DAP supports the proposal by the Philippine President, Fidel Ramos, that ASEAN review its policy of “constructive engagement” towards Myanmar at the ASEAN summit in November.
ASEAN leaders must take responsibility for the latest crackdown by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on democracy activists in Yangon, for the unconditional admission of the Myanmese military junta as an observer to the July meeting of the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta and the promise of full membership of ASEAN had been interpreted by SLORC as ASEAN indifference and even compliance with its anti-democracy crackdown in May and as a “blank-cheque” for further repressive measures in future.
There is no doubt that if ASEAN had sent a clear and unmistakable message to SLORC at the Jarkarta ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July expressing its disapproval of its anti-democracy crackdown in May, by not according observer status to SLORC, the Myanmese military junta would not have become so blatant as now in arresting some 800 activists of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and in banning the NLD Congress to mark its eighth anniversary.
The continuing crackdown against democracy activists in Yangon will seriously undermine the international credibility of ASEAN and its member nations, if ASEAN governments are insensitive and oblivious to the latest spate of SLORC repressions, and continue to maintain that SLORC would automatically be admitted as a full ASEAN member.
It is for this reason that with the latest anti-democracy crackdown in Yangon, the ASEAN nations must distance themselves from SLORC and shelve Myanmar’s application for full membership in ASEAN and even suspend its observer status until the Myanmese military junta has demonstrated that it is prepared to be a responsible international citizen, show a modicum of respect for democracy and human rights, and embark on the path towards democratisation and national reconciliation in Myanmar.
(3/10/96)