junta
to convene a ‘peoples’ parliament’ with the winning representatives of the
aborted 1990 elections and promised to recognize the junta as Burma’s de
jure government.

Nyan Win, spokesperson for the NLD in Rangoon today told Mizzima that the
party has not received any response from the junta.

“As a political party
 we have offered what it should be and what it could
be. And we will continue with our planned strategy,” said Nyan Win.
However, he declined to elaborate on the party’s “planned strategy.”

While there are wide spread speculations over the NLD’s next move in
response to the junta’s silence, U Win Naing, a veteran politician in
Rangoon said, as the junta has clearly indicated its motive, the people of
Burma must think of a consolidated way to break the political deadlock.

“Leaving everything aside, politicians and the people of Burma must think
of just how we can move ahead politically,” said U Win Naing, who is
called Amyotharye given his nationalist spirit.

Nyo Ohn Myint, in charge of exiled foreign affairs committee of the
National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) said the junta is missing
out on a good opportunity by not responding to the NLD’s offer.

“The deteriorating situation for the people and political pressures are
dangerous for the military junta. The NLD has made this offer in
consideration of the peoples’ suffering
 and it is not final or the end
but I believe it is only the first step of the peoples’ movement,” said
Nyo Ohn Myint.

“Now it’s up to the junta to decide. If they remain silent on this issue,
it is a loud indication of their lust for perpetual power. But the efforts
of the international community and all democratic forces will not end
unless meaningful reforms and genuine peace and justice are achieved,”
said Gus Miclat, regional coordinator of APSOC and convener of the
FBC-Phils.

____________________________________

April 18, Xinhua General News Service
Internet users reach over 63,000 in Myanmar in 2005

The number of internet users in Myanmar reached 63,700 as of the end of
2005, up from merely a few thousands in 2000, registering the highest rate
of increase in five years in Southeast Asia region, a local press reported
in its latest issue.

Despite the sharp increase, the number of internet users in the country
still stands the least compared with other SEA countries with one internet
user per 1,000 population, the Myanmar Info-Tech (previously Myanmar
Information and Communications Technology Park) was quoted as saying by
the Weekly Eleven News.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has projected to add internet service centers to over
100 townships in the country during this year to facilitate communications
especially in the sectors of business and education.

As of early this year, such centers, also known as the Public Access
Centers (PAC), had been opened in 12 townships including those in Yangon,
Mandalay, Mawlamyine, Monywa, Taunggyi, Toungoo, Pyay, Pyinmana, Magway,
Myeik, Kawthoung and Shwebo, the Myanmar Info-Tech said.

The country is striving to have such service centers cover the whole
country's 326 townships in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Ahaed Co. of Myanmar and the Teleglobe of Canada have
reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to run an internet service
provider (ISP) in Myanmar as part of the country' s bid to expand such
services. Besides, a Hong Kong (HK) company, the SS8 Networks Inc., has
also agreed with an ICT company of Myanmar to run security services for
ISPs in Myanmar.

Myanmar has also launched some e-government systems including e- visa,
e-passport, and e-procurement to effect management of government bodies.

Myanmar introduced e-education system in early 2001. Being a signatory to
the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement initiated at the regional summit in
Singapore in 2000, Myanmar has also formed the e-National task Force to
support the IT development.

The country signed a series of MoUs with companies from Malaysia, Thailand
and an ASEAN organization on ICT development.

____________________________________

April 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Buddhist monk killed by drunken youths during Thingyan festivity

A Buddhist abbot was killed by two drunken youths during the Burmese water
festival Thingyan at Chauk, Magwe Division in central Burma, after the
motorcycle ridden by the latter ploughed with great speed into the
motorcycle ridden by the monk.

70-year old abbot of Setkyataung Monastery died from wounds sustained on
his head after it landed on the road with impact, an unnamed abbot in
Chauk told DVB. He added that the youths confessed that they fled from the
scene as soon as the accident occurred because they were afraid that they
might be set upon by bystanders.

According to the abbot, one of them is the son of a local authority
chairman of nearby Tanyaung village, and both of them are being detained
at the local police station for further action against them in accordance
with the law, a policeman told DVB.

The funeral for the monk has not been planned as many issues have to be
sorted out with his monks and acolytes on the matter of the administration
of the monastery and the legal action against the youths as many faithful
are said to be angry with them.

