Oct 12, 2022 | DFF, Open Letters
Dear Prime Minister Fumio Kishida,
We write as fellow elected parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia and Japan in view of Japan’s status as a democracy with global influence, its special relationship with Myanmar and indeed with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We call on your administration to immediately intensify its efforts to prevent Myanmar from becoming a failed state due to the illegal military junta’s brutal campaign of violence against those who oppose its rule.
We also note that Japan, as a member of the G7, has issued a statement strongly condemning the recent executions of four political prisoners, and stating that these executions, the first in Myanmar in over thirty years, show the junta’s contempt for the democratic aspirations of the Myanmar people.
We also note with interest your remarks delivered in Singapore at the Shangri La Dialogue, in which you announced the Kishida Doctrine, and that the review of Japan’s National Security Strategy will be completed this year. And we welcome Japan’s leadership and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, to world peace and support for ASEAN, diversity, democracy and human rights.
With regard to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, we take note of your statement that “no country or region in the world can shrug this off as someone else’s problem. It is a situation that shakes the very foundations of the international order which every country and individual … should regard as their own affair.”
Moreover, in strategic coordination with other governments, Japan has taken extraordinary steps, including sanctions, to ensure Russia’s government feels the pressure of the international community for its brutal invasion of another state.
However, when it comes to the situation in Myanmar, it would seem that Japan has refrained from such firm and decisive action, in spite of its deep historical and economic ties with the country. It is therefore now time for your government, Mr. Prime Minister, to take a stronger stand, particularly in view of the principles invoked in the Kishida Doctrine and the regional threat to stability and security, and indeed Japan’s interests in the country, against the unacceptable denial of human rights and dignity, peace and freedom of the people of Myanmar by the Myanmar’s self-appointed military government, the State Administration Council (SAC).
Lay Kay Kaw, a town in Karen State symbolized Japan’s peacebuilding and development efforts in Myanmar after years of conflict, but now lies in ruins since the coup took place. It has become the focus of a massive assault, including airstrikes, by the Myanmar junta, as documented by the Karen Peace Network in their recent report. You must be aware of the efforts made by ODA (Official Development Assistance, an agency of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs under your government) to build this village, now destroyed by the Myanmar military. The junta has trampled on the goodwill of Japan. We believe the government of Japan should react.
In its 1 February 2021 statement, the government of Japan described the coup as an “internal situation.” APHR contends that the illegal junta poses the greatest threat to the sovereignty of the Myanmar people, acting as a brutal force of occupation, throwing the country into chaos with potentially destabilizing effects beyond its borders, and committing crimes against humanity. These are not internal affairs, but matters that should concern all of us.
Therefore, we would like recommend and request that:
- The Japanese Government should coordinate with democratic allies such as the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Canada in taking further concrete actions to put stronger pressure on the Myanmar military to immediately stop its use of force and violence against the people of Myanmar;
- Tokyo should place targeted sanctions against SAC leaders, their families and military-owned entities;
- in addition to sanctions, as an avowed advocate for democracy in the region, Japan should also push other governments to support a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an arms embargo on Myanmar;
- Japan should increase its emergency humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar people affected by the complete chaos created by the junta in their country and channel it through trusted non-state actors including those of ethnic group organizations;
- Japan should engage with the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, and to extend further support for Myanmar nationals living in Japan regarding, among other issues, their passport and visa concerns;
- Japan should work with Myanmar’s neighbors, including Thailand and India, to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Myanmar, with the help of local civil society organizations and international NGOs.
Myanmar is a crucial geo-political crossroads that is seen as a theater for the interests of big powers like China, the USA, and now Russia, with its deepening ties to the junta. This is yet another reason for Japan to turn its attention in a far more concerted, strategic and decisive manner, particularly in view of your new doctrine and security strategy.
Respectfully,
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)
Japanese Parliamentary Association for Supporting Democratization of Myanmar
Oct 5, 2022 | DFF, Opinion Articles
By Heidi Hautala, Ilhan Omar, and Charles Santiago.
