Rohingya Issue Expected to be Raised during Asean Summit

By THE IRRAWADDY

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan has confirmed that the plight of the Rohingya boatpeople will be discussed in bilateral, informal meetings at the summit of the 10-nation group next week.

The former Thai foreign minister told the Bangkok English-language daily The Nation: “The Rohingyas may not be included in the formal agenda but we have to discuss this either during the bilateral meetings or in the informal meetings.”

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said last week after a meeting with Thailand’s current Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya that their two countries had agreed to use the Asean forum to discuss the Rohingya issue.

He said Thailand had accepted an Indonesian proposal to tackle the Rohingya problem through the Bali Process, a ministerial forum that aims to develop measures to help combat human trafficking and other related transnational crimes in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are going to renew the Bali process,” Kasit said. “We should pick up from where we left off and tackle this problem in a very coordinated manner. We hope to find the best possible solution to address the problem.”

Surin told The Nation that Asean couldn’t avoid discussing human rights issues “but not in the context of condemning any country.”

Surin said: “Human rights is a challenging issue. We can’t avoid discussion on this.” He drew attention to Asean’s adoption of a human rights charter at its summit in Singapore last December.

Asean leaders are to meet at the Thai resort of Cha Am from February 27 until March 1.

At the time of the Burmese junta’s crackdown on monk-led demonstrations in September 2007, Asean broke with its customary reticence about the commenting on the affairs of its members and expressed “revulsion” at the bloodshed.

In an official statement, nine of the bloc’s 10 foreign ministers said they were “appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used” on crowds, causing hundreds of casualties.

Thailand’s Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda began a two-day official visit to Burma on Tuesday, saying he wasn’t certain whether it would be appropriate to discuss the Rohingya issue with Burmese leaders.

Gen Anupong and his delegation were welcomed to Naypyidaw by the junta No. 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. He is also scheduled to call on junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.