14.01.2007

Interview (part 3) with

AQUILINO “Nene” Q. PIMENTEL, JR.

Continued from previous week _

BURMA DIGEST:          As Burma and the Philippine are both ASEAN members, let us talk about the ASEAN a little bit.

Nene`: ASEAN is a group of countries in, as the name implies, South East Asia that organized themselves to promote the bloc's economy among themselves and in the world. As of today, it counts among its members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam,

i.                     How do you think ASEAN can help Burma?

ASEAN should support UN resolutions that call upon the military junta in Burma to cease and desist from their continued oppression of the people of the country and restore its democratic space soonest.

ASEAN should also call on China and India and other countries which are dealing with the military regime there as if everything is all right and, therefore, there should be business as usual.

Not everything is all right in Burma today. Ethnic groups are being uprooted from their homelands, families are massacred, women are systematically raped, and children are impressed into military service.

That's not right. Therefore, the Chinese and the Indian governments and those who want to trade with the Myanmar regime, should be asked ever so politely to kindly refrain from propping up the military junta.

ii.                   Concerning ASEAN’s non-interference policy; is it still relevant in the global village of twenty-first century?

In a borderless world, non-interference as a policy may already be passé. I use an analogy that may be more easily understood: if your neighbor's house is burning, you cannot just sit idly by and continue to sip your coffee because you don’t want to interfere. You must help put out the fire.

There are a thousand and one ways, of course, to put the fire. You may dump the whole Pacific Ocean on the burning house. You may bomb the burning house out of existence. or you may use just enough water from fire hoses if they are available or from water pails that are passed from one helping hand to another as we still do it here in the remote villages of the Philippines.

I suggest the third approach. ASEAN can dampen the oppressive proclivities of the Myanmar Junta in many ways. One way was what I suggested almost a year ago that our government should do: ask Myanmar not to chair ASEAN when its turn came. Our government did and I think it got the backing of the rest of ASEAN and Myanmar did forego its chairmanship.

I am also for ASEAN's suspending, if not expelling, Myanmar from it unless it restores its democratic space, free Daw Aung and deal humanely with its ethnic minorities.

iii.                  Some critics say that ASEAN is more of a talk-shop; how do you think about it?

Being a "talk-shop" is not bad in itself. People need to talk about what's good or bad for them. What is bad is if it remains a debating club and nothing more.

My suggestion is that it should do more as may be gleaned from my succeeding answers.

      iv.         Should, and could, ASEAN suspend Burma’s membership until democracy is restored in Burma?

My answer to both questions is a resounding "Yes". Not only suspending but expelling Myanmar (I use the preferred military junta term advisedly because I don't want Burma expelled, I want the country pretending to be Burma and their fascistic leaders thrown out of ASEAN.

Myanmar was admitted, I understand, into ASEAN on the premise that it would democratize its institutions of government. It has not done so. the least that ASEAN can now do is suspend Myanmar to give it time to rethink its position on democracy and human rights in the country. And eventually, to throw it out if it does not alter its oppressive policies.

Can ASEAN do that? Why not? ASEAN admitted Myanmar. It should have the corresponding power to expel Myanmar if it does hew to the premises of its admission in the first place.

iv.                  How is ASEAN parliamentary caucus helping democratization in Burma?

The ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus is helping democratize Burma through a group of lawmakers, initially, from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore who have banded themselves to discuss how democracy may be restored to Burma, speak for the oppressed peoples of the country, and organize similar groups not only in ASEAN but in other countries as well.

I am happy to see the caucus now having chapters in Indonesia and Cambodia, and other countries as far as India and as near as South Korea.

The caucus's main function, as of now, I think, is spreading awareness of the brutality of the Myanmar regime and the need to end its oppression of their own people soonest.

BURMA DIGEST:          Now let us talk about Burma. 

i.                     Your frank and open opinion on Burma’s military government? How bad or how good are they?

The Myanmar military junta is the very antithesis of a democratic, open, and responsible government that one wishes for the good people of Burma.

From what I hear and read from many sources all over the world, the Military Junta is mainly interested in lining up the pockets of the leaders in power. They do not care about the poverty of the masses of the people of Burma. They do not care about the human rights of the Burmese people and of the ethnic minorities. They do not care about the Rule of Law, which they have supplanted with the Rule of the Gun.

That is why the longer they stay in power, the more repressive they get and the more regressive will their policies be.

ii.                   Burmese regime is claiming for so many years that they are going towards democracy with a seven step roadmap. But so far they haven’t finished a single step yet. Do you think their claims are credible?

Governments are adjudged all over the world not by what they say but what they do.

If as you say the Myanmar regime has not taken even the first step of their 7-step movement towards democracy, how can anyone in his right mind believe that they are committed to democracy in the first place?

