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Two steps back

After giving up, under pressure from the United Nations, its resistance to international aid for the cyclone-hit population, the ruling junta in Myanmar has chosen to extend by another year the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Coming close on the heels of a historic visit by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to put in place a mechanism for receiving and distributing international aid, the decision to detain the Nobel laureate for a sixth consecutive year is virtually a slap in the face of the international community. At the moment, the U.N. and the donors are focussed on getting the aid into Myanmar to prevent another tragedy of catastrophic proportions. Beyond condemning the extension of Ms Suu Kyi’s detention, there may be precious little the international community can do at this juncture. By keeping the National League for Democracy leader under house arrest for one more year, the junta has defied its own law — of not detaining a person beyond five years if the trial had not even begun. Ms Suu Kyi has spent 12 out of the past 18 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.

Despite Cyclone Nargis playing havoc along the Irrawady banks early this month, the junta went ahead with the referendum on the draft constitution that provided for an entrenched role for the armed forces in the administration of the country and its Parliament. Having declared majority popular support for the draft constitution, the junta obviously does not want any dissenting voices to be heard as it goes about implementing its anti-democratic agenda. It has apparently calculated that it will lose little by ignoring the collective appeal of the international community for the release of Ms Suu Kyi and the restoration of democracy. Mr. Ban Ki-moon has regretted the military establishment’s decision and said: “The sooner the restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights.” He has asked his Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari to continue the political dialogue with the authorities. Though the U.N. may be committed to pursuing its seven-point democratisation plan for Myanmar, it is doubtful if the military junta will relent and move towards national reconciliation and restoration of democracy. It appears determined to tighten its stranglehold over the country, having destroyed all the democratic institutions. It is up to its neighbours — India, China, and ASEAN members — to nudge the junta into opening a political dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi and initiating the democratisation process.

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