TIME FOR ASEAN TO ACT AGAINST MILITARY LEADERS IN YANGON
The Jakarta Post - October 01, 2007Rizal Sukma, Jakarta
As predicted by many, the military junta in Myanmar, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), finally proved itself to be a rouge regime. Despite calls for restraint from all over the world, the junta has responded to the peaceful demonstrations staged by thousands of monks with brute force. Even monasteries were not spared by the junta troops. The violent crackdown on the protesters clearly shows that the junta does not deserve to be called a "government".
The violent crackdown also proves the junta is a regime that can not be reasoned with. It kills the validity of the argument advocated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the politics of engagement work best with the junta.
ASEAN should accept the fact that it does not count in the junta's political calculations. Nor does the junta care about what ASEAN might think about the way it handles peaceful and legitimate protests by its own people.
As the junta has clearly shown its utmost disrespect for ASEAN, it is time for ASEAN to stop all niceties toward the ruling junta in Myanmar. It is time for ASEAN to stand up and discipline its fellow member state. It is not enough for ASEAN to just support the visit of the UN special envoy to the country. It is not enough for ASEAN to just feel "disturbed" by the events in Myanmar.
ASEAN should realize that the problem of Myanmar is its responsibility. Indonesia, in an explanation after it failed to support a draft resolution on Myanmar at the UN Security Council earlier this year, implicitly maintained the country is a problem for ASEAN to address. ASEAN should also realize the brutal actions of the junta clearly challenge the dream for an ASEAN Community, bound together by shared values.
Such disregard for ASEAN's collective goal, enshrined in the Bali Concord II, by a fellow member state should not go unpunished. ASEAN should make it clear to the junta that if it cannot commit to the agreement it has signed, it should withdraw from ASEAN. As ASEAN turns 40, as a charter is about to be signed in November this year, as the most monumental ASEAN Summit is about to take place in Singapore, ASEAN leaders should not denigrate themselves by sitting together with the Burmese generals, and allow them to put their blood-stained signatures on the ASEAN Charter.
ASEAN should press the junta to accept an ASEAN task force to help the country get back to normalcy. First, such a task force should be given a mandate to provide (1) a platform for a genuine dialogue between the SPDC and the National League for Democracy to restore democracy and build reconciliation; (2) a platform for the resolution of ethnic problems; and (3) assistance to all stakeholders in Myanmar to draw and agree on a peace, reconciliation and democracy plan.
The role of ASEAN in resolving the Cambodian conflict could serve as a model here.
If ASEAN cannot even do this, let alone take a tougher attitude toward Myanmar, then Indonesia should break away from the long-cherished tradition of solidarity within ASEAN. We should dare to disagree with other ASEAN countries that lack the nerve to stand up for the people of Myanmar.
It is also time for Indonesia to show other ASEAN members, and the international community, that we are now a different country from the one ruled by the authoritarian New Order regime.
If we cannot do something useful for the people of Myanmar, we at least should do it for ourselves.
The government, both President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, often claim that democracy -- together with moderate Islam -- is an essential ingredient of our foreign policy. If we are serious about this claim, we need to show to the world that we really mean it. One way of doing this would be by condemning the Burmese junta for what it has done to its people.
Indeed, we should make it a point of honor to be hated by the military junta in Myanmar. We should not fail the millions of Burmese hoping for a better life and dignity. We should not turn our backs and pretend that what happens in Myanmar is not our business. If we care what happens in Iraq, we should also care about what happens in Myanmar.
More importantly, if Indonesia's government really believes in democracy and human rights, then it is our business to oppose any attempt by anyone, anywhere, to kill democracy and murder human rights.
The collapse of the military regime in Myanmar is only a matter of time. If we do not make our stand now, every Indonesian leader and citizen in the future will carry a deep feeling of guilt and embarrassment.
The writer is the deputy executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Source: The Jakarta Post - www.thejakartapost.com