Like all residents of Davao City, we welcome the estimated 3,000 delegates to the 25th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2006 that our beloved city is hosting for the first time. We believe that a successful ATF 2006 can establish Davao’s image as an international tourism and travel destination, boost the local economy and encourage investments.
We are mindful however that ASEAN tourism be presented not just as a hodgepodge of vibrant cultures and traditions and destination spots, but also as political realities. Tourism is also about people and how they live and exist. We are concerned that in the ATF 2006, glaring realities of other ASEAN peoples will be glossed over.
Like all residents of Davao City, we welcome the estimated 3,000 delegates to the 25th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2006 that our beloved city is hosting for the first time. We believe that a successful ATF 2006 can establish Davao’s image as an international tourism and travel destination, boost the local economy and encourage investments.
We are mindful however that ASEAN tourism be presented not just as a hodgepodge of vibrant cultures and traditions and destination spots, but also as political realities. Tourism is also about people and how they live and exist. We are concerned that in the ATF 2006, glaring realities of other ASEAN peoples will be glossed over.
Certainly we cannot ignore the Burmese people, which has been ruled by a military junta which took power through a military coup in 1962. The junta ignored the results of national elections in 1990 when the opposition won majority seats. It continues to detain under house arrest the pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Some 1,100 political prisoners face harsh prison conditions and torture. Burma’s ethnic groups meanwhile endure periodic attacks of the Burmese army on their territories and have become refugees on the borders of Burma.
As a Davao-based organization advocating solidarity with the peoples of the south, IID has long called for political freedom, democratic reforms and the protection of human and political rights in Burma.
Therefore we cannot stand by while tourism representatives from Myanmar (Burma’s present name) claim to represent the aspirations of their peoples in this ASEAN-wide gathering. The Burmese people want political reforms through the recognition of the representatives they elected in the 1990 elections, freedom for Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, and a genuine road map to democracy.
And as reports point out, tourism in Burma is being used to prop up an ailing national economy resulting from the mismanagement of long-term military one-party rule.
Burma is destabilizing the ASEAN region and affecting relations within ASEAN and with other nations. Burma’s internal crisis is spilling over to the ASEAN particularly in Thailand and Malaysia and is worsening the region’s security threats. But the ASEAN’s non-intervention policy has failed to institute reforms in Burma since ASEAN accepted Burma as a member in 1997.
These are realities which we as ASEAN peoples need to be aware of. Tourism should never be used to whitewash crisis situations, nor should people’s voices be muted or misrepresented in tourism forums.
We are in solidarity with ASEAN peoples, not just our governments. We are thus beholden to other ASEAN peoples still struggling for their rights and freedoms and will make steps to air their voices in this Davao forum.
Recent Comments