Eyes on Indonesia to Put Pressure on Burma's Human Rights Record

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran & Putri Prameshwari, April 07, 2010

Even if Indonesia could help bring changes to Burma after this week’s summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reforms there would not come easily, political and human rights experts said on Tuesday.

Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations expert from Bandung’s Padjadjaran University, said Indonesia had the opportunity to take the lead and encourage other members of Asean to influence Burma.

“Indonesia’s diplomacy has always used the soft approach, speaking heart-to-heart. Our president should use this summit to push for a democratic government in Burma,” he said, adding that Indonesia was well-respected in Burma.

Leaders of Asean’s 10 member states are scheduled to hold their biennial talks on Thursday and Friday in Hanoi, Vietnam.

A spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Dino Patti Djalal, said the president would leave for Hanoi today and return on Saturday. Aside from attending the opening ceremony, Yudhoyono is expected to attend working dinners, plenary sessions and an interparliamentary assembly, as well as meetings with other heads of state.

Dino said that Yudhoyono “mainly supports” the seven-step roadmap to democracy as promised by the Burmese government. Although the issue would not be discussed formally at the summit, it might be discussed at a working dinner if Burma brought it up, he added.

Yudhoyono had sent a letter to Sr. Gen. Than Shwe, Dino said, although he declined to go into further detail about what was in it.

Asked whether Indonesia would become involved as an observer in Burma’s polls, which are expected to be held later this year, Dino said the government first wanted to know plans for the elections, which Burma had yet to release as promised.

Rezasyah said that considering the current good relations between Asean countries, including Burma, there was general confidence that the region could influence Burma to take the path to democracy.

But Thant Myint-U, a Burmese human rights expert, said Indonesia should give its assistance at the grassroots level instead of focusing on Burma’s military junta. “There is a lot to be done,” he said, adding that it was time for a broader take on the issue.

Only person-to-person contacts and empowering nongovernmental organizations would lead to democracy, he added.

Other experts were less optimistic. Christopher Roberts, a lecturer in Asian politics and security at the University of Canberra in Australia, said Asean was still divided between conservative governments and those seeking change, such as Indonesia.

Yap Swee Seng, executive director of Forum Asia, an umbrella group for regional human rights organizations, said that unlike many other Asean countries, including Vietnam, rapid economic development and rising education levels had not created a strong middle class in Burma that could help push for democracy.

Hirim, an activist with the Indonesia-based Human Rights Working Group, said that even if Asean supported democracy in Burma, the change would not come easy. “It will not be quick,” she said. “It will take a strong commitment, starting with that from civil societies.”

The Asean summit is expected to produce a joint declaration on the region’s economic recovery and sustainable development, as well as a joint response on climate change.