Burmese Prisoner Release a ‘Positive Step’: Japan

By WAI MOE

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the release of 6,313 prisoners in Burma over the weekend as “a positive step,” although it added that it would “take some time to get the whole picture of the release.”

In a brief statement in English, the ministry said that Tokyo expects the Burmese junta “to further promote its movement of releasing political prisoners in the future and promote the democratization process in a way that involves all parties concerned.”

A slightly longer version of the statement in Japanese added that, according to Burma’s state-run media, the prisoners were released for humanitarian reasons and to enable them “to participate in fair elections to be held in 2010.”

The Japanese-language version also included information about the party affiliation or other political involvement of 13 prisoners of conscience who were freed as part of the amnesty.

According to the latest figures from the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), so far 24 of the released detainees have been identified as political prisoners.

A Japanese researcher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that it was significant that the Japanese government quoted Burma’s state-run media without any qualification.
Tokyo is widely seen as less critical of the Burmese regime than most Western governments.

Last week, Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), reacted angrily to a joint statement by Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari that appeared to endorse the Burmese junta’s plans for an election in 2010.

“Even though there are few positive moves by the Myanmar [Burmese] government, it’s a huge step for them to have announced that they would hold a general election in 2010, compared with two past decades of silence about its democratization process,” Nakasone said in the statement.

“If they take favorable action, the international community should react in a manner that encourages more positive actions,” Nakasone added.

The NLD said that the statement departed from resolutions by the UN General Assembly which honor the result of a 1990 election that the NLD won by a landslide. The NLD captured more than 80 percent of seats, but the ruling junta refused to respect its victory.

Japan has been one of Burma’s main aid donors for many years. By 2006, Burma’s debt to Japan had reached approximately US $2.5 billion.

Japan temporarily cut aid after a brutal attack by junta-backed thugs on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters in May 2003. It also suspended aid following a crackdown on demonstrators in September 2007, but resumed loans after just two months.

Unlike the US and other major developed nations, Japan has sought to promote democratization in Burma through engagement and dialogue with the regime, according to Jürgen Haacke, an expert in international relations.

“Given its less vocal and punitive position regarding Myanmar, Tokyo has thus, in theory, represented for the military an easier target [for aid requests] than its Western counterparts,” Haacke writes in his paper, “Myanmar's Foreign Policy: Domestic Influences and International Implications.”