Teresa Kok

By Santha Oorjitham

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama)—It’s time to review Asean’s policy of non-intervention in member countries and constructive engagement with Myanmar, say Asean legislators.

“The coup d’etat last year which replaced then Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt with Lieutenant-General Soe Win, the Nov 27 extension of the confinement of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another six months and moving the capital from Yangon to the remote jungle centre of Pyinmana are all indications the military regime in Myanmar is in a state of withdrawal,” Thai senator Jon Ungphakorn told Bernama in a phone interview from Bangkok.

“They are not taking any notice of worldwide expressions of concern about what is happening in Myanmar,” said the member of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC).

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections but has not been allowed to govern, while the Nobel Peace Laureate has spent 10 of the past 16 years in detention.

At the AIPMC’s Conference on Good Governance, Democracy and Asean in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 2 and 3, senators, members of parliament and diplomats issued a statement noting that Myanmar’s national convention to draft a new constitution “continues to lack legitimacy in the absence of democratic processes and the exclusion of nine political parties representing 91 percent of the parliamentary seats”.

Ungphakorn supported their call for the suspension of Myanmar’s membership of Asean unless it makes progress on its “roadmap to democracy” within the next year and releases Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

“Non-intervention should be completely reviewed,” the former human rights activist said. “Asean’s policy should be one of co-existence but also the right to comment on affairs of neighbouring countries which have an effect on their own country.”

Thailand is affected by over three million immigrants from Myanmar as well as the movement of narcotic drugs across the border and the spread of diseases due to poor health conditions in Myanmar, he noted.

As another example, he cited the violence in southern Thailand which affects Malaysia.

“Malaysia has the right to ask questions and make comments,” he said.

“Asean’s constructive engagement and roadmap for change is a total failure,” said Singapore MP R. Ravindran in e-mailed replies to questions from Bernama.

“Myanmar has done much damage to Asean’s image and continues to hide behind the curtain of the organisation,” said the legislator, who had been part of a delegation of Asean parliamentarians to New York in October which urged the United Nations to pressure Myanmar’s military government to introduce democratic reforms.

“I do hope that Asean member states will show their intolerance with Myanmar and issue an ultimatum behind closed doors, rather than issuing polite statements,” Ravindran said.

“We now have the responsibility to exert pressure on Myanmar to change and bring about political reforms,” agreed AIPMC secretary Teresa Kok, who is the DAP MP for Seputeh.

“We call on Asean governments to put Myanmar on the agenda and at least discuss these issues,” she said.