____________________________________

April 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD pay traditional Burmese New Year respect to elders

National League for Democracy (NLD) members and leaders today held a
traditional Burmese ceremony at its HQs in Rangoon, giving obeisance to
elders on the Burmese New Year.

Members offered some donations to the NLD leaders and elected
representatives (members of parliaments) over 70 years old while showing
their respects to the elders by kowtowing to them and listening to their
words of wisdom.

Five Buddhist monks were invited to preside over a religious ceremony and
they recited prayer and preached their acolytes to keep their heart pure
with loving kindness. Rangoon Division NLD chairman Soe Myint also
expressed his thanks to the party members on behalf of the elders, and
imparted words of wisdom similar to those of the monks and urged them to
carry on with their political activities for good of the country as they
will surely prevail one day if they do things with the right mind and
method.

Party members sorely missed all other detained leaders including Aung San
Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo who are both under house arrest.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 18, Irrawaddy
S Korean investment in Burma sparks international protests - Khun Sam

Demonstrators gathered at South Korean embassies and offices of Daewoo
International Corp around the world on Tuesday to demand the country stop
all investment in the proposed project in military-ruled Burma’s Shwe gas
fields.

Protestors claimed that the revenue from the project would only bolster
the oppressive ruling junta and would do nothing to help impoverished
Burmese people, as well as further damage the country’s already fragile
environment.

The demonstrations were being held outside Daewoo International offices
and South Korean embassies in the US, UK, Sweden, Japan, India,
Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Aung Marn Oo, director of the Shwe Gas Pipeline Campaign Committee
(Thailand) told The Irrawaddy today that he and about 50 Burmese activists
staged a demonstration outside the South Korean embassy in Bangkok,
holding signs that read “Daewoo Out of Burma.”

According to Aung Marn Oo, the demonstration lasted 30 minutes and
included the delivery of a letter to the embassy denouncing the Shwe
project. The demonstrators were subsequently arrested. Some 17 of the
group remain in custody.

“Despite economic sanctions imposed by the US and other western countries,
the junta has been able to survive on the revenues derived from exporting
the country’s inexhaustible natural resources
and offering slave or cheap
labor to foreign companies,” the letter stated.

In Malaysia, over 100 people—including Burmese and Malaysian
activists—staged a demonstration outside the South Korean embassy in Kuala
Lumpur, according to Chang Lih Kang, the coordinator of SUARAM, a
Malaysian Human Rights group based in the capital city and who
participated in the demonstration.

Chang Lih Kang said that 82 of the demonstrators were arrested for staging
an illegal gathering and for entering the country illegally. He added that
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other NGOs in Kuala Lumpur were
negotiating with authorities for their release.

Ko Khin, one of about 70 demonstrators in New Delhi, India said that
Burmese and Indian activists organized a two-day seminar at the Gandhi
Peace Foundation on the global campaign against the Shwe gas pipeline
project.

“This [the Shwe pipeline] will only help support the military regime’s
survival and lead to increased persecution of opposition groups, including
the National League for Democracy and ethnic opposition groups, and the
prospect for national reconciliation and democracy will be lost,” said Ko
Khin.

“The Shwe gas project is a great threat to Burma’s rapidly degrading
environment,” said Ka Hsaw Wa, executive director of Earth Rights
International, a participant in the global campaign.

Daewoo holds a 60 percent stake in the Shwe gas field, located in the Bay
of Bengal off Burma’s Arakan coast. It is expected to begin commercial
production in 2010, at an estimated annual profit of US $106 million.

Korea Gas Corp and Gail India each hold a 10 percent stake, while India’s
ONGC Videsh has an investment of 20 percent

____________________________________


April 18, Agence France Presse
Malaysian police arrest 82 Myanmar protesters over Daewoo gas project

Malaysian police on Tuesday arrested 82 activists, mostly from Myanmar but
including one Australian, who demonstrated against South Korea's Daewoo
International which is exploring gasfields off Myanmar's coast.

Some 100 activists had protested peacefully outside the South Korean
embassy in Kuala Lumpur but as they moved to disperse, police detained
dozens of them.

"We have 82 arrested altogether. (They) have been arrested for an illegal
gathering," local police chief Hasnan Hassan told AFP.