Less than two years ago, on Feb. 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup d’etat. Since then, international headlines might have faded, but the situation in the country has only become more desperate. The junta has killed and arrested thousands, while pushing the country to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, all with the outright support of China and Russia.
Meanwhile, the U.S., the European Union, and other supporters of Myanmar’s democratic resistance have thus far mainly issued statements of concern. As lawmakers from different countries, we are deeply frustrated by the lack of action by governments around the world. The international community can and must do more, before Myanmar is pushed over an edge it cannot come back from.
The coup in 2021 ended a decade-long power sharing agreement between the military and civilian leaders, although one heavily tilted in the army’s favor. Even so, the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, soon felt too threatened by the electoral success of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and decided to seize power outright. The aftermath of the coup has been as brutal as it has been chaotic.
The junta has killed more than 2,000 people, many of them peaceful protesters. More than 15,000 people have been arrested, among them Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD’s leader, and scores of prominent democracy and human rights activists. Myanmar is also facing a humanitarian crisis, with government services and the economy collapsing, and more than 1.2 million people internally displaced from the army’s brutal crackdown across the country.
The people of Myanmar have, however, continued to fight back against military rule. Across the country, a Civil Disobedience Movement has organized itself, including unions, doctors, teachers, students and other citizens from all walks of life. A National Unity Government (NUG), composed of civil society and political representatives, has led the political struggle from exile. Meanwhile, in Myanmar’s border areas, Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) have continued to resist the junta. They function as de facto states within the state, providing services and governance, as well as safe havens for pro-democracy activists fleeing from other parts of the country.
It is this bravery from ordinary Myanmar people that has made the international reactions since the coup so disappointing.
The junta has been actively and openly supported by both China and Russia, including through financial investments, arms sales, and official visits offering legitimacy to the regime. China has also shielded Myanmar from scrutiny at the UN Security Council.
On the other hand, the United States, the European Union and other democratic countries have offered lip service to the Myanmar resistance, but not much more. The sanctions that have been imposed have had little impact on the junta, and regular statements of concern are no substitute for real action. Many Western countries have also left the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on its own to resolve the crisis. However, ASEAN’s “Five Points Consensus” approach with the junta, launched more than a year ago, is now all but dead, having had almost no real impact.
The international community must change course, and do so quickly. In June this year, we joined lawmakers from seven countries in Africa, Asia and Europe to launch an International Parliamentary Inquiry into the failed response to the crisis. Together with democracy and human rights leaders from Myanmar, we developed a set of recommendations that we believe should be acted on immediately.
A first step is to address the immediate humanitarian crisis. As much as possible, international donors must channel aid and resources through Myanmar civil society and EAOs who are already providing services in border areas. At the same time, the UN must step up efforts to convince Myanmar’s neighbors — India and Thailand — to open their borders to refugees and aid flows, and not seek to push back those who are fleeing from the junta.
We should also implement limited sanctions that target the junta’s leaders, without punishing the entire Burmese population. This includes imposing sanctions on junta-owned companies, such as the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which remain some of the military’s most important sources of funding. To its credit, the EU sanctioned MOGE in February, and the U.S. should follow its example.
The international community must also make it unequivocally clear that the NUG and its partners are the true representatives of the people of Myanmar. The junta must never be afforded the legitimacy it so desperately craves. Governments should afford formal recognition to the NUG, take all possible steps to facilitate its work, and open dialogues with both the NUG and EAOs to chart the course for a future federal democratic Myanmar. Only such kind of dialogue can solve the long-standing problem of inter-ethnic conflicts in the country.
Myanmar faces a long and protracted conflict between the military and most of its population that will not be easily resolved. But amid the darkness, there are real signs of hope, as brave people from across the country are resisting the junta’s brutal rule. We in the international community have failed them so far, but it is not too late for us to do better. The future of a whole country depends on it.
