Burma Seeks Legitimacy and the ASEAN Chairmanship

BY NEHGINPAO KIPGEN

At the 18th summit (May7-8)

of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta,
Burma made a request to hold
the 2014 ASEAN chairmanship.
Observers are debating whether
Burma deserves the chairman-
ship or not. Why is it important for
the Burmese government?
The chairmanship position,
which is rotated among ASEAN
member states every year, is cur-
rently chaired by Indonesia. Cam-
bodia is set to chair in 2012, which
will be followed by Brunei in 2013.
The Burmese president Thein Sein
(former military leader and prime
minister under the State Peace
and Development Council govern-
ment) sought the support of other
ASEAN leaders.
Burma was forced to skip the
2006 chairmanship because of
pressure from within ASEAN and
from the Western democracies.
While the United States and the
European Union threatened to
boycott ASEAN meetings if Bur-
ma was to assume the role of chair,
some ASEAN members (Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore) feared
that it would damage the image
of ASEAN internationally.
The debate surrounding Bur-
ma’s chairmanship stems from
the question of human rights. The
idea of creating an ASEAN human
rights body was first deliberated
in 1993 by the then-foreign minis-
ters of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, and
Thailand during the 26th ASEAN
ministerial meeting in Singapore.
However, the rights body was for-
mally established only when the
ASEAN Charter was adopted in
2007, and ratified by all members
in 2008.
Burma was given ASEAN
observer status in 1996 and full
membership in 1997. Because of
its suppression of the democracy
uprising in 1988, the detention
of Aung San Suu Kyi in 1989, and
the nullifying of the 1990 gen-
eral election result, Burma was
under heavy pressure from the
Western democracies to restore
a legitimate government or face
sanctions.
In the past few months, the
Burmese government has taken
some symbolic initiatives toward
democratic and human rights
reforms. In November 2010, the
government held a general elec-
tion and released Aung San Suu
Kyi from house arrest.
The election was, however, held
with a win-win situation for the
military-backed Union Solidar-
ity and Development Party. Suu
Kyi was released only after the
election. Subsequently, the new
government was formed in March
this year and is headed by none
other than former military gener-
als in civilian clothes.
These developments make many
to believe that Burma is moving
toward a stable democratic society,
a move welcomed by members of
ASEAN and Burma’s big trading
partners such as China and India.
The new developments have also
convinced the European Union,
in April this year, to lift travel
and financial restrictions on four
ministers, including the foreign
minister, for one year.
In spite of these symbolic devel-
opments, human rights remain a
fundamental problem. There are
still over 2,000 political prisoners
across Burma; forced labor is still
widespread; ethnic minorities still
do not find peace and security in
their own territories.
With recent developments
inside Burma, it is possible that
majority of the 10-member states,
if not by consensus, will endorse
Burma for chairmanship. This was
echoed by a joint communiqué
issued at the end of the two-day
ASEAN summit, which stated,
“We considered the proposal of
Burma that it would host the
ASEAN summits in 2014, in view
of its firm commitment to the
principles of ASEAN.”
If substantive steps are taken
to improve human rights condi-
tions, by releasing political pris-
oners unconditionally, ceasing
forced labor, arbitrary arrests, and
torture, and beginning to build
mutual trust with ethnic minori-
ties, Burma deserves its right-
ful place like any other ASEAN
member.
As ASEAN is keen on improving
ties with Western democracies,
especially with the goal of achiev-
ing a European-style community
by 2015, the voices of both the
United States and the European
Union will be a significant factor
in the final decision-making of
awarding the chairmanship to
Burma.
Awarding chairmanship can in
fact help Burma’s claim to legiti-
macy and probably boost inter-
national recognition. However,
doing so without any realistic
improvement on human rights
conditions will be tantamount to
a mockery of the ASEAN human
rights body.
It is imperative that the Bur-
mese government seeks legiti-
macy and recognition not only
from the international commu-
nity, but also from the different
ethnic groups of the country.
ASEAN has a chance to prove
that it is seriously working to
resolve human rights problems
within ASEAN institutions, as
stated in its Charter. ASEAN can
use the chairmanship position
as a leverage to improve human
rights condition inside Burma.
By chairing ASEAN, the Burmese
government hopes to gain domes-
tic and international approval.
Moreover, ASEAN chairmanship
will give Burma the opportunity
to host leaders of the Western
democracies, who otherwise will
not visit the country. It also has
the possibility of easing Western
sanctions.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a research-
er on the rise of political conflicts
in modern Burma (1947-2004)
and general secretary of the U.S.-
based Kuki International Forum
(www.kukiforum.com). Widely
published in five continents—
Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and
North America, Kipgen currently
pursues a Ph.D. in political science
at Northern Illinois University.