Hasnan said police were still trying to confirm all the nationalities but
said one Australian was among the detainees. They would appear before a
megistrate's court Wednesday.

Malaysian rights group Suaram, which has been supporting the activists,
criticised the arrests.

"It is totally uncalled for because the people had already dispersed and
were waiting for a bus to go home," said Suaram coordinator Chang Lih
Kang.

Chanting "Daewoo, Daewoo, go away, go away," the protesters said the
company's gas exploration would boost revenue for Myanmar's military junta
and lead to rights abuses.

"If they invest in my country, there will be human rights abuses and many,
many problems," Aung Lwin told AFP.

He alleged the military junta had already forcibly cleared nine villages
in the area around a planned gas pipeline.

"Nine villages were moved by the government already and there is forced
labour and many problems now," said Aung Lwin, adding the Daewoo protests
were carried out worldwide.

Investment company Daewoo International announced in January it had
discovered a gas reserve off Myanmar, its second after obtaining
exploration rights in 2004.

Daewoo International has a 60 percent stake in the new gasfield, with the
remaining shares held by a consortium of Korean and Indian companies.

The activists estimated one of the reserves could generate up to one
billion US dollars for Myanmar's government in years to come.

Activists have long campaigned against international companies investing
in Myanmar, arguing it will prop up the junta and lead to environmental
and rights abuses.

____________________________________

April 17, Mzzima News
Indian geo-politics experts meet Shwe gas activists - Nem Davies

A two-day seminar at the Gandhi Peace Foundation began today with over
45-participants including Indian geo politics experts, legal experts,
civil societies group, environmentalists, Indian women activists, Indian
North East gas campaign activists and Burmese democracy activists.

The discussion at the seminar revolved around the geo-politics of energy
led by the Shwe Gas Pipeline Campaign Committee (India) and other media
based in New Delhi.

Kim, a coordinator of the Shwe Gas Campaign based in New Delhi said that
“we would like to know how to stop gas exploration in Burma through legal
issues and how to stop the pipeline project with the help of expert
views.”

He also said that the seminar is the next step to the movement, which was
related to the resent visit of the Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam,
because his official tour to Burma led to bilateral signing for energy
plants.

The official visit of Indian President Kalam is very significant and it
alerted our gas campaign movement for we felt before he departed to Burma
that some thing would come about from the trip, he added.

“Moreover the military junta has a partnership with China, Korea and India
and now the military government is going to sell gas to Russia,” he added.

Carol Ransely, Assistant Director, Earth Rights International based on the
Thai-Burma border said “we should inform the Indian government and make
people in India aware of the situation in Burma to stop the project given
the rampant human right violations in Burma.”

She added that they strongly support the movement over gas and encourage
the activities because it is related to humanitarian crisis including
forced labour, forced relocation. The same experience has been shared
during the Yadana Gas pipeline project in Burma.

The Shwe Gas bulletin also stated that the Shwe Gas Project also poses a
long-term threat. It is potentially the largest source of revenue for the
brutal and repressive military junta, with natural gas deposits at an
estimated market value of over US$60 billion.

Indian Professor M. Mohanty pointed to this major source of foreign
investment in Burma and said “we know the scale of corruption is very high
and the manner of financing the dictatorial regime through the gas
projects.

While we have been demanding democratic rights for people in Burma the
governments of India, China, and Korea are looking to get gas through
pipelines. As long as “the junta is in power one cannot contribute to
democratic transition in Burma.”

He also proposed that for limited energy resources we needed to use solar
energy for long-term energy instead of using oil and gas among others.
There needs to be alternative means of energy for human development,
dependent on sustainable resources including natural resources.

The International Day of Action is slated for April 18 and over
20-countries will stage massive protest demonstrations against foreign
investments including those by Daewoo International, the government of
India, South Korea and China. The protest will also be against support
provided to the military regime and unacceptable human right abuses and
environmental destruction in Burma.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

April 18, Inter Press Service
Caught between bird flu and Burma's junta - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: Southeast Asian governments are caught between tackling bird flu
and Burma's secretive junta, which is keener on strengthening its iron
grip on power than addressing a possible global pandemic.

