Despite burden, ASEAN carries Burma along

Myanmar drew harsh criticism during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting that ended Sunday, the bulk of it from the United States (US), Canada, European Union and Australia.

“We believe Myanmar is now an anomaly within ASEAN,” US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said.

She asked why the junta had not respected the results of a 1990 election won by pro-democracy groups led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and criticised Myanmar’s record in opium production.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jacques Poos, speaking for the European Union (EU), said it would not extend a cooperation agreement it has with the ASEAN to Myanmar “as long as we don’t see change” there.

Myanmarese Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw cited progress in the drafting of a new Constitution, but avoided addressing the criticism directly.

The Myanmar-bashing at the ARF, a forum for discussing security issues in the Asia-Pacific, contrasted sharply with the warm welcome the ASEAN extended to Yangoon last week.

ASEAN and many Western countries differ over the wisdom of admitting Myanmar under the leadership of the junta, with South-East Asian countries, defending its policy of “constructive engagement” to nudge Yangoon toward political reform.

In fact, diplomats at the ASEAN meetings here say some South-East Asian Foreign Ministers conveyed to Myanmar the need for it to move toward political pluralism. But in public at least, the ASEAN is standing firmly by Myanmar, which along with Laos, became the group’s newest members on July 23.

In a move seen as defending Myanmar, nine ASEAN Foreign Ministers in a joint communique Friday lashed out at Western countries efforts to take trade action against states on human rights grounds.

While the ASEAN and the Western nations have long differed on linking trade with human rights, the ministers statement took on new meaning amid a trend among local authorities in the US to pass laws banning or reigning in commercial activity by its firms in Myanmar.