Burma on the boil
Faced with Congressional investigations and charges of lying through its teeth, the Bush administration is working overtime to polish its tarnished image, writes Damien Kingsbury
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Burmese activists call for the immediate release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi near the Embassy of Burma in the South Korean capital Seoul on Monday 16 June
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Despite widespread cynicism over the claim that its invasion of Iraq was motivated by a desire to remove an "evil" regime, the United States now wants, it seems, to substantiate that position by refocussing its attention on Burma. Burma has long been regarded as having the world's worst human rights record and, along with Afghanistan, being in the top two of the world's heroine producers.
When the US shifted its focus away from the Iraq invasion rationale of Weapons of Mass Destruction to one of removing an odious regime, many around the world immediately cited Burma as at least as worthy a cause for such attention. The re-arrest of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, during a government-provoked riot in northern Burma on 30 May, and the deaths of her numerous supporters, has now given the US the peg upon which to hang its new focus.
The riot broke out when Suu Kyi travelled to the northern Burmese town of Dipeyin to visit supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Following an established pattern, the visit was disrupted by hundreds of pro- government provocateurs who attacked Suu Kyi's motorcade and NLD supporters.
The government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), said that four people were killed in the riot and a further 50 injured. However, NLD sources say that more than 100 were killed or remain missing, and hundreds were injured. The NLD's ageing deputy leader, Tin Oo, is among the missing and is presumed to be under arrest.
Responding to the arrest of Suu Kyi and the attack on the NLD supporters, US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz told Radio Free Asia that US President George Bush is "pursuing every possible avenue" for the release of Suu Kyi and the promotion of democracy in Burma.
Wolfowitz said that he was personally "very concerned" about Suu Kyi's arrest, and more importantly "I know the whole administration -- the US administration, including the president of the United States -- have discussed her case and are trying to pursue every avenue possible to assure her safety, to get her released, and ultimately the goal is to have the [1990] election in that country honoured."
Burma has been ruled by a military government since a coup in 1962, with a further internal coup occurring in 1988. Following massive demonstrations and the murder by the government of thousands of protesters, in 1990 the SPDC held democratic elections that were overwhelmingly won by the NLD. However, the SPDC refused to honour the election results and immediately placed Suu Kyi under house arrest. Suu Kyi was subsequently awarded a Nobel Peace prize for her efforts to restore democracy to Burma.
Wolfowitz said that President Bush "made it clear that he understands what's at stake here, the fundamental issues of human rights and democracy".
"Aung San Suu Kyi has been a real heroine in this fight. She is greatly admired in the United States, and we are deeply concerned about her situation."
The use of the term "heroine" within the Burmese context is in one sense ironic. The US has also been long concerned about Burma's leading role in the international heroine market. There are currently around 30 heroine refineries in Burma near the Thai border, 10 of which are said to be large. Senior members of the SPDC are believed to directly benefit from their support for the refineries, while the illegal income is openly laundered through Burmese banks and helps prop up the ailing local economy.
Putting substance into US expressions of concern, the US government has announced its support for sanctions against Burma, with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell describing the SPDC as "thugs". The US is also pressing for a resumption of talks between the SPDC and Suu Kyi aimed at moving Burma towards democracy.
In the clearest signal yet confirming the shift in the US position on Burma, in a commentary in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, Mr Powell said that, "It is time for the United States to reassess its policy towards a military dictatorship that has repeatedly attacked democracy and jailed its heroes."
This followed a fact-finding mission by US embassy staff that found sharpened bamboo stakes, wooden clubs and blood-stained clothing at the scene of the riot, concluding that it had been started by government-affiliated gangs. The SPDC has maintained that the riot was started by NLD supporters who pushed their way through pro-government supporters.
The US Senate has now passed a bill by a vote of 97 to one to impose economic sanctions on Burma, and the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee has approved a similar bill. This means that Burmese goods will be banned from import into the US, while American companies will also be banned from exporting to or investing in Burma.
The US imports about $356 million in goods, mostly textiles, clothing and footwear, from Burma each year, which comprises about 20 per cent of that country's exports. However, the chaotic, depressed Burmese economy is mostly run on an informal or black market basis, so formal bans are unlikely to have little practical effect.
However, as with other countries that have had US trade bans imposed on them, the knock-on effect to third countries considering trading with or investing in Burma could be significant, as would the symbolic impact of further isolating the SPDC in the international community.
Powell said he intended to use the latest 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Cambodia to focus the attention of the member countries on the issue of Burma.
Powell has also suggested a ban on remittances to Burma so that the SPDC could not benefit from an assets and foreign exchange freeze placed on the country. Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr Mahatir Mohamed, has already said that he rejected the idea of imposing bans on Burma, while Singapore remains Burma's largest single investor and, after China, its chief supplier of weapons. Burma has been battling separatist rebellions since its formation in 1948, which were also used by the army to legitimise its 1962 coup. Burma now has the largest standing army in Southeast Asia, and is believed to spend up to 40 per cent of government revenue on the military.
China has also opposed pressuring Burma on human rights issues, in part because of its close relationship with the SPDC and also because it, too, feels vulnerable on the human rights front.
However, Burma's neighbour, Thailand, is also lining up with the US on the Burma issue. Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he wanted the SPDC to resume "an immediate substantive dialogue" with Suu Kyi and the NLD. Thailand has a lengthy history of difficult relations with Burma, and has long been used as a conduit both for Burma's illegal heroine shipments as well as a staging post, in border areas, for anti-government groups.
Over the past two years the Thai government has formally abandoned its "buffer zone policy" of supporting anti- SPDC groups on Thai soil. However, relations between the two countries have remained tense, with regular reports of Burmese army incursions into Thai territory in pursuit of anti-SPDC guerrillas.
Thailand is likely to further support US efforts against Burma, but it may be a lone voice in a region that has in the past chosen not to gaze at others' problems for fear of attracting too much attention to their own.
* The writer is head of Philosophical, Political and International Studies at Deakin University, Australia, and is author of South-East Asia: A Political Profile, Oxford University Press, 2001.
