Philippine President Benigno Aquino III Sunday night (October 31) said he had told the leaders of Burma (Myanmar) of the importance of holding free, fair elections next month, as foreign secretary Alberto Romulo warned that a sham election in that country would undermine the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
“I have told the leaders of Myanmar of our wish that the elections would be free and peaceful,” Aquino said on his return from an Asean summit in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

Romulo had said at the weekend summit that flawed elections “will cost Asean not only goodwill but its own position. They are also putting at risk Asean itself.”

Asean leaders have repeatedly pressed member state Burma to ensure the November 7 vote is free and fair and have urged the regime to release pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

It will be the first election in 20 years in Burma. The regime says it is a key step toward democracy, but critics say the polls are designed to cement military control. Suu Kyi’s party, which won the 1990 vote but was blocked from power, is boycotting.

Watchdogs say Asean’s attitude to Burma and the harsh treatment of activists by bloc chair Viet Nam before the summit began highlight the group’s failure to confront human rights abuses.

Others ‘vulnerable’

Just as the Asean leaders arrived for the summit, Vietnamese courts sentenced three labour activists to up to nine years in jail, convicted several Catholic villagers in a dispute over a cemetery and arrested a dissident.

But in Asean circles, a crackdown that activists say is under way in Viet Nam on political bloggers, activists and others, goes unmentioned.

The timing of the convictions and arrests placed Viet Nam’s rights record “under the spotlight”, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

He said he did not expect other Asean members to criticise Viet Nam because they all felt “vulnerable” on their human rights records.

US concerned

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is not bound by Asean’s principle of non-interference in members’ internal affairs, did speak up on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday.

“The United States is concerned about the arrest and conviction of people for peaceful dissent, attacks on religious groups, and curbs on Internet freedom,” Clinton said.

“Viet Nam has so much potential, and we believe that political reform and respect for human rights are an essential part of realising that potential,” she said.

Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said Asean members should also speak out because they all signed the bloc’s charter under which they pledged “respect for and protection of human rights”.

“If they’re not prepared to do that publicly, at least do it privately,” Robertson urged.

Asean credibility

Human rights groups say Burma has one of the world’s worst human rights records, detaining thousands of opponents, systematically destroying ethnic minority villages and using rape as a weapon of war.

Burma has been a source of embarrassment for Asean’s more democratic members but it has taken prodding by Western governments and the United Nations for the bloc to do more to push for change.

A coalition of regional lawmakers, the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said Burma was already in “gross violation” of the Asean charter and had tainted the reputation of the entire region.

Amnesty International also said the bloc’s credibility was at stake.

“Failure to address both past and present violations may prove critical for the future realisation of peoples’ rights in Myanmar and the international credibility of its neighbours,” the watchdog said this week.