The speech by Burmese Foreign Minister U Wunna Muang Lwin to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier this week was very impressive. He discussed at length the progress his country has been making since the new government under President Thein Sein was formed in March. He said Burma has made progress in many areas including the sensitive issues related to human rights. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been given access to prisoners like never before, he claimed. He also cited the outcome of the visit by the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, saying that the trip was productive and that the international community should encourage positive changes inside Burma. Yet somehow he did not mention the condition of over 2,300 political prisoners in Burma, for whom the international community has appealed repeatedly to the Naypyidaw authorities to release without delay.
Toward the end of his speech, the foreign minister was very sanguine in reiterating that Burma has entered a new era and that the country is changing in order to make real progress. Therefore, the international community must help Burma to fulfil its hopes and ambitions.
Of course, in an ideal world, Burma’s request would be immediately fulfilled in no time. But the rest of the world knows well the cruelty of the Burmese junta leaders, who have ruled the country with an iron fist for decades since independence after the Second World War. Naypyidaw still has a long list of dirty laundry. It has to do much more work to gain any real respect in the international community. Indeed, political openness and related developments need to move forward, especially those issues related to national reconciliation and dialogue with the opposition and the minority ethnic groups.
It is obvious that Naypyidaw is racing against time to prove ― or try to convince ― that there has been substantive progress in all areas in order to warrant both ASEAN and international support. Burma hopes that at the upcoming ASEAN informal meeting in New York later this month, it will be awarded the chair of the regional grouping for 2014, as requested earlier this year. But Indonesia, the current chair, has not yet been scheduled to visit Burma to check whether the conditions are right to hand over this prestigious appointment to the recalcitrant state.
Furthermore, the foreign minister reiterated that the ongoing economic sanctions against Burma should be lifted because this would help the government there to assist the disadvantaged and end the international isolation imposed by the U.S. and EU.
Of late there have been more and more positive noises from all parties concerned with Burma, especially from some of the EU members. But despite some progress in economic reforms, there is still a lack of guarantee that these positive developments will not be reversed. In the past, on many occasions, Burma has backtracked on its promises whenever there are negative affects for the junta’s grip on powers. For instance, it is entirely feasible that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be re-arrested again.
The world community knows that the positive developments so far come mainly from the powers that be, and that there is an urgent need to bring further changes that involve nongovernmental players from the opposition and civil society. At the moment, these elements are still restricted and held firmly under the control of the authorities. Burma can only see genuine changes if people from all walks of life are involved in bringing them about. The generals need to be reminded that the country does not belong to them and a few of their “elected” cronies.
