PRESS CONFERENCE ON MYANMAR BY ASEAN INTER-PARLIAMENTARIAN CAUCUS

PRESS CONFERENCE ON MYANMAR BY ASEAN INTER-PARLIAMENTARIAN CAUCUS

(Issued on 11 October 2005.)

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and other major stakeholders should urgently pull together to establish a dialogue with Myanmar’s military regime, said Zaid Ibrahim, Chairman of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar.

Speaking at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon on United Nations-Asian cooperation to address the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Mr. Zaid, a member of Parliament from Malaysia, was accompanied by two other representatives from the Inter-Parliamentary Caucus -- John Ungphakorn of Thailand and Ramasamu Ravindran of Singapore, who were also members of Parliament in their respective countries.

Correspondents were told that a coordinated effort was needed among United Nations Member States, particularly from the European Union, the United States, China, India and the Russian Federation, to boost ASEAN’s efforts to pressure the regime to develop minimum standards of democratic reform.  [ Myanmar had been a member of ASEAN since 1997.]  That included the release of political prisoners and to encourage dialogue with the country’s political parties.

Mr. Ravindran told correspondents that caucuses were formed in November 2004 in the parliaments of four ASEAN countries -- Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia.  One of the goals of the Inter-Parliamentary Caucus was to meet with United Nations Member States to raise support for its cause, which was to resolve the issue of democracy in Myanmar and other related issues.  The regime had shown that, despite its promises, nothing tangible had been done to meet with minimum standards of democratic reforms.  In its strongest show of strength, ASEAN member countries had persuaded Myanmar to give up the chairmanship of ASEAN, which that country was due to take up in 2006.  But the Caucus shared the concerns of ASEAN members that the Myanmar Government would continue to be slow on reform.

The current regime in Myanmar was more hard-line, Mr. Ungphakorn said.  Instances of widespread rape by soldiers against the minority Shan and Mon communities had been reported, and the refugee problem -- with a large influx of the Myanmar population entering Thailand -- was worsening.  Health issues and problems relating to the narcotics trade were other concerns.

Mr. Ungphakorn said that prior to arriving in New York, he, Mr. Zaid and Mr. Ravindran had been to Europe to announce the existence of the Caucus and to raise the profile of various activities already being conducted regarding the issue, including a report commissioned by human rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic to prompt the Security Council to develop a resolution on Myanmar.

When asked whether the situation would be better dealt with by neighbouring countries from within ASEAN, Mr. Zaid stressed that initiatives to deal with the regime must come from what he called “the big players” and that ASEAN was not poised to play a lead role.  “Since 1962, this regime has not been easy to deal with.  ASEAN is too small.  It is a hodgepodge of 10 nations with different systems and priorities, and it is not possible to expect a united voice from this group in the way you would expect from Europe or the United States.”

Mr. Ungphakorn added that while he and other members of the Caucus had fought for democracy in their own countries and would like their Governments to take a similar stand with Myanmar, he believed Japan, India, China and the Russian Federation had their own important roles to play.  In his understanding, neither Japan nor China had arrived at a consensus regarding Myanmar’s political situation, and one of the Caucus’ goals was to encourage those countries to take a long-term view of stability in the region and to work with the European Union and ASEAN countries to stimulate the Security Council to place the issue on its agenda.

Asked to elaborate on what changes he wished the Myanmar Government would adopt, Mr. Zaid said such issues would revolve around the constitution, and whether the political sphere should include the National League for Democracy -- whose leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had been placed under house arrest by the governing military party.  Other questions included the proper role of the country’s minority groups, and indeed the role of the military itself.  The ASEAN had long dealt with such questions through “constructive engagement”, but it was not clear whether that meant economic engagement or something else, Mr. Zaid remarked.

Though the speakers did not offer a clear outline of what the coordinated effort of nations would look like, Mr. Zaid responded positively when a questioner drew an analogy to the six-party talks on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  When pressed to be specific, Mr. Zaid said he would ideally have liked to meet the Secretary-General and the permanent members of the Security Council to talk about a way forward.  He said the group had already arranged to meet Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

When asked if he supported the use of sanctions to promote the aims of the Caucus, Mr. Zaid replied that no option could be excluded.  However, he said that even before unilateral action against the State was taken, a more basic action would be to find a point of negotiation with the regime and to identify an appropriate negotiating body to carry out such negotiations.  He noted that the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, was barred from entering the country; unless such questions were worked out, no mechanism for dealing with the Myanmar Government could be successful.

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For information media • not an official record