On Monday last week, UN officials offered Asean governments a picture of
how rapidly the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus had spread in Burma in
under a month. “Up to now, there are over 100 outbreaks, mainly in two
districts, Mandalay and Sagaing,” He Changchui, head of the Food and
Agriculture Organisation's Asia-Pacific office, said at a press conference
here.

Part of the problem, he added, was a lack of awareness among communities
breeding poultry that have been affected. “The information is not that
comprehensive.”

That is no surprise for governments of Asean which, besides Burma, include
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam. In mid-March, when word first got out that Burma had
become the latest country hit by avian flu, it was revealed that the
increasingly secretive and paranoid junta had kept the public in the dark
for days, with no mention of the outbreak in the state-controlled media.

For Burma watchers, a meeting of Asean foreign ministers in the Indonesian
resort of Bali on April 17-18 would offer a useful occasion to warn
Rangoon about the health consequences of its brutal grip on power. “You
cannot separate the two. The politics and the health issues are linked,”
Soe Aung, spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, an
umbrella organization of Burmese groups in exile, told IPS.

“Health has never featured prominently on the Asean agenda, but bird flu
calls for change,” he added. “This is a trans-boundary issue, and it can
affect Burma's neighbors.”

“The threat of bird flu spreading in Burma should be discussed by the
foreign ministers without delay,” Teresa Kok, a Malaysian opposition
lawmaker who is part of an Asean inter-parliamentary caucus on Burma,
noted during an interview. “It is not the time to be soft and be
humiliated like (Malaysian Foreign Minister) Syed Hamid (Albar) was by the
junta.”

Syed Hamid visited Burma late last month, to assess the country's progress
towards political reform and democracy, but he had to cut short his
trip—which had already been delayed by Rangoon—after the junta refused to
let him meet pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, currently under house
arrest. He is expected to deliver a report of his visit at the Bali
meeting.

The threat of bird flu spreading in Burma comes at a time when Southeast
Asia has already gained notoriety as the epicenter of the lethal virus
that, if not contained, threatens to mutate into a strain capable of
causing a global pandemic, which could kill millions.

Countries already hit by avian flu-related human deaths over the last two
years include Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The
global death toll stands at 109 out of 192 reported cases.

The challenge faced by the Burmese junta is seen in a scathing report
released in late March by medical researchers from the Bloomberg School of
Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Government policies in Burma
“that restrict public health and humanitarian aid have created an
environment where AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria and bird flu
are spreading unchecked,” states a media release that accompanied the
report.

“Health expenditures in Burma are among the lowest globally, including an
annual budget of less than US $22,000 for the prevention and treatment of
HIV among a total population of 43 million,” it adds. “Much of the country
lacks basic laboratory facilities to carry out a CD4 blood test, the
minimum standard for clinical monitoring of AIDS care.”

Burma, which has been renamed Myanmar by the junta, has an estimated
170,000 to 620,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. It is also classified by
UN agencies as being among the world's 22 “high burden” countries with
tuberculosis, due to the 97,000 new cases reported every year.

“In 2005, thirty-four percent of tuberculosis cases in Burma were
resistant to any of the four standard first-line drug treatments, which is
double the rate of drug-resistant cases in neighboring countries,” the
report by US researchers reveals. “Nearly half of all deaths from malaria
in Asia occur in Burma.”

To compound that problem, the junta has placed severe travel restrictions
on international humanitarian agencies working in the country, prompting
some to leave. In August last year, the Global Fund to fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international body set up to boost grassroots
efforts in combating the three pandemics, quit after Rangoon's many
roadblocks. In March this year, Medecins sans Frontieres was also forced
to depart after “the military authorities had imposed so many travel
restrictions.”

The junta, however, appears unruffled by outside critics as it spends more
on strengthening its 400,000-strong army and improving the new
administrative capital it has unveiled in Pyinmana, north of Rangoon.

Leading UN officials say that the bird flu outbreaks in Burma appear to be
beyond what the junta can handle. “We are going to be focusing on Myanmar
a lot in the next few days and weeks, trying to make sure that the
authorities and civil society in that country are able to cope better,” Dr
David Nabarro, the UN’s point man on bird flu, told reporters here last
week.

The Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Bali offers the first forum to
gauge what the region's governments may do to deal with their stubborn
partner.

