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Indonesia lauds US policy shift on Myanmar
Hopeful faces: Khin Aye, a member of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party, dances during the party’s 21st founding anniversary celebration at the party’s headquarters, on Sunday
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span class="inline inline-center">Hopeful faces: Khin Aye, a member of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party, dances during the party’s 21st founding anniversary celebration at the party’s headquarters, on Sunday. AP/Khin Maung Win
Indonesia has hailed the United States' decision to engage the reclusive Myanmar junta, urging the latter to respond positively to the appeasing gesture from Washington.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda called on Yangon to respond to the shift in US policy by taking positive action such as reducing the jail term of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said in a text message sent to The Jakarta Post from the US.
Both Hassan and Faizasyah are in the US for the UN General Assembly, along with Myanmar Foreign Minister Maj. Gen. Nyan Win, who was granted entry to New York amid strained relations between the two countries.
"The foreign minister conveyed his message during the ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly," Faizasyah said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced last Wednesday that Washington would pursue engagement with the generals in Yangon. But she also made clear the lone superpower would not immediately end the economic sanctions it had imposed, saying that "engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion".
Clinton also said during the announcement that the decision for the policy shift was taken after discussing the Myanmar issue with Hassan, during the secretary of state's visit to Jakarta in February, Faizasyah said.
However. Analysts are doubtful this new strategy will soften up the junta in the short term. Others even fear the junta will take the gesture as a tacit endorsement of its current behavior.
"While the decision is indeed a welcome breakthrough, the result will depend heavily on the way Myanmar responds to the US's new gesture," said Bantarto Bandoro, an analyst from the Indonesian Institute for Strategic Studies.
"The US has been using more sticks than carrots all this time when dealing with Myanmar.
"I think ASEAN has already been using the stick-and-carrot approach, only it has never used the stick in a way the US did."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon again urged Southeast Asian countries to take a tougher line with neighbor Myanmar in hopes its military junta will free political prisoners and hold fair elections, Reuters reported. He was speaking to the ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting in New York.
Ban said it was in the best interests of the rest of ASEAN to lean on Myanmar to free political prisoners.
"Our collective interest is to find ways to encourage Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, start a genuine political dialogue, and create conditions conducive to credible elections," Ban said.
ASEAN member states have refrained from criticizing each other, despite calls for the organization to condemn Myanmar for its mistreatment of Suu Kyi, under ASEAN's policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of fellow member states.
Senior ASEAN officials last month recommended that their foreign ministers officially appeal to Myanmar to let Suu Kyi participate in next year's elections, after a three-day meeting in Jakarta.
The international community says the 2010 elections - the first since the 1990 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy - will not be fair and credible if Suu Kyi and other dissidents currently being detained by Myanmar are not allowed to take part.
