Asean Must Now Face Up to Burma Issues

By AUNG ZAW

Reports of Rohingya boatpeople fleeing from the Burma-Bangladesh border region and the fate awaiting many of them when Thailand pushed them back to sea have captured international newspaper headlines.

Their plight will now be discussed at bilateral, informal meetings at this week’s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), according to Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

The Rohingya issue is a pressing one. Yet the question does arise: what about the hundreds of thousands of Burmese and ethnic people who have also been fleeing persecution and civil war in Burma? What about the refugees living along the border with Thailand and the internally displaced people?

Although they didn’t take to sea in open boats, they are nonetheless victims of Burmese regime brutality, particularly in Shan, Karen and Mon States.

Over the past two decades, local and international human rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of extrajudicial killing, rape, forced labor, extrajudicial killings and other abuses committed by the Burmese army.

Moreover, Burma has more than 2,000 political prisoners languishing in its jails. Economic migrants are fleeing the country every day. The country is in a mess.

The Rohingya issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Surin and Asean need to look at the root cause of the problem if they can only summon up the political will to search for a solution. The irony is whether it will be difficult to wake up some one who has been pretending to be asleep?

Debbie Stohard of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma has said Asean needs to wake up and address the Burma issue before it’s too late. Burma’s problems are urgent.

A discussion of the Rohingya question might provide the opening for Asean to tackle other immediate Burmese issues, according to Stohard.

Burmese regime leaders are not likely to agree to discuss the Rohingya issue, however, since they claim that people of this Muslim minority do not come from Burma. Again, Asean’s track record shows that the regional grouping has little relevance and effectiveness.

But Asean now has a charter and claims to be constructing a people-centered community. Critics of Asean remain doubtful, however, about the grouping’s commitment to human rights and its engagement with civil society groups.

Surin has said that Asean can’t avoid discussing human rights issues, although “not in the context of condemning any country.”

Although admitting that Burma has been “a very difficult issue for Asean,” Surin believes there have been some positive changes since Burma joined the regional body.

Critics disagree here with Surin, claiming that since Burma became a member of Asean in 1997 the regime there has been able to hide within the grouping.

Surin has defended the Asean principle of non-interference in member states' domestic affairs, describing it as "necessary," while saying "we wish we could do more" about Burma.

This is not enough. Action to tackle the Burma issue is long overdue. Asean won’t be taken seriously until and unless Surin and Asean governments begin to think about how to bring about change in Burma and assist the oppressed Burmese people.