____________________________________
ASEAN

April 18, Agence France Presse
ASEAN grapples with Myanmar – again - Samantha Brown

Myanmar will once again cast a long shadow when Southeast Asian foreign
ministers hold their annual retreat this week hoping to find a way to
bring the junta in Yangon into line, analysts say.

Ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), dogged by persistent calls to pressure Myanmar to reform, will
converge on the Indonesian resort island of Bali for informal day-long
talks Thursday.

Myanmar "remains the focus of attention of the foreign ministers," said
Bantarto Bandoro, foreign policy analyst with the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), a Jakarta-based thinktank.

"The group's policy pertaining to this matter will certainly be reviewed
to see what can be done to improve the situation," he told AFP.

The ministers are due to be briefed by Malaysian foreign minister and
special Myanmar envoy Syed Hamid Albar following his delayed visit to the
regime last month.

Myanmar agreed at last year's ASEAN summit to invite Syed Hamid in the
face of growing international pressure for evidence of democratic progress
by Yangon, as well as embarrassment among some of its members over its
inclusion in the bloc, which it joined in 1997.

The envoy visited in March after months of delay, meeting with Myanmar
Prime Minister Soe Win and other officials, but he left a day early
without being allowed to meet democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel peace laureate has spent most of the last 16 years in jail or
under house arrest and has been a focal point of global outrage over the
junta's failure to reform.

Philippine foreign secretary Alberto Romulo said ahead of the retreat that
ASEAN was moving closer to a charter, which is being drafted amid ongoing
criticism over the group's policy of non-interference in members' affairs.

"Among other issues, we will exchange views and widen discourse on
regional integration, the creation of an ASEAN charter, and the need to
maintain ASEAN's centrality and the continuing evolution of the regional
and global geopolitical landscapes," he said.

"We are one step closer to the charter, a charter that builds strength of
our diversity and reinforces our commonalities."

ASEAN officials have been reluctant to spell out how the charter could
deal with Myanmar's junta and its glacial progress on reform, instead
politely stressing that it would promote democracy, human rights and
obligations.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a researcher from the state-run Indonesian Institute
of Sciences, agreed that Myanmar would be a hot topic, given that the
president of host Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also visited Yangon
in early March.

Yudhoyono's visit "has given rise to much hope, domestically, regionally
and internationally that the president, who has a military background,
will be able to communicate better with the leaders of the military
junta," she said.

During his visit, Yudhoyono offered to help Myanmar's generals work
towards democracy, given Indonesia's own recent transition to democracy
following the downfall of dictator Suharto in 1998.

Anwar also said that the ASEAN charter was set to be discussed.

"In discussing the charter, a sanction mechanism for unacceptable or
intolerable violations of agreements by member states should be
discussed," she said, adding that it may include Myanmar's reluctance to
follow ASEAN policy.

"ASEAN should no longer be based on gentlemen's agreements with no binding
rules and sanctions," she said.

"If ASEAN wants to be consistent in becoming a community, then the Myanmar
problem needs serious attention," she warned.

Under mounting international pressure and smarting from sanctions imposed
by Western nations, Myanmar's generals proclaimed a seven-step "road map"
to democracy in 2003, but they are still on the first step of drafting a
new constitution.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in a
landslide but the result was never recognised by the military.

____________________________________

April 18, The Star
Hamid: Be firm on Myanmar - Mergawati Zulfakar

Putrajaya: Asean must be firm with Myanmar as the feeling is that the
grouping has been held hostage by that country's military junta, said
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

Syed Hamid, whose recent mission to Myanmar failed, is to submit a report
on the visit to the Asean Foreign Ministers annual retreat in Ubud, Bali,
tomorrow.

 “I think there is a feeling that Myanmar is dragging us down in terms of
our credibility and image,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

“Even when we try to have sideline meetings during Apec or Asia-Europe
summits, we need to search for a special formula to include Myanmar.

“There is that feeling that we are being held hostage by Myanmar on some
of the progress.

“We started with a very soft approach (towards Myanmar) but it is getting
firmer. Asean is the last hope before people get impatient and stronger
views are taken.”

Syed Hamid visited Myanmar last month after Asean leaders decided to send
a delegation to pressure the junta into producing tangible results from
its promised democratic reforms.

The trip was a failure because he was unable to meet opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Asean must discuss this matter frankly. We are not asking Myanmar to
change radically; we are asking it to evolve towards change,” he said.

