Obama on Burma

By WAI MOE

Ahead of the US presidential election on Tuesday, most polls are showing Democrat candidate Barack Obama with an insurmountable lead. A Gallup poll on October 30- November 1 showed 52 percent of US voters favoring Senator Obama with 41 percent for his rival John McCain. Other polls show similar if not more flattering poll predictions.

So, with the Illinois senator apparently on the threshold of a four-year American presidency, what does his policy on Burma likely to be?

The Center for Strategic and Internationals Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, said in its October analysis that presidential hopeful Obama would continue to support sanctions on the Burmese junta and would continue to call for democracy and the protection of human rights in the military-ruled country.

In its report, US Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama’s View on Relations with Asia, the CSIS said that the promotion of democracy and human rights in Asia—including Burma—was one of the issues in Obama’s foreign policy toward the region.

“Barack Obama understands that the political and economic development of Asia means a more peaceful and stable Asia: Obama will make support for the aspirations of the people of Asia for human rights, democracy, and good governance a tenet of his regional foreign policy,” the CSIS said. “The continuing dire situation in Burma requires particular attention in this regard.”

The report said Obama will join the international community, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), in calling for the unconditional release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners in Burma, as well as favoring humanitarian assistance—which doesn’t empower the junta—to suffering Burmese people.

Obama previously showered praise on Suu Kyi on her 63rd birthday in June, saying that her birthday was “an opportunity to remind the world community of the continuing tragedy in her country and the responsibility we have to press for change there.”

The CSIS noted that efforts to influence the junta had seen only limit results and the international community had been unable to coordinate its efforts.

“While the dynamics of change ultimately must come from within the country,” the CSIS said, “Obama will work toward achieving a coordinated international approach that includes the nations of Asean, China, India, Japan and European countries to help contribute to the process of reform and reconciliation in Burma.”

However, Frank Jannuzi, a senior Asia advisor to the Obama campaign, told Agence France-Presse at the end of October that Burma issues should not prevent deeper US engagement with Asean.

“Rather, the United States should work with Asean to ensure that Burma lives up to its obligation as an Asean member,” he said.

Meanwhile, Obama’s rival John McCain who visited Burma and met with Suu Kyi in the 1990s, has promised to ensure democratic efforts toward Burma in his Asian policy.

He wrote in The Australian on September 23: “By the same token, I believe it is incumbent on the US to stand with those who struggle for freedom, whether it is Aung San Suu Kyi's non-violent resistance in Burma or the Georgian people's desperate struggle to save their young democracy from columns of Russian tanks.”