UN Secretary General Kofi Annan should personally attend to the Burma question at the UN Security Council Agenda. We’re running out of time. The ball is in Annan’s hands and many of us are hopeful that he will take the “winning shot” before the “last two minutes” of this ball game expires.”, IID Executive Director Gus Miclat, said.

MANILA–“UN Secretary General Kofi Annan should personally attend to the Burma question at the UN Security Council Agenda. We’re running out of time. The ball is in Annan’s hands and many of us are hopeful that he will take the “winning shot” before the “last two minutes” of this ball game expires.”

This was how Gus Miclat, regional coordinator of Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC) and convenor of Free Burma Coalition-Philippines challenged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saying the latter “should now roll up his sleeves and concretize his rhetoric on Burma.”

Miclat added, “Annan himself should take the role of briefing the Council members and not send someone else to do this. In fact he should proactively lobby other member-states of the UN to come up with a binding resolution that could finally compel the Myanmar government to institute genuine reforms in that blighted land.”

Miclat further averred, “This is a crucial moment for those of us who dream that someday soon Burma will be democratized. We hope that Kofi Annan will see that a binding UNSC resolution for Burma is urgent. Failure to bring Burma// in the agenda of UNSC will further damage the credibility of the entire UN system.”

It will be remembered that on December 2, Friday, the 15-member UNSC reached an unparalleled consensus to ask UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to brief the Council on the Burma question. This decision by the United Nations Security Council to convene a formal briefing on Burma is deemed by the world as a major and crucial step to jump start democratic reforms inside Burma.

“43 years of military rule simply made the Burmese regime more brutal. The junta resists international pressures and is more concerned to maintain its grasp on power than to serve its impoverished population,” the APSOC regional coordinator explained.

APSOC and FBC-Philippines on the other hand commended the Philippines for supporting the UN debate on Burma. Last November 21, the Philippine government expressed support to international efforts seeking the inclusion of Burma in the UNSC tasks. The Burma issue is also creating
a stir in the run up to the ASEAN summit in Malaysia this week.Parliamentarians among member states have recently called for the expulsion of Burma from ASEAN if it does not release Burmese icon Aung San Syu Kyi and institute genuine reforms it had promised ASEAN itself.

“Although long in coming, the Philippine government still did the right thing, Miclat said. “It should not backtrack now, and should instead lead in championing the aspirations of the Burmese peoples in the ASEAN. Burma is a real problem and everybody, every state, should not hesitate to become part of the solution to this problem. This is an opportune time for the ASEAN and the UN to prove their relevance,” Miclat ended.