Asean to hear other opinions on Burma bid

JAKARTA—Top diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would consider international opinion when they decide  whether or not to allow Burma (Myanmar) to chair the regional bloc by 2014, according to Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan.

“We live, interact, synergize and benefit from our relationship with the (rest of the) world. Certainly we will be open to hear their sentiments,” he told reporters attending a media conference here on Wednesday.

Asean foreign ministers will be meeting sometime this week or next week to decide on the matter, Pitsuwan added.

Earlier, Indonesian parliamentarian Eva Kusuma Sundari, president of the Asean Interparliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (AIPMC), warned of a possible backlash from western governments should Burma, a military dictatorship, be allowed to take over the Asean chairmanship.

Burma has been denounced by many nations for its dismal human rights record. It only recently released Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi after 21 years in custody. The International Labor Organization has accused Burma of crimes against humanity for what it said was systematic forced labor in the country.

Sundari said that based on their interactions with government officials from Australia, the United States and the European Union, the would-be impact of Burma’s assumption of the rotating chairmanship “will not be good for Asean as a whole.”

Asean is composed of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

“You cannot help it. These governments still look at Aung San Suu Kyi as the icon of democracy,” the Indonesian parliamentatian stressed.

But she pointed out that western government officials did not spell out the measures they would be taking should Burma assume the Asean leadership.

Burma was supposed to assume the rotating chairmanship this year but Asean leaders decided to push it forward to 2016 during a summit in 2006.

Last January, Burma asked Asean leaders to advance its chairmanship to 2014.

During the 18th Asean Summit in May here, the region’s foreign ministers asked Indonesia to assess the readiness of Burma to lead the 10-country bloc.

Pitsuwan said recent signals from Naypyidaw, Burma’s center of government, indicated the country was ready to receive such an Indonesian diplomatic mission.

Such a mission, he added, is “a reflection of Asean’s support to Burma on a road to opening up.”

Pitsuwan said the parameters for evaluating Burma’s 2014 chairmanship bid varied among the member-states’ diplomats. But many of them shared common concerns with civil society and democratization activists. Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao