Thai PM urges ‘inclusive process’ after Burmese polls

Thea Forbes

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has called for the Burmese junta to initiate a more “inclusive process” after the nation’s first general elections in 20 years on November 7, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Abhisit was talking to the Post a day before attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.

He characterised the Burmese elections as the first step in a continuing process and flagged widely held scepticism over the extent of change possible from the military regime after its controversial vote.

“Realistically, nobody expected that just having these elections would shift things … I think it should be seen as a first step. Whether that step is big enough depends on your expectations and perspective on things,” Abhisit told the Post.

The Thai prime minister added: “For us, what is important is that once they go ahead, they lead to a more inclusive process which would lay the foundation for further steps and also for reconciliation with the minority groups.”

Thailand has an interest in the regime’s reconciliation with minority groups as the porous nature of the Thai-Burmese border has meant the migration of hundreds of thousands of refugees and workers into Thailand over the past two decades.

On whether detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party could regain their stance in the public arena, he said: “They [the junta leaders] should do all they can to open up the process.”

Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace laureate who has spent 15 of the last 21 years in some form of detention including house arrest since her party’s landslide victory in 1990 elections. The military leadership refused to recognise the vote and cede power to the democratically elected government.

The NLD was effectively dissolved on September 14 after opting out of registering for the polls because of laws it cited as “unjust and unfair” and the regime’s refusal to release political prisoners.

Reuters reported on Friday that a staff member at the Union Election Commission office in Suu Kyi’s Bahan Township, who requested anonymity, confirmed her name on the electoral role for the polls. Last month, she had advised members of her now-defunct party not to vote in the election. Some ethnic groups under ceasefire had also welcomed NLD calls for a boycott.

It had been assumed Suu Kyi would be barred from taking part in any capacity since Burma’s controversial 2008 constitution states “persons serving prison terms” were prevented from voting or running as candidates, Reuters said.

She was found guilty last August of breaking an internal security law after US citizen John Yettaw swam across Inya Lake to stay at her home and is serving a sentence of 18 months under house arrest. She was due for release one week after the election.

Nyan Win, Suu Kyi’s lawyer and spokesman for the NLD, told Reuters he was baffled by her inclusion on the electoral roll. “It’s tantamount to saying that she is not a prisoner.”

The Washington Post said Abhisit had noted Suu Kyi was barred from participating in this year’s elections.

Along with her party, ethnic minorities, monks, students, human rights groups and many Western governments have denounced the polls as a sham. Criticism has been levelled at the elections also because of crippling media censorship of opposition parties and the exclusion of Suu Kyi.

The polls have been called a cynical charade by which the military junta was seeking to establish a “legitimate” civilian government, further citing the 2008 constitution, which sets aside 25 per cent of seats in all three parliaments for military personnel. Also, junta leaders have stepped out of uniform to join the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Prime Minister Thein Sein is the party’s leader.

Whether the result of the coming election was likely to lead to a more “inclusive process” remains to be seen as Burmese state media had reported that some areas of five ethnic-minority states (Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Mon and Shan) were to be excluded from participating.

The state claimed the areas marked for exclusion lacked the appropriate conditions for a “free and fair” vote, perhaps because of the power that armed enthic groups, such as the Kachin Independence Organisation and factions of the Shan State Army, wielded in those areas.

The Thai leader’s urging for the political process in Burma to open up also came ahead of a meeting between leaders of other Southeast Asian nations and US President Barack Obama on Friday, the second meeting of its kind. The Post reported that Abhisit said the US-Asean meetings demonstrated the Obama administration’s re-engagement with the region.

Summit yields calls for regional peace, release of political detainees in Burma

Obama and Asean leaders on Friday called for a peaceful resolution to disputes over territory in the South China Sea, an issue Beijing had warned Washington over, Reuters reported, quoting a joint White House-Asean statement.

The news agency reported their agreement on “the importance of peaceful resolution of disputes, freedom of navigation, regional stability, and respect for international law, including in the South China Sea”.

Obama and the Asian leaders also called on Burma to “embark on a process of national reconciliation by releasing all political prisoners”, including Suu Kyi, and by holding free and fair elections in November.