The Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) today called on the Inter-Parliamentary Union or IPU which closed its 112th General Assembly in Manila last week to continue leading the campaign to block Burma from chairing the ASEAN in 2006, and for the Philippines to lead the campaign in the ASEAN region.
The Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) today called on the Inter-Parliamentary Union or IPU which closed its 112th General Assembly in Manila last week to continue leading the campaign to block Burma from chairing the ASEAN in 2006, and for the Philippines to lead the campaign in the ASEAN region.
Although the agenda on Burma was not taken in the IPU meeting as an emergency measure, various IPU officials had expressed the IPU’s “deep concern” for the situation in Myanmar “and that of our colleagues in that country” and said that the IPU supports member parliaments that act to help restore democracy in Myanmar.
The issue of Myanmar’s chairmanship and human rights records was also discussed when ASEAN foreign ministers met in Cebu two days after the IPU meeting.
A day before the Assembly began, the Philippine Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar headed by Senators Aquilino Pimentel and Franklin Drilon was launched. Similar caucuses have been launched in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and have grouped under an ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) chaired by a Malaysian MP.
The main call of the AIPMC is to block Burma from assuming the chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2006 unless it puts democratic reforms in place. They point out how the ruling military junta in Burma has repeatedly failed to stand by the promises it made when ASEAN accepted Burma into its fold in 1997 under a “constructive engagement” policy.
In the Philippines, several legislative measures are pending in Congress:
§ House resolution no. 593, calling on the Philippine government to urge the ASEAN to reconsider Myanmar’s chairmanship of the ASEAN meeting in2006 unless it restores the popular government duly elected in 1990 and released Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her party.
Senate Resolution 191 expressing “the strong sense of the Senate that democratic reforms and human rights issues must be addressed in Myanmar” as a prerequisite for chairing the ASEAN next year.
“These developments are more than adequate confirmation that many parliamentarians all over the ASEAN region now want political change in Burma,” said Gus Miclat, the Executive Director of IID. “They have accepted that it is correct for ASEAN to constructively intervene in Burma.”
IID asked the Philippines as a senior member in the ASEAN to take the lead in the ASEAN region in blocking Burma’s chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2006 unless it puts democratic reforms in place.
“The Philippines has a strong libertarian tradition to show for. It is strongly against dictatorships and repressive regimes. We have the ascendancy to lead this campaign against Burma,” added Miclat.
IID also asked top Philippine officials including the Foreign Affairs department to continue “quiet interventions” on the issue of repression in Burma, the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her party, and for recognition of the popular government duly elected in 1990.
”Not receiving any of the Burmese generals is a quiet but effective way of telling them that they are not the legitimate leaders,” said Miclat.
As the secretariate of Free Burma Coalition- Philippines, IID had criticized the official visit to Manila of Burmese Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Soe Win last February 21-22.
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