Heidi Hautala is vice-president of the European Parliament and chair of the International Parliamentary Inquiry (IPI) into the global response to the crisis in Myanmar. Ilhan Omar represents the 5th District in Minnesota and is a committee member of the IPI. Charles Santiago is a Malaysian member of parliament and committee member of the IPI.
This article first appeared in The Hill.
Aug 3, 2022 | DFF, Opinion Articles
By Kasit Piromya.
As ASEAN’s foreign ministers meet in Cambodia this week, the recent executions of four political prisoners in Myanmar by the illegal military junta should serve as yet another wake-up call for the group to change course in its approach to the deepening crisis in the country. The executions are acts of judicial barbarism committed by a military that has shown no qualms about committing any and every crime against the Myanmar population in order to cement its hold on power.
To be clear, the death sentences were handed down without fairness, by military tribunals conducting secretive trials without respect for due process. These are the conditions in which 76 other prisoners currently in Myanmar jails were sentenced to death, including two children, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The executions that took place last week, the first known in over three decades, are an ominous sign that this cruel punishment may continue to be carried out.
This is another page in the extensive catalog of atrocities that Min Aung Hlaing and his men have been committing for the past 18 months. Since the coup in February last year, at least 2,114 people have been killed by the self-styled State Administration Council (SAC), which continues shelling villages and killing protesters in a pattern of “systematic and widespread human rights violations and abuses” that may amount to “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In this context, there is no room for inaction or neutrality between the generals and the widespread popular movement opposing their rule, and all ASEAN member states should act accordingly.
Yet ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn – who visited the country only two weeks before the executions – issued a statement condemning these barely disguised political assassinations, without once mentioning the culprits – the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and his henchmen.
Moreover, Prak Sokhonn asserts that an “extreme bellicose mood can be felt from all corners of Myanmar,” setting out a false equivalence between the criminal junta waging an all-out war against the people and a countrywide opposition movement organized to restore democracy in the country. We should not forget that the opposition to military rule only resorted to armed struggle to resist the brutal campaign launched by the military to quash an initially non-violent civil disobedience movement.
The ASEAN envoy also showed this false even-handedness when he asserted a couple of weeks ago its willingness to secretly meet the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, which opposes the junta and represents the democratic aspirations of the Myanmar people. Such secrecy stands in stark contrast with the very public meetings that Prak Sokhonn has held with the SAC, which have lent the junta a degree of legitimacy that he, representing ASEAN, is denying to the NUG.
As ASEAN chair this year, Cambodia has clearly not been up to the task of dealing with the crisis in Myanmar. Neither is ASEAN itself nor the global community above criticism. They have acted with a timidity and absence of leadership that have contributed to the Myanmar generals’ sense of impunity.
In April 2021, ASEAN member states and Min Aung Hlaing’s junta agreed on a Five-Point Consensus that called for, among other things, an “immediate cessation of violence,” and a dialogue between all stakeholders in Myanmar. It was an agreement without precedent, and it was immediately supported by other international actors such as the United States, China, and the U.N.
Yet the Myanmar military has flagrantly ignored its obligations under the agreement. It has not ceased its campaign of violence and has not taken any step towards any kind of political dialogue. Given that the Consensus lacks any enforcement mechanisms or deadlines for compliance, the junta has not faced any consequences for its failure to implement it.
With no progress on the ground, ASEAN has apparently been paralyzed, and it is deeply divided between those countries, such as Cambodia, that show an undue indulgence towards the junta, and those willing to adopt a tougher approach, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Meanwhile, actors beyond the region are seemingly hiding behind their support for the Consensus and ASEAN to justify their lack of decisive action on Myanmar.
