Burma’s Government Opens The Door, but Only a Crack

Kyaw Zwa Moe

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In the three months since Burma’s Parliament swore in a quasi-civilian government on March 30, the country has seen a significant increase in visits from foreign policy makers, ministers and diplomats.

Since mid-May, at least nine senior officials and delegations have visited Burma, including US Senator John McCain, a fiery critic of the country’s ruling regime; US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Yun; a high-ranking EU delegation; acting UN Special Envoy Vijay Nambiar; and Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexey Borodavkin.

This doesn’t even include a number of visits by high-ranking officials from China, India and other neighboring countries that enjoy friendly relations with the capital city of Naypyidaw. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd recently became the latest to travel to the country to meet with government leaders and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Still others are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

So what does this dramatic increase in diplomatic traffic mean? Is Burma finally opening up to the outside world in ways that we could hardly have imagined under the old regime? If so, we should certainly welcome this as a promising sign.

But before we read too much into Naypyidaw’s sudden enthusiasm for meeting and greeting, perhaps we should ask who isn’t on the invitation list. Not surprisingly, the new government has pointedly excluded at least one senior United Nations official: Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, who was turned down for a visa in late May.

Is it a coincidence that Quintana is also the person who last year initiated calls for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry into the Burmese regime’s alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity? Not likely. This is a very serious issue for the new government, most of whose cabinet ministers were generals in the junta that ruled until earlier this year, so it should come as no surprise that Quintana remains persona non grata.

It is slightly more surprising, however, that Hollywood star Michelle Yeoh has also been denied entry into Burma. Yeoh, who arrived at Rangoon International Airport on June 22, was deported on the next available flight, despite having successfully entered the country last December to meet with Suu Kyi, who she portrays in an upcoming biopic.

Clearly, then, the era of blacklisting foreigners suspected of harboring sympathies for the wrong elements in Burmese society is not yet over. So it may be too soon to draw optimistic conclusions from Naypyidaw’s willingness to put out the welcome mat for select visitors.

That said, even John McCain, a longtime critic of Burma’s military rulers, noted that the mere fact that he was able to visit last month must signify something.

“It was the first time I had been allowed to return to the country in 15 years, which is one indication that this new civilian government could represent a change from the past,”he said at the conclusion of his trip, which included a meeting with Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders, as well as government officials.

Last month’s fact-finding trip by an EU delegation similarly yielded cautiously positive remarks on Burma’s direction.

“We see that something is happening in this country. We are trying to understand it a little better,” said the delegation’s mission chief, Robert Cooper, noting that President Thein Sein’s speech to Parliament, in which he talked about good governance, clean government and elimination of poverty, was encouraging.

He added, however, that even though the new regime is making the right noises, it needs to take it a step further and start addressing these issues in the real world, not just in the cavernous halls of Burma’s new legislature.

“We will be more encouraged if some of those ideas are implemented further. So far those are words and what we need to see is actions to follow,” he said.

Likewise, McCain said in a statement released after his visit: “I and other US leaders, including in Congress, will evaluate this new government’s commitment to real democratic change, and thus the willingness of the United States to make reciprocal changes, based on several tangible actions, as called for by the United Nations Human Rights Council in its Resolution on March 18, 2011.”

And this is where the matter still stands. Until there is a marked improvement in Burma’s internal situation, including the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners and moves toward reconciliation talks between the government and opposition and ethnic groups, Thein Sein’s words “and his show of openness toward foreign emissaries” will mean precious little.