Thailand should strengthen ASEAN pressure on Burma: professor
Updated
Burma's Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 64th birthday in prison, as activists worldwide took to the Internet and staged global protests, calling for her release.
Ms Suu Kyi was moved from home detention to the infamous Insein prison in Rangoon last month, over a bizarre incident, in which an American man swam uninvited, to her house. So will Thailand, as current Chair of ASEAN, put pressure on the Burmese generals for Ms Suu Kyi's release?
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr Suchit Bunbongkarn, former Thai Constitutional Court Judge and Professor Emeritus at Chulalongkorn University.
- Listen:
- Windows Media
SUCHIT: I would say that the rest of ASEAN members can unite among themselves to force Myanmar, it would be more influential in a way. But we have to encourage or convince the other members as well, particularly Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to cooperate with the original five of ASEAN to do something more, to encourage Myanmar to come back to the world community.
LAM: The core members, the founding members certainly Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, they are all very keen to see some movement towards democracy in Burma. So why is that the Indo-china Caucus if you like, why do you think they have such a loud voice within the grouping?
SUCHIT: I don't know exactly, but if you look at the previous system of Laos and Vietnam, these two countries are governed by the one party system, not very democratic, so they might share some view with Myanmar in terms of democratisation. Apart from that, there are new members, but they want to raise their voice, you see, and they don't want to be dictated by the so-called original members.
LAM: And certainly the ASEAN Interparliamentary Myanmar Caucus wants tougher action against Burma. And these include parliamentarians from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia. Why are these ASEAN governments ignoring their successive recommendations?
SUCHIT: Well, they might think more in terms of how to implement the policies, because those who are in the parliament don't have to carry out government policy, so they can say anything what they see fit. But as a government, they have to take other things into consideration as well. But I would say that now we set about trying to do something more.
LAM: Indeed, the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanamar Caucus I think has suggested that ASEAN as a grouping suspends Burma's membership until it shows some movement. What do you make of this suggestion?
SUCHIT: I tend to disagree with this procedure to harsh of a measure. I will say.
LAM: Too harsh a measure, the people of Burma might think differently. I mean, they have been suffering for the past 10 years?
SUCHIT: Yeah, I know that, I know that. You see why don't we try something first, like to encourage them to become more democratic. Let them submit their roadmap on the time-table, to see what kind of election that they would like to see next year, whether it's free, it's fair, it's ...
LAM: How can it be free and fair without the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi?
SUCHIT: First of all, they need to release Aung San Suu Kyi first. I will say that. We should encourage them or try to make some sort of ultimatum that Aung San Suu Kyi must be released as a precondition, and then the road map towards democracy so on and so forth. This measure should be encouraged, before you just simply just force Myanmar to out, because not very good for ASEAN at all.
LAM: Is it conceivable that Thailand perhaps might put some pressure here on the generals in Burma, because Thailand, for instance, buys over 40 per cent of Burma's exports each year, that's a lot. Do you think Thailand might use perhaps some economic influence on the Burmese generals?
SUCHIT: I don't know why we cannot make a deal with Myanamar, but we have to rely on the gas and oil from Myanmar. But we should not be happy with that. I think we need to do more in terms of (talking at ) a personal level in negotiating with Myanmar.
LAM: So you do think that the Thai Government can actually take a tougher approach to Rangoon?
SUCHIT: I think so, and they better do that.