In order to work, the Five-Point Consensus should, at the very least, be reinforced with clear “milestones and time limits” to be met by the junta, as the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah argued recently at an oral hearing of the International Parliamentary Inquiry on the global response to the crisis in Myanmar organized by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
ASEAN can, and should, do more. For starters, the group should begin exerting pressure on the SAC by suspending Myanmar’s membership, imposing targeted sanctions and travel bans in the region on the junta and its cronies, in order to show Min Aung Hlaing and his men that they cannot commit their crimes without consequences. The chair and its special envoy must desist from making a show of its apparent even-handedness in dealing with the junta, adhere to the collective ASEAN plan, and engage openly with the NUG, as has Saifuddin.
This is a turning point for ASEAN to decide on which side of history it will place our region. Confronted by the worsening Myanmar crisis, the group cannot assert the principle of non-interference as an excuse for inaction or neutrality. Such a principle was designed to protect the sovereignty of ASEAN’s member states, but the biggest threat to the sovereignty of the Myanmar people now is its own military, which is acting as a brutal force of occupation, throwing the country into chaos with potentially destabilizing effects beyond its borders. Nor should non-interference be used as an excuse to turn a blind eye to crimes against humanity itself.
ASEAN must deliver on its responsibility to Myanmar, its people, and the region. The so-called tiger cub economies should come into their own, serve the junta with consequences that bite, and support the Myanmar people in their hour of direst need.
Kasit Piromya is a former Foreign Minister of Thailand, and a Board Member of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
This article first appeared in The Diplomat.
Aug 2, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – As the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet in Phnom Penh this week, they should take the opportunity to reach an agreement on strong and coordinated measures to put pressure on Myanmar’s military junta, parliamentarians from the region have urged.
Over fifteen months after ASEAN members and the chief of the military junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, signed a Five-Point Consensus to address the political and humanitarian crisis triggered by the illegal coup d’état on 1 February 2021, the situation in Myanmar has continued to deteriorate. The self-styled State Administration Council (SAC) is still hijacking humanitarian assistance, has not taken steps towards initiating a political dialogue, and continues waging a brutal campaign of repression against the population at large in order to stamp out widespread opposition to military rule.
“ASEAN member states must recognize that the Myanmar military has become a criminal organization that is holding hostage the whole of the country’s population. Min Aung Hlaing has been given too much time to comply with the Five-Point Consensus, yet he has only shown that he respects neither the agreement nor ASEAN itself. It is time for him and his henchmen to pay the consequences,” said Eva Sundari, former member of the House of Representatives in Indonesia and Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
ASEAN’s Foreign Ministers are meeting less than two weeks after the Junta executed four political prisoners sentenced to death, Phyo Zeya Thaw, former lawmaker for the National League for Democracy (NLD); the prominent activist Kyaw Min Yu, widely known as ‘Ko Jimmy’; Aung Thura Zaw; and Hla Myo Aung.
Those are the first known judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988, according to Amnesty International, and were carried out secretly, after trials conducted by military tribunals without any respect for due process, as APHR has denounced. There are currently 76 prisoners in Myanmar sentenced to death, including two children, who could be executed at any moment, while 41 people have been given the death penalty in absentia.
The junta went on with the executions despite international pleas not to carry them out. Even Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, current ASEAN Chair, made a plea for the prisoners to be spared, despite the leniency that his government has shown towards the junta this year. As ASEAN Chair, Cambodia has undone a great deal of the work that other member states had been doing to isolate the Myanmar generals, thus granting them a legitimacy they do not deserve.
“After those barbaric executions, Cambodia should stop pandering to the generals, and ASEAN foreign ministers should make their meeting in Phnom Penh a turning point to lift the Myanmar people out of their suffering. ASEAN’s timidity and the absence of leadership has contributed to fostering the impunity for these executions and other atrocities to take place. The junta believes it can get away with its crimes and ignore the international condemnation, because up to now it has not led to any concrete consequences,” said Sundari.
ASEAN should put in place enforcement mechanisms in order for the Five Point Consensus to work. Starting with imposing targeted sanctions and travel bans in the region on Min Aung Hlaing and his men. The regional group should also publicly engage and recognize the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG), which is leading the pro-democracy forces and represents the Myanmar people’s aspirations for democracy, as well as ethnic organizations. Also, ASEAN should start working with humanitarian organizations and civil society organizations to deliver aid to those who need it the most, as APHR has been advocating.
