Indonesia defends stance on UN role in Myanmar

Tony Hotland ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Thu, 05/15/2008 1:20 AM  |  Headlines

Despite warnings of disease epidemics in cyclone-ravaged regions of Myanmar, the Indonesian government on Wednesday defended its opposition to bringing the issue of relief work to the UN Security Council, saying such a move could lead the reclusive country to completely shutting its doors.

Indonesia is an elected, non-permanent Security Council member until December this year.

Indonesia's UN Ambassador Marty Natalegawa last week rebuffed a suggestion by France that the Security Council invoke the UN's "responsibility to protect" principle in the case of Myanmar, in a bid to hasten the delivery of aid to the country.

The idea was floated amid reports by aid agencies that assistance was not being distributed to survivors and that Myanmar's junta had denied visas to foreign relief workers.

Experts at Unicef have said children can die within 24 hours of diarrhea unless they receive the right combination of salt, sugar and clean water -- all scarce in cyclone-affected areas.

An outbreak of cholera and malaria is feared among survivors living without proper shelter and food. Worst hit is the Irrawaddy delta region in the southwest, which was home to more than 1.5 million people and where the harvest is now underwater.

However, if the UN Security Council is involved in relief work, Marty said, "the whole country would shut down and more lives would be threatened".

"The moment an issue is brought to the council under the flag of the 'responsibility to protect', which is a very loaded term at the UN, the whole humanitarian effort will be politicized," he said.

He added that other UN avenues were available, saying the UN General Assembly has resolutions on humanitarian work and that Myanmar could take advantage of the whole UN family for assistance.

"Based on our experience with the tsunami, we want to make sure there's more after the relief phase. Reconstruction, rehabilitation and even prevention. We want to nurture that sense of wanting to open up on Myanmar's side to have a long-term engagement with the international community," he said.

"Of course we need to save lives. But we must be mindful this must be done in a way that involves a long-term solution and that everyone is on board."

Lawmaker Djoko Susilo, of the House of Representatives' Myanmar caucus and the commission on foreign affairs, criticized Marty's statements.

"I feel that attitude is not one that is shared by most Indonesians," he said.

Marty said invoking the responsibility to protect principle "would jeopardize and undermine aid work, not only for Myanmar, but also for future humanitarian situations".

He said the principle was also rejected by other members of the Security Council and of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"Are we going to burn bridges? We're going to need the junta's cooperation if we want to see a long-term solution to the disaster. Besides, that concept is usually affiliated with the event of genocide or massive human rights violations," he said.

With the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting next week in Singapore, Marty hoped it would conclude with suggestions on how the bloc could assist its youngest member.

Bantarto Bandoro, an international relations analyst with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the UN responsibility to protect principle would be acceptable if there was a guarantee it would not undermine Myanmar's sovereignty.

"ASEAN sees the sovereignty of its members as a principle issue. But with it being unable to move Myanmar, I can also understand why the international community wants to meddle," he said.

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