With the rest of the world rushing towards
rapprochement with Myanmar, a caucus of Southeast Asian legislators has bucked
the tide, urging the US government to maintain sanctions on business activities
and warning that “a gold rush in the Southeast Asian nation could fuel further
human rights abuses, risk fragile ceasefires and arrest ongoing democratic
reforms rather than bolster them.”
That
warning, in a prepared release from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar
Caucus (AIPMC), came just as the Obama administration in Washington, DC
Thursday said it would lift most of the prohibitions on American businessmen on
Sunday, May 20, with bipartisan support from Congress, opening the door to the
first significant investment in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in decades.
“So today we say to American business: Invest in Burma,” Secretary of State
Hilary Clinton said Thursday.
“We
consider that the western governments are in a bit too much of a hurry,” said
Putri Adena Astrid, a Jakarta-based spokeswoman for the Asean legislative
group, in a telephone interview with Asia Sentinel. “We would like to remind
them that the situation is not really settled. Most of the investment is
happening in the ethnic areas, and we really want to remind western governments
that they should keep the sanctions until they settle the issues.”
The
caucus doesn’t speak for ASEAN itself, which after several years of
negotiations agreed in 1997 to admit what was then Burma to membership, calling
for “constructive engagement” with the country, then considered a pariah
nation. Caucus members include both ruling and non-ruling political parties in
countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines
and Cambodia.
Myanmar
has been the focus of an almost unprecedented change of direction that began
with national elections in November 2010 that were universally condemned as
rigged to keep the military in power. However, President Thien Sein, leading a
cadre of reformers, has managed so far to keep the military in the barracks and
largely out of politics. The country remains deeply corrupt, however, and is
one of the world’s most poverty-stricken, even as Chinese, Korean and western
businessmen rush in to take advantage of Myanmar’s rich national resources,
particularly in ethnic areas.
But,
warned Kraisak Choonhavan, a Thai lawmaker and vice president of the Asean
caucus, in the statement: “As everyone with any knowledge on Myanmar will
attest, the changes we have seen to date are far from irreversible. It is
ludicrous to reward the current government’s untested reforms by paving the way
for a gold rush. Fighting in Myanmar’s ethnic areas continues and many of the
ethnic leaders are concerned that these reforms are just a ploy to pave the way
for ‘development’ projects on their lands.”
Kraisak
called for a political settlement between Naypidaw and the armed ethnic groups
which have maintained a decades-old rebellion against the central government.
“Without
a clear political settlement between the central state and the armed ethnic
groups, any major investments will likely lead to further human rights abuses,
land grabbing, corruption and enrich military leaders and their cronies who
control most of the country’s wealth,” Kraisak said. “Before ethical and
responsible investment can take place, Myanmar must first reach a negotiated
political settlement with the armed ethnic groups with which it has been
fighting for decades, and must also draft and institute tough labor and
environmental laws as well as other legislation that regulates the actions of
businesses, especially foreign investments, and protects the rights of the
people and the environment.”
The
AIPMC instead aligned itself with the United Nationalities Federation Council
(UNFC) for Western governments to maintain remaining political, military,
financial and economic sanctions on Myanmar until the Burmese military halts
its offensives in Kachin State.
“AIPMC
also supports the UNFC’s call for genuine political dialogue and negotiation
between the ethnic groups and the Union of Myanmar. AIPMC continues to urge all
ethnic parties to work together under the umbrella of the UNFC to push for a negotiated
political settlement with the Burmese government and an end to all armed
conflict in Myanmar.”
The
Chiang Mai, Thailand-based independent news organization The Irrawaddy
reported, however, that the Burmese army has intensified its offensive against
the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the northeastern area of the country,
with further casualties, even as Kachin and central government representatives
met with United Nations officials. Four soldiers were killed and at least 10
were injured in an hour-long firefight near Namhsan in northern Shan State’s
Kyaukme District, the news site reported.
“The
government recently stopped UN convoys out of fear for the safety of our
staff,” the UNHCR’s spokesperson in Asia, Kitty McKinsey, told The Irrawaddy on
Thursday. “We regret that right now we are not able to serve people who need
our help and are trying to get access to camps for internally displaced people
where no fighting is going on.”
The
Obama administration, the caucus warned, “really should consult with the people
on the ground—the Obama administration should be talking to civil society
organizations both inside Myanmar and those working from outside on the
Thai-Myanmar border to get their views. If you speak to the ethnic leaders,
they will tell you that a rush of unregulated outside investment in their areas
is probably their biggest concern right now—it will wreak havoc of mammoth
proportions.”
The
caucus demanded that the US government first create a definitive list of
regulations and rules in close consultation with NGOs dictating how US
companies can do business in the country, and that the regulations be enforced
to ensure that US companies don’t fuel human rights abuses with their
investments.
“Everyone
wants to see a prosperous Myanmar where the people truly benefit from
democratic and economic progress. Sanctions can and should be lifted, but they
must be done gradually and in response to concrete reforms, and remain in line
with Washington’s stated policy to use sanctions as a means for empowering
reformers and reducing the influence of hardliners,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari,
AIPMC President and a member of the Indonesian Parliament.
“It is
unforgivable that at the last moment, the world turns its back on these people
and gives in to the greed and avarice of businesses whose only agenda is
financial profit.”
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