“A coordinated, collective and clear response is required for the sake of ASEAN’s own credibility. Its half-hearted attitude degrades ASEAN itself. This indecisiveness is unbefitting of the main regional organization in a strategically crucial part of the world that should be an engine of peace and stability, as well as sustainable economic growth, not a haven for murderous dictators like Min Aung Hlaing,” said Sundari.
Jul 25, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – The recent executions of four political prisoners at the hands of the illegal military junta in Myanmar is an act of judicial barbarism, Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia have denounced today, after the state media announced that the death sentences have been carried out on an unspecified date at Insein Prison, in Yangon.
The four executed men, all charged under anti-terrorism laws, are Phyo Zeya Thaw, former lawmaker for the National League for Democracy (NLD); the prominent activist Kyaw Min Yu, widely known as ‘Ko Jimmy’; Aung Thura Zaw; and Hla Myo Aung. These death sentences are the first known judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988, according to Amnesty International, which hitherto has considered the country as “Abolitionist in Practice”.
“These executions are nothing but appalling acts of evil committed by a brutal junta that has shown no qualms about waging a war against the Myanmar population in order to cement its power. The global community, and all ASEAN members in particular, should take these cold-blooded assassinations as yet another wake up call on the true nature of the regime of terror that the Myanmar military is attempting to impose in the country,” said Eva Sundari, former member of the House of Representatives in Indonesia and Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
According to the Myanmar group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 22 July there were 76 prisoners in Myanmar sentenced to death, including two children, while 41 people have been given the death penalty in absentia. Since the coup on 1 February 2021, at least 2114 people have been killed by the self-styled State Administration Council (SAC), led by General Min Aung Hlaing, in its campaign to suppress the widespread opposition to military rule.
These death sentences should be viewed as an attempt by the Myanmar military to provide a veneer of legality to political assassination. Yet it is evident that these sentences were handed without fairness, by military tribunals conducting trials lacking in any respect for due process, APHR denounced.
“It is clear that these executions are made to strike fear among representatives of the democratic forces and political activists who oppose the junta . We believe that all those accused by the military junta are tried in secret, unfair and biased trials with no legal safeguards. Many political prisoners are subjected to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and now there are dozens of prisoners in Myanmar jails who could be executed at any moment,” said Tom Villarin, former Philippine MP and APHR Board Member.
“Not even the previous military regime, which ruled the country between 1988 and 2011, dared to carry out the death penalty against political prisoners. This means yet another increase in the junta’s brutality, which comes from a sense of impunity largely fostered by the failure of the global community to do anything effective to prevent it from committing further atrocities,” said Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament from Malaysia, and APHR Chairperson.
The executions also serve as proof that the SAC led by Min Aung Hlaing has no intention to engage in any meaningful political dialogue with the pro-democracy forces led by the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG). Such a dialogue, one of the key points of the Five-Point Consensus agreed by ASEAN member states and Min Aung Hlaing’s junta in April 2021, has never materialized.
The Consensus also called for an immediate cessation of violence, something that the Myanmar military, which continues shelling villages and killing protesters, has also failed to implement. Yet the Myanmar military, in its all-out war over its people is committing “systematic and widespread human rights violations and abuses” that may amount to “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“The junta’s contempt for the agreement it signed is clear, especially considering that the announcement of these executions comes two weeks after the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair to Myanmar, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, visited the country. The Special Envoy, and ASEAN members, should condemn these executions, and seriously rethink their approach to the crisis in Myanmar. For starters, they should begin exerting pressure on the SAC with targeted sanctions and travel bans in the region in order to show Min Aung Hlaing and his men that they cannot commit their crimes with impunity,” said Kasit Piromya, former MP and Foreign Minister in Thailand, and APHR Board Member.
