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MYANMAR'S MANOEUVRE

IN EXTENDING THE imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi by one more year, Myanmar's ruling generals have left no doubt about their intention to tighten their grip on the country. And by doing so during the Association of South East Asian Nations summit held recently in Laos, they have made clear they care little about international criticism of their actions. The signs were all there from the time Senior General Than Shwe, the head of the State Peace and Development Council (the junta's official name), sacked Khin Nyunt as Prime Minister and replaced him with another General, Soe Win. Although Gen. Khin Nyunt was no softie, he favoured talks with Ms. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. He also initiated the "seven-point road map to democracy," which, despite its flaws, was a political concession by the SPDC in response to international pressure on it to loosen up. Weeks after the reshuffle in the regime, when the junta released 4,000 prisoners saying the old guard had wrongly detained them, it seemed as if Lt. Gen. Soe Win was striving hard to dispel his image as a military hardliner. There were only 20 or so political prisoners among those released but they included two close aides of Ms. Suu Kyi, generating hope that the Nobel laureate too might be freed. Such hopes were apparently misplaced.

Despite the junta's contempt for world opinion, India is one of the few countries that can put new pressure on Yangon to release Ms. Suu Kyi. It is unfortunate that the fate of Myanmar's most famous political prisoner figured only fleetingly when Gen. Than Shwe visited India soon after making changes for the worse in his Government. New Delhi's focus on strengthening economic and strategic ties with Myanmar is no doubt important, and it has brought immediate results: over the last month, Myanmar has cracked down on camps of Northeast insurgents on its side of the border. But India, which presented Ms. Suu Kyi with the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding not so long ago, takes justifiable pride in being the world's largest democracy, and was part of the international chorus for pro-democracy reforms in Pakistan, has a moral and political responsibility not to abandon her altogether even as it engages productively with Myanmar's military dictatorship.

If more practical reasons are needed for stepping up pressure on the junta, they do exist. As was clear at the recent Laos summit, India has emerged as an important partner for ASEAN. New Delhi's help will strengthen the hands of the regional association in dealing with its most difficult member. Members of the 10-nation group refrain from commenting on one another's internal affairs, which is one reason why Myanmar has had a fairly easy ride since becoming a member in 1997. This time Thailand's insistence that the custody deaths of ethnic Malay Muslims in its southern province must not be raised at the summit worked to Myanmar's advantage. At the same time, members such as Malaysia are nervous about endangering ASEAN's carefully constructed credibility and relations with the rest of the world by allowing Yangon to assume the chair in 2006 and host that year's summit. A group of parliamentarians from several member-nations has mounted a campaign to prevent this from happening and, if need be, strip Myanmar of its membership. Before matters reach a head, New Delhi will do well to use its good relations with the junta to press for Ms. Suu Kyi's release and for the implementation of democratic reforms that will enable her to participate freely in Myanmar's political life. This will significantly benefit India's relations with ASEAN, as also its standing in the rest of the world.

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