Suu Kyi Hunger Strike Forcing Asia To Take Position On Burma Junta

by Marwaan Macan-Markar

PHOTO: freeburmacoalition.org

Their response will be keenly scrutinized in the wake of a seeming major policy shift displayed since June by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the main regional grouping of 10 countries of which Burma is a member.

Beginning with the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh that month, most of the region's governments turned up the heat on Burma's military regime to release Suu Kyi from military custody and to restart the country's stalled reconciliation talks.

This attitude -- including the harsh words of condemnation in July by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad -- showed unequivocally that on Burma, at least, ASEAN has been moved to interfere with another country's domestic affairs.

ASEAN's standard position, by contrast, has always been against non-interference on internal matters and toward a policy of 'constructive engagement' with Burma, which it hoped would nudge Rangoon toward more democratic change.

Suu Kyi and leading members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party were taken into military custody on May 30 after they were attacked in a town north of Rangoon by men linked to the junta. This re-arrest, which marks 100 days on Sept. 9, comes after Suu Kyi was released from 19 months of house arrest in May last year.

But Suu Kyi's reported hunger strike, to protest against the current political conditions in Burma, has still to elicit the kind of open sympathy ASEAN displayed towards the leader of the NLD few months ago.

On the contrary, the government in neighboring Thailand has seen it fit to pour scorn on Suu Kyi's latest display of non-violent protest.

On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was quoted in 'Matichon,' a Thai language daily, saying that the Burmese regime was more open to participation of other political groups and "if Suu Kyi was still stubborn, it would be helpless for her."

"The prime minister said the Burmese regime has clearly shown its sincerity in opening up itself and should be given time and support," the paper quoted Thaksin as having said.

Little wonder why Burmese political activists in exile are troubled by ASEAN's attitude in the wake of Suu Kyi's hunger strike, news of which the U.S. government reported on Sunday but which was soon denied by Rangoon.

"We were upbeat in June after the pressure ASEAN foreign ministers put on Burma and the statements that followed. But now we are not sure how sincere they were," Soe Aung, external affairs director of the Network for Democracy and Development, a Thailand-based body of Burmese exiles, told IPS. "Our disappointment level has dropped below zero."

The lack of immediate and open sympathy by ASEAN toward Suu Kyi reveals the "still unclear policy ASEAN members have towards Burma," he added. "It appears that they are willing to place their own economic considerations above the suffering that the people of Burma have to endure."

The United Nations, on the other hand, has called on Rangoon's junta to release her and other opposition members in custody.

"Although restrictions on information make it impossible to confirm this news, the special rapporteur remains gravely concerned by the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi in an undisclosed location, as well as by the impact of her confinement on her safety and health," Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, UN special rapporteur on human rights for Burma, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Pinheiro said he was "deeply disturbed" by the unconfirmed report that Suu Kyi had launched a hunger strike. The government of Burma is responsible "for her protection and safety," his statement added.

Meanwhile, global human rights lobbies such as the London-based Amnesty International have also expressed concern. In a statement released Tuesday, Amnesty said that the political climate in Burma has been deteriorating since the arrest.

"There have been reports that those detained on May 30 have been ill-treated in detention, and that many are suffering from illness exacerbated by their treatment in detention," Amnesty said.

It also said that political activists are still being arrested. "At least 75 additional people have been arrested since events on May 30, in many instances on account of their calls for an investigation into the attack and release of those detained on May 30," Amnesty added.

According to available reports, the junta is holding over 1,300 political prisoners, including elected members of parliament.

On top of that is Burma's record of rights abuses including forced labor, forced movement of ethnic minorities and the systematic rape of women and girls by the Burmese military, which numbers 350,000, including an estimated 70,000 child soldiers.

Consequently, Burma watchers have dismissed as another charade the wide-ranging policy statement over the weekend by the country's newly appointed prime minister, Gen Khin Nyunt.

"It is all propaganda. There is nothing new. The so-called 'road map' mentioned to bring peace to Burma is disgusting," Asda Jayanama, a former Thai diplomat who served in Rangoon, told IPS.

On Saturday, Khin Nyunt said that Rangoon will resume work to pave the way for political reform. But he failed to divulge a timetable for this journey towards peace and reconciliation or state a role for Suu Kyi and the country's opposition parties.

ASEAN leaders, too, will not be impressed, judging by the tougher line they have displayed toward Burma since June.

But how far this changed attitude will go in pushing ASEAN to turn the heat on Rangoon -- or whether it will give a slap on the wrist for the ASEAN family's black sheep -- is something that Burmese exiles and rights activists will be closely watching.