The Nation – Published on November 7, 2009 : Opinion

Re: Sanctions to stay until Burma reforms: US, National Affairs, yesterday

At this point, keeping sanctions in place is the only reasonable stance the US could take.

Like US Ambassador for Asean Affairs Scot Marciel said, without a fully inclusive process, which includes the party that won by a landslide in the previous election, it would be difficult to make Burma’s 2010 elections creditable.

Reconciliation has been a buzzword for some time in the Burmese political arena. But the earnest overtures have only come from opposition political parties and non-Burmese ethnic groups in the form of federal proposals and tripartite dialogues to end the internal conflict. However, the Burmese junta has been pressuring and oppressing its contenders to yield to a self-drawn, military supremacy constitution, leading to the establishment of a so-called “disciplined democracy”, without offering any genuine give-and-take options for further reconciliation.

According to Alternative Asean’s press release on October 30, the 2010 elections based on the junta’s 2008 constitution, will be a recipe for continued conflict. The constitution has given the military immunity from prosecution and freedom from public accountability; control over future constitutional amendments; and legitimacy to subjugate ethnic communities.

In short, the junta’s 2008 constitution should be viewed in light of whether it is really in line with the people’s political aspiration or not. For without the people’s endorsement, which is the heart and soul of the issue, there would never be a democratisation process.

The solution to resolve this ongoing crisis would be a constitutional review process involving all stakeholders and the election law that guarantees an all-inclusive participation, after the constitutional amendments, to reflect common practice.

And this could only happen, when Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, ethnic groups – political parties and as well as armed opposition – and the junta are able to thrash out their differences in a tripartite dialogue that is endorsed by the UN and reaffirmed by the US.

SAI WANSAI

BANGKOK

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