At Head of Asean, Indonesia Takes Lead in Fostering Reconciliation in Burma

Jakarta Globe, Nivell Rayda | January 18, 2011

North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia wants a more active role in trying to nudge Burma towards democracy, especially in the reconciliation between its military rulers and opposition parties.

Indonesia’s push for a more democratic Burma will begin
by meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi. (EPA Photo)

Marty Natalegawa, the minister of foreign affairs, said Indonesia, which took over the Asean’s rotating chairmanship this year, was planning to hold several meetings with the junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi throughout the year.

“Indonesia will lead talks to ensure [Burma] maintains its path toward a more democratic nation,” Natalegawa said on Monday, the final day of the AseanForeign Ministers’ Retreat in Lombok.

Indonesia had joined a chorus of nations urging the release of Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

She was finally released in November, a week after the country held its first election in two decades — an event critics said was a sham with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party clinching an overwhelming victory.

Another issue high on the ministers’ agenda was the immediate lifting of political and economic sanctions against Burma. The United States and other Western states have longstanding trade restrictions on the country over its poor human rights record.

But Asean said Burma had made “significant developments,” pointing to a more democratic state.

Burmese political parties also called for lifts to trade embargoes, saying these caused “difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technology for ethnic regions.”

Hariyadi Wirawan, a foreign affairs expert from University of Indonesia, said Asean was trying to speed up Burma’s roadmap to democracy so it could join the Asean Economic Community to be launched in 2015.

“Asean is trying to transform Burma from a liability into an asset,” the expert said.

Burmese issues, he added, are likely be discussed again during the East Asia Summit in October, in which the United States and Russia will be participating for the first time.

“Indonesia must be able to convince Burma that the transformation process toward democracy will be beneficial,” Hariyadi said.

“Asean’s pledge to lobby the international community to lift sanctions against Burma is a sure sign that it will be benificial for Asean and Burma,” he added.

Surin Pitsuwan, Asean secretary general, said world leaders would like to have more access to Burma, particularly to its opposition parties, like Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

“We are encouraging the evolution of the political reconciliation inside,” he said on Sunday.

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