Call on ASEAN Parliamentarians, civil societies  and Governments to support AIPMC resolution on suspension of Myanmar military junta from ASEAN if there is no tangible and acceptable progress in democratization and national reconciliation in the next 12 months

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Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (AIPMC) which met in Bangkok yesterday called for the suspension of Myanmar from ASEAN if there is no tangible and acceptable progress in democratization and national reconciliation in the next 12 months.

The AIPMC meeting yesterday, which was attended by ASEAN Parliamentarians from Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, decided on setting a second target to strive for democratization and national reconciliation in Burma after its first target when it was formed in Kuala Lumpur in November last year, the denial of the ASEAN Chair 2006, had been achieved with Myanmar withdrawing from the post in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane in July.

AIPMC Parliamentarians agreed that the political, economic and human rights situation in Myanmar had become even more bleak and grim in the past two months after the Vientiane ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, and continuing regional and international pressure must be applied on the Myanmar military junta to honour its commitments and numerous undertakings democratization, made whether at ASEAN meetings or the recent United Nations Millennium Summit.

Although Myanmar will not be assuming the ASEAN Chair 2006, Myanmar must not be allowed to disappear from the radar screen  of international concern and attention to withdraw into greater impunity to perpetrate greater human rights violations and undemocratic repressions.

For this reason, a two-prong approach must be the constant compass of all pro-Burma democracy activists in the ASEAN countries, viz:

• Firstly, the Myanmar military junta must be required by ASEAN and the international community to demonstrate regular progress in democratization and national reconciliation; and

• Secondly, ASEAN governments at ASEAN meetings, starting with the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur at the end of the year, should regularly monitor the progress in democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar.

Of course, there can be no tangible and acceptable progress in democratisation in Myanmar if there is no release of Burmese Opposition Leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in incarceration for nine of the past 16 years and  the only Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in the world  in detention, as well as the restoration of the personal, civil and political rights of the over 1,000 political prisoners in the country.

ASEAN Parliamentarians and Governments should  support the AIPMC resolution in Bangkok  on the  suspension of the Myanmar military junta from ASEAN if there is no tangible and acceptable progress in democratization and national reconciliation  in Burma in the next 12 months.

This should be the new rallying cry of ASEAN MPs and  civil societies to restore democracy, human rights, quality of life and national reconciliation to the long-suffering people of Burma.

I will raise in the Malaysian Parliament next week the new objective of AIPMC decided in Bangkok yesterday to urge support from MPs, civil society and the government of Malaysia.

(24/09/2005)