Dons paint less than a bright picture

Dons paint less than a bright picture

Thai-Burma Relations

"Not a very hopeful picture," commented the moderator of a seminar held at the Chiangmai University yesterday after two main panelists had completed their pieces on Asean: New initiatives for Regional Peace?, a gathering organized to mark the anniversary of Asean's 1967 birthday and Burma's uprising in 1988. 

The 10-member Asean (Association of South-east Asian Nations) would need a new charter to expel Burma, said Kavi Chongkijthavorn of The Nation daily. "Neither the Bangkok Declaration (1967) or the TAC (Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of 1976) are legally binding instruments," he insisted. He was speaking in relation to Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad's famous statement on 20 July: to throw out Burma from Asean "as a last resort" if it rulers continue "to defy the world". 

Under the present set up, the junta could choose to remain in the grouping so long as it pays its annual membership fee ($ 700,000). 

On Thailand's offer to mediate Burma's affairs, the well-known journalist chose to be terse. "Thailand is too close for comfort (to Burma) to be an honest broker," he said. 

Another speaker, Sunai Phasuk of Forum Asia and advisor to Kraisak Choonhavan, Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs chairman, also described the much-vaunted Thailand's "roadmap" as a vague abstraction. "It simply came out of (Foreign Minister) Surakiart Sathirathai's mouth in his desperation to escape pressure," he told his 100-odd audience. "He started mentioning it in Vienna (during his meeting with his Austrian counterpart Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who reportedly expressed interest)." 

Surakiart's wit helped him to skip one trouble only to land himself and his political boss, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, into another, because people began to ask for more details, which they could not provide, he said. 

Burma's academic, Aung Naing Oo of Burma Fund, former Foreign Affairs Chief of All Burma Students Democratic Front, meanwhile, presented a contrasting slant. "The idea of roadmap goes back long before 30 May (massacres and subsequent Aung San Suu Kyi custody)", he said. "The opposition had been working on it for sometime now." 

He set out to outline his proposed principles, goals and procedure of the roadmap and demanded that Bangkok consult the opposition instead of intimidating them. 

Also, in contrast to previous propositions: "Big Carrot and Small Stick" for the junta by some sectors and "Small Carrot and Big Stick" by others, he recommended a "Big Carrot and Big Stick" approach to consider. 

Later, one academic told S.H.A.N. privately, that he personally thought the Panglong Agreement in 1947 that enshrined Democracy and States' autonomy was already the "perfect roadmap" for all those concerned. 

Historical facts (as provided by Kavi Chongkijthavorn)
1967
Burma invited to become a founding member. The latter declines branding the grouping as an imperialist organization. 

1990 
Facing international pressure, Rangoon begins to find a way out

1994
Reports of Chinese naval vessels in Burmese waters prompt Asean to allow Rangoon to attend as guest of Thailand

1995
Burma signs SEANWFZ (South East Asian Nations Nuclear Weapons Free Zone), expresses desire to accede to TAC

1997
Admitted to Asean, shortest waiting time compared to Laos and Vietnam that signed TAC in 1992

N.B.
According to Kobsak Chutikul, M.P. and former diplomat, the roadmap is a concept that he proposed in a letter sent to The Nation newspaper, taking cue from what seemed to be a welcomed development in the Middle East between the Palestinians and Israel. The phrase roadmap was subsequently taken thereof. (Irrawaddy)