“The Myanmar authorities are supposed to have a road map and implement it.

“But you must be believable. If you have a good story to tell, you must
not be fearful of the things you have done.

“They must convince people and not only Asean, that their plan is on
track, that it is really going to happen.

“But we are not seeing it as yet.”

Asked whether Asean believed that Myanmar was implementing its reforms,
Syed Hamid said the grouping had yet to verify it.

“At present we have nothing to hold on to. We have been listening to them,
we have been told by them, but we cannot verify for ourselves,” he said.

“We told them if we cannot verify, how can we argue convincingly for them?”

However, Syed Hamid said, Asean was not giving up hope on Myanmar and
would continue to encourage it towards democracy.

“We do not want any Asean member to decide that it will leave Asean, that
is not a solution. We do not want Myanmar isolating itself,” he said,
adding that countries with strong ties with Myanmar should assist.

Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong had asked China and India to
persuade Myanmar towards reforms as both countries are major trading
partners of Myanmar and exercise great influence over its economy.

Asked whether Asean was getting impatient, Syed Hamid replied in the
affirmative, saying the ball was in Myanmar’s court.

“At one point or another Asean has to make a decision,” he added.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 18, The Jakarta Post
ASEAN cannot afford to lose nerve on Myanmar - Mario "Mayong" Joyo Aguja

Manila: ASEAN's Special Envoy to Myanmar Syed Hamid Albar will be briefing
his counterparts this week at a retreat in Ubud on his recent visit to
Yangon.

However, the Malaysian Foreign Minister's report is not likely to provide
any new information or good news that somehow, the Myanmar military
authorities have miraculously fulfilled their promises to ASEAN concerning
economic and political reforms.

Already, the statements emanating from ASEAN capitals after Syed Hamid's
premature departure from Yangon on March 24 indicate that ASEAN leaders
may be considering backing off from the bold advocacy they initiated last
year, which induced Myanmar to withdraw from the ASEAN chair. ASEAN
ministers are giving the impression that they may be losing their resolve,
perhaps even their nerve, when it comes to negotiating with the reigning
generals.

History is written by the decisive, not the jittery. ASEAN leaders must be
able to see that the stone facade set up by the Myanmar regime is a thin
and teetering one.

The sudden move of Myanmar's capital to a semi-completed bunker last
November, in which civil servants were given 48 hours' notice, does not
signal strength. The regime's dwindling grip on the economy, even as it
exposes its inability to understand the bird flu epidemic has further
eroded business confidence to the point of despair.

Even the annual military parade to mark Armed Forces Day on March 27 was
conducted in front of an audience of military men and their families,
under tight security, away from the direct gaze of the general public.
Despite the increased distance from democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
home, where she remains under house arrest, the authorities continue to
isolate her for fear of her national and international influence.

On April 4, the news service Kommersant reported that Gen. Maung Aye had
arrived in Russia bearing "an extensive list of Russian arms and military
hardware" to acquire. Such extravagance is outrageous when most of
Myanmar's people suffer extreme impoverishment. It's also a hint that the
generals feel far from secure.

This is why ASEAN cannot afford to shy away from taking leadership in
solving the Myanmar question. The current crisis is partly a result of the
ASEAN's prior dithering over Myanmar, which saw ASEAN becoming Myanmar's
greatest defender even as the regime flouted its most basic values. If
ASEAN fails to garner sufficient political will to solve this problem, it
will undermine its role as the guardian of regional security. How then
will it be able to maintain its credibility in the region, let alone
internationally?

The Myanmar authorities have so far modified their behavior and rhetoric
in response to those who willing to exercise leverage and determination,
such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United States
government. It had, until last year, treated ASEAN with contempt.

Now, the Myanmar generals would have us believe they are totally in
control. They would prefer ASEAN to cease its advocacy and revert to the
thankless job of defending the indefensible. They want ASEAN to campaign
against pressure without delivering any tangible benefits. Such extreme
and selfish demands are an insult to the spirit of ASEAN solidarity.

We must see beyond their bluff. Regional players, such as India and China,
now realize that it is not in their economic or security interests to
allow Myanmar's instability to deteriorate further. ASEAN could lead a
regional strategy to ensure that pro-reform forces, inside and outside, of
Myanmar are able to deliver outcomes that will benefit the peoples of this
region.

