Posted on 10/02/2007 8:35:03 AM PDT by JimSEA
The country's top brass seem to have learned nothing from the contempt they drew from the international community for their conduct 19 years ago when Burmese generals put down the popular uprising in 1988.
Then Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, as the country's army commander-in-chief, blithely headed a high-ranking delegation to Rangoon shortly after the junta's resort to violence left some 3,000 people dead, and sent hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in Thailand.
The visit was tantamount to condoning a military dictatorship elsewhere decried for the excesses against demonstrators. The trade-off? Some kind of arrangement involving Burmese timber and fishery. Not long after he came back from Burma, Gen Chavalit ordered a group of Burmese students who had fled to Thailand to be sent right back across the border.
Just over a month ago, during the last week of August, Gen Sonthi Boonyarataklin, as part of his ritual before stepping down as army commander-in-chief, went to Naypyidaw, the new Burmese capital, to say farewell to the top brass of the State Peace and Development Council. He met Senior General Than Shwe, and Gen Maung Aye, first and second in command of the ruling junta, several days after protesters had taken to the streets in Rangoon, and many core leaders had been arrested.
As if the timing of that trip was not bad enough, Gen Sonthi followed it up with an assertion in Bangkok last Wednesday that there had been no violence or political repression in Burma. He also cast doubt on widespread reports of assaults on Buddhist monks leading the protests.
Prime ministers have fared better. In August 1988, Gen Chatichai Choonhavan had just succeeded Gen Prem Tinsulanonda as prime minister. Na Chart tried to turn neighbours' attention to trade. He was interested in Burma, but publicly the talk was of turning the battlefields of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos into marketplaces.
Taking a different tack, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has pointedly kept his distance from the Burmese leadership. First, he made Burma the last stop of his familiarisation tour of Southeast Asian neighbours after taking over last year.
At the Asia Society in New York last week, before a gathering of reporters, he showed more disapproval of the Burmese leaders when he as good as admitted that he shared the view that they are obstinate people.
That came when he reasoned why China and India should intervene. He said Thailand alone was in no position to persuade Burma to move towards dramatic change if the leadership there did not want to change at all.
At the UN General Assembly, he did not mince words when he said Thailand found "unacceptable" the resort to violence and "bodily harm" to monks and other demonstrators.
If Thai leaders have given mixed impressions in 19 years, civil society in this country has spoken loud and clear, and taken steps forward. Not only have activists and diverse individuals kept up protests and vigils at the Burmese embassy on Sathon road to show solidarity with Burmese people and sustain interest in the crisis, some groups have also targeted specific players.
These include the network of Buddhists called Buddhika who appealed to the Sangha Administrative Council to make a moral intervention for a non-violent solution to the situation in Burma.
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), which is based in Bangkok, mustered support from 122 regional groups to call for the United Nations Human Rights Council to convene a special session on Burma. The move firmed up a separate initiative from the European Union for the session that is due to take place in Geneva today.
The meeting follows a crescendo of diplomatic steps. Commendable was the unusually strong condemnation last Thursday from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which admitted Burma in 1997.But the Burmese authorities did not, as Asean urged, "immediately desist" from use of violence. On the contrary, they continued with their rampage, raiding monasteries, beating up monks, and killing people in the streets, including a Japanese journalist.
Also encouraging was the arrival for talks in Burma over the weekend of the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, apparently after China's intervention with the Burmese authorities.
With China on board, the chances are stronger that the Burmese generals will listen. The Burmese languishing inside the country and in exile need the international community to speak with one voice and remain engaged. Thailand must be part of this.
ping
Encouraging to who? The junta?
“Also encouraging was the arrival for talks in Burma over the weekend of the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari”
“Encouraging to who? The junta?”
The UN rep. Mr Gambari was in Burma when the actual worst things were happening, according the the Burmese intelligence chief who defected and reported what was going on, he was also here when the Australian Minister was here doing his own investigating, I can’t remember the exact sources, but I have also seen posts referring to the above here on FR in the last day or two. (sorry about just using quotes to show copying from a post, I just now figured out how to drag and dropup to here)
If you are interested in learning some basic HTML to spiff up your posts here is a link for you. HTML Sandbox Don't feel like you have to though. Your posts are readily understandable.
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