My own take is that they are committed to enriching themselves and the major way to do that is to for them to stay in power no matter what the world thinks of them and by whatever means are in their hands to achieve their self-serving objective.

iii.                  Burmese regime also is holding a so called National Convention which is boycotted by the National League for Democracy and many ethnic groups. Do you think if international community including Philippine should recognize any constitution and any future government produced by that National Convention?

A national convention that is national in name only but not in fact will not serve the purpose of normalizing the situation in Burma. If the NLD, the ethnic communities and Daw Aung do not recognize the convention, there is no reason for my country or for that matter, the international community to recognize the outcome of the national convention that is stage-managed by the ruling junta.

iv.         Do you the atrocities committed on ethnic minorities in Burma by Burmese military regime amounts to Genocide according to United Nations conventions and treaties?

Yes, the atrocities perpetrated on the ethnic minorities by the military junta cry out to the heavens for vengeance. Since we have not direct access to heavenly intervention, the UN should be more forceful in enforcing its abhorrence to the massacre of the innocents in Burma.

Perhaps, the Burmese leaders in exile with their major allies all over the world should call on Mr. Ban, the new UN secretary general, to impress upon him the critical need for the UN to get the Myanmar regime to back off from its repressive policies and get back on the road map to democracy soonest.

BURMA DIGEST:          Lastly, but not least, let us talk about how international community can help Burma become a truly democratic country. 

i.                     Do you think international community can put some sanctions on the regime in Burma? If so, what kind of sanctions they should be?

Yes, UN sanctions would help. Isolate the regime. Clamp down on its international financial transactions. And investments that tend to prop up the regime rather than benefit the people.

I guess sequestering bank transactions that launder money for the regime's rulers would be a good first step. One can see that this method is effective. Note how North Korea has reacted to the sanctions imposed by the US on only one bank: Banco Asia Delta that acts as a depository of Nokor money. Earlier in history, South Africa prime minister Pieter Botha had to soften up his apartheid policies because of, among other, things the financial sanctions imposed on his country by the financial barons of the world.

ii.                   How can United Nations help Burma for democratization?

1^st, by taking up the issue of Myanmar's brutal military regime in the deliberation of the UN security council;

2^nd, by reiterating its call for the democratization of the regime;

3^rd, by imposing financial and other sanctions on the international transactions involving the country;

4^th, by not granting visa to or restricting the right to travel of its leaders to the sites of UN bodies in the US, Europe or other parts of the world.

5^th, by recalling UN agencies operating in Burma;

6^th, by calling upon its members to downgrade, if not cut-off diplomatic relations with the regime.

iii.                  How can United Nations help Burma’s ethnic minorities to liberate from military regime’s atrocities?

1^st, by proclaiming the minorities targeted by the regime as a protected race of the UN and placing them under its protective jurisdiction;

2^nd, by sending UN inspection teams to monitor the actual situation on the ground; and when warranted,

3^rd, by sending UN troops to prevent the further genocide of the ethnic minorities in the country;

4^th, by sending UN sanctioned assistance to the threatened minorities to enable them to survive, revive their age-old customs and traditions, and live as human beings, once again.

iv.                  Some international NGOs are recently saying that they should and would concentrate more on giving humanitarian aids to Burma, but while doing so they would not say anything about Burmese regime’s human rights abuses, so that their staffs can get permission from Burmese regime to do NGO activities inside Burma. Do you think it’s a plausible or ethical approach?

The approach is, indeed, practical. But as somebody said it is like talking about malaria without talking about the mosquito.

It is, in fact, another way of quoting a James Bond sow: live and let die.

Never mind if the ethnic peoples are harassed, political leaders, jailed without judicial trial, children forced into military service, women raped. Anyway, the NGOs are doling out humanitarian aid! Is that it? Is the quid pro quo acceptable?

I'm sorry to say that it is not.

I am glad – if the report is true – that the ILO has pulled out its offices from Myanmar. And the Red Cross, too?

At least, we have some NGOs whose concrete actions in condemnation of the Myanmar military junta speak louder than their words.

BURMA DIGEST: Thank you very much for this very interesting interview.

Nene`: God bless BURMA DGEST and the people of Burma.

(To read part 1 & 2)

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Comments:

Tha San said _

               Appreciate this kind of endeavors.

Your Comments here_ can use win-Burmese fonts; but not symbols (:/\<>!|{]~#$)

Quote of the year:

There is only one solution.....could first be done by setting up an armed UN corridor in the ethnic areas.... to stop the killing and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.....Evan Williams

Last week's English article

• Academic Activists

• Speaking with a Leader of Philippine Senate, part 2

• Don’t be a Zat Pyet to Zat Thein

• People’s views on Ko Mya Aye

• Third Group: A Puppet Group of the Military Regime

• BURMA BRAINS GET 6 D's

• Irregularities in Burma's Education System

• Saw Bo Mya’s Revolutionary Life

• A Marriage Made in Hell

• Peacock Flags On The Streets

• Burma, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

• Telephone Campaign

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