If isolation of Myanmar is not the solution for democratic reform, surely
meaningful reform cannot be initiated when the Myanmar regime acts in
remoteness. That is why ASEAN has to assert for an inclusive political
process where the NLD, along with other pro-democracy parties that won the
1990 elections and ethnic nationality leaders be an integral part in the
long-term solution for Myanmar.

ASEAN is capable of skillfully harnessing both diplomacy and pressure in a
mutually reinforcing manner. Such an approach will lead to a practical and
sustainable solution that is all-inclusive. If it shrinks away from this
challenge, ASEAN risks delivering our regional destiny into the hands of
irrational dictators.

Now, more than ever, an ASEAN strategy of principled engagement backed by
international pressure is needed. If ASEAN is indecisive, it will not only
be Myanmar's 50 million people who suffer.

Congressman Mario "Mayong" Joyo Aguja of the Akbayan "Citizens" Action
Party is a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippine
Congress and an active member of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar
Caucus (AIPMC).

____________________________________

April 18, The Jakarta Post
How long can ASEAN wait?

When the foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) open their two-day meeting Thursday in Ubud, Bali, they
should consider that like a living organism, the organization will cease
to exist if it fails to adapt to its environment and implement the
fundamental principles of democracy.

ASEAN risks becoming irrelevant if it does not respond to the huge
challenges it faces today, nearly 40 years after it was first formed. The
foreign ministers have the task of convincing the international community
that the regional grouping continues to be relevant by taking strong
action against any members who threaten the existence of the association.
Established with a grand vision, ASEAN is increasingly seen as
ineffectual. Apart from becoming a never-ending talking circuit -- it
sometimes seems not a day passes without a meeting linked to ASEAN -- it
has done very little in the way of practical action.

In the glory days of ASEAN, the association helped bring about the
necessary peace for unimpeded economic growth in the region. Now the
grouping must focus on developing strong roots among the populace. This
will not be an easy task. As an organization created by those in power,
ASEAN is largely viewed as an elitist organization. Much work needs to be
done to remedy this perception.

Although the association's leaders insist they have adapted to the rapid
growth of democracy in Southeast Asia, they still find it impossible to
turn away from the obsolete principle of noninterference in the domestic
affairs of the grouping's members.

One of the most embarrassing issue for the association since it accepted
Myanmar as a member in 1997 has been its failure to deal with the brutal
junta which rules that country. Try as it might, for obvious reasons the
association has been unable to convince the public about Myanmar's
contributions to peace, democratization and stability in the region.

It would be much easier to recite the damage Myanmar has caused to the
region than its contributions. ASEAN has become the target of criticism
from the international community, particularly the United States and the
European Union, for its reluctance to take on Myanmar's military leaders.
The grouping continues to shield Myanmar not because the country is so
rich and powerful it cannot be ignored, but simply because the association
continues to cling to the belief that outsiders have no right to interfere
in Myanmar's domestic affairs.

In recent years ASEAN has become a virtual hostage to Myanmar, which has
figuratively hijacked the association for its own advantage. When
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the country last month, he
failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity opened to him.
Yudhoyono instead presented the image of an outdated Indonesia, talking up
Myanmar while failing to comment on the obvious issue of the country's
repressive government.

This from the leader of a country that recently threw off its own
repressive regime and is now in the process of democratization. Why should
Myanmar be expected to respect ASEAN if the leader of one its founding
members, a country of 230 million people, fail to impress on it the need
to change and respect the principles of the association? Yudhoyono failed
to embarrass a host badly in need of embarrassment.

Worse, ASEAN's special envoy to Myanmar, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar, also returned empty-handed from a recent visit to Yangon. The
junta basically told him everything in the country was fine, they did not
need help and they did not want to be bothered by outsiders.

The ASEAN foreign ministers will only further embarrass the association if
they fail to punish Myanmar by suspending its ASEAN membership. The
generals there have cheated ASEAN for too many years with empty promises
to restore democracy and to stop suppressing the voice of the people.

It would be nothing short of shameful if ASEAN simply sings the same old
song that Myanmar should be give more time to change, while again refusing
to take tough action against the country.

If member countries want to see ASEAN flourish, they will have to work a
lot harder in a world where globalization and terrorism have become two of
the most pressing issues.