Real things happening in Myanmar: Norway

While democracy is relatively new in Myanmar, the progress has been heartening, with the general election and the release of the country’s democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, last year. Last week, the Myanmar government released hundreds of political prisoners with thousands more to come. Norwegian State Secretary Espen Barth Eide visited Myanmar last week to meet Myanmar leaders and Suu Kyi. After his visit to Myanmar, Eide stopped in Jakarta to meet with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and the House of Representatives. The Jakarta Post’s Tifa Asrianti talked with Eide about democracy in Myanmar and how Indonesia and other countries could help. Below are excerpts from the interview:

What are the conditions in Myanmar?

I’m very encouraged by the atmosphere in Myanmar. There is something real happening. I visited Myanmar last week to meet with their government and also Aung San Suu Kyi. During my visit there, the Myanmar government announced that they would carry out the release of political prisoners. I also hope that there will be more press freedom with [an] independent institution.

With Indonesia in the chair of ASEAN, we hope Indonesia can help Myanmar in its democracy building period. During my stay in Indonesia, I have met with your foreign minister and the [House} to discuss about this issue.

How can Indonesia help Myanmar?

As the chair of ASEAN, Indonesia has the power to give assistance. Indonesia can also offer more experience and help the capacity building on fundamental issues of democracy building. Indonesia also used to have a military-backed government, just like Myanmar. For this reason Indonesia can assist Myanmar.

I’m very impressed with the progress of democracy in Indonesia. Norway and Indonesia have worked for more than 10 years on human rights issues. We have held dialog with civil society and religious leaders.

I don’t think the process in Myanmar will be the same as in Indonesia, but we should be optimistic. Whether the democracy process in Myanmar will take five years or 10 years, I don’t know.

ASEAN is planning to achieve an ASEAN Community by 2015. How prepared is Myanmar’s for that plan?

I’m optimistic that, in the long run, democracy in Myanmar can help the country catch up with its regional peers. The democracy in Myanmar is relatively young, only one year old. There is still a long way to go for Myanmar, but if they can work together, it will have hopeful results.

What assistance will Norway offer to Myanmar?

We want to give the same engagement to Myanmar as we do with Indonesia. We are exploring projects and issues as well as having dialogues with them. We also want to help Indonesia assist the democracy process in Myanmar, including in information sharing. We should all work